FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIROSHI WATANABE

"Veiled Observations and Reflections"

July 27-August 31, 2002

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 27, 2002
6:00- 8:00 PM

When Hiroshi Watanabe goes out with his camera to photograph, he has no agenda, no preconceptions, nothing definite he is looking for. Rather he is seeking those rare moments when the light, and the elements, and luck coalesce in that serendipitous way which often yields great pictures. He finds such moments most frequently occur when he stops looking for them.

Watanabe has spent the last seven years seeking these quiet moments in his travels around the world. His photographs capture those revealing, haunting qualities that can be found in the commonplace, and the pure beauty he sees in everyday events. A tattered window screen photographed on Ellis Island comes to represent both the promise, and obstacles separating hopeful emigrants from their American dreams. But the looming New York skyline outside the window has taken on a whole new meaning since last September, a meaning which has overwhelmed the photograph. Watanabe looks for faces and situations that strike a cord deep within him, and then allows for the unexpected, the serendipitous, ephemeral moment of magic that Henri Cartier-Bresson called "the decisive moment". You see this in the flock of white Terns that momentarily alight on the screened rooftop of a greenhouse on Midway Island. It is these quirky little surprises life presents him that Watanabe lives for. He asks only that you enjoy his pictures as autonomous little moments of revelation preserved on gelatin silver paper.

White Room Gallery is proud to present Watanabe's work, which emphasizes profound curiosity and respect for a changing world that he feels compelled to record with his camera. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

WHITE ROOM GALLERY ATTENTION: EIKO FUKUHARA
8810 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Ph: 310 859 2402 Fax: 310 859 0197

info@whiteroomgallery.com
www.whiteroomgallery.com