Nakayama and Maita: Japanese Photography from the 1970s at Galerie Christophe Gaillard

Galerie Christophe Gaillard in Paris presents a dual exhibition of Japanese photographers Masaki Nakayama and Masafumi Maita, running from January 25 to February 22, 2020. The show continues the gallery's focus on Japanese conceptual photography from the 1970s, initiated in 2017. Nakayama (born 1945), trained as a sculptor, explores space through his body in his ongoing series 'Body Scale,' begun in the 1970s. The main gallery features large-format early works from the series, where photographs of the artist's body in geometric postures are combined with rudimentary wooden elements that encircle the images. Works like 'Identification' (1978) juxtapose body and nature, while 'Body Scale, Movement 3' (1982) uses long exposure to create optical palimpsests suggesting motion. Later works include resin figures with colored neon lights. In the front space, Maita (1944-2009), a pioneer of Japanese conceptual art, presents geometric forms superimposed on pristine landscapes, and 'Flow' (1976), a grid of photographs documenting the artist bending a lead rod by the ocean.