Forms of Japan

September 25, 2015- December 31, 2015

(Louisville, KY.) Forms of Japan by Michael Kenna will be on display at the Paul Paletti Gallery during the 2015 Louisville Photo Biennial. The show will open September 25, 2015, from 5:00pm- 8:00pm.

Michael Kenna will be present for a book signing on September 30, 2015 from 5:00pm-8:00pm at the Paul Paletti Gallery for his newly released photo book, “Forms of Japan”, from which the images in the exhibition were selected.

Born in Widnes, Lancashire (England) in 1953, Michael Kenna studied to become a priest at St. Joseph’s College in Upholland. Deciding instead to study art, he attended Banbury School of Art in Oxfordshire, and London College of Printing, training as a commercial photographer.

He worked in advertising and commercial photography in London, moving to California in 1979, where he worked as printing assistant to Ruth Bernhard until 1987. Bernhard later wrote of Kenna’s photography: “His images hold a mirror to each viewer’s soul and conscience. They invite us all to participate in his experience, closing the circle between print, photographer, and onlooker.”

Known for his intimate landscape photography, devoid of people but containing evidence of humanity, Kenna has become one of the world’s best-known landscape photographers. He only photographs using film, mainly medium format (120mm), preferring the square images produced, and always in black and white. His work is characterized by its quiet elegance and pristine photographic qualities.

Michael Kenna’s work has been shown in Korea, Japan, China, Italy, Israel, India, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Mexico. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Patrimoine Photographique in Paris, the museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His commercial clients include Saab, British Airways, Range Rover, Volvo, Maserati, and Rolls Royce. Kenna has won several awards including Imogen Cunningham Award (1981), Golden Saffron Award (1996), Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, Ministry of Culture, France (2000), and an Honorary Master of Arts from Brooks Institute (2003).

Kenna’s exhibition at the Paul Paletti Gallery is from his third book featuring Japan, drawn from 28 years of photographing the island nation. He has published over forty photography books.