Benny Safdie: Look Around

March 06, 2019 - April 13, 2019

Yoshii Gallery is pleased to present Look Around, featuring photographs by filmmaker Benny Safdie for his second exhibition at Yoshii Gallery. Safdie began taking photographs at an early age when he was growing up in New York, and his roots remain present in his work even as his photographs capture images from around the world. His photographs invite the viewer to experience his perspective through the lens of his camera. Safdie shoots with a Rolleiflex 2.8 FX, and finds inspiration within the imposed constraints of his chosen medium. He pushes the square format to its limits, exploring new ways to embrace its boundaries. By using a fixed lens camera with no option to zoom, the photographs reflect Safdie’s own perspective when the shutter was released, drawing the viewers into the photographer’s reality. The unique display of his works at various heights and locations emphasizes this experience of the artist’s perspective.

Benny Safdie was born in 1986 in New York. Together with his brother Joshua, he produces and writes films that have premiered at renowned international film festivals including Cannes, Venice, New York Film Festival and Sundance, and exhibited at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Throughout his film career, Safdie has found refuge in the tranquility and the solitude of his photography as a counterweight to the manic nature of film production. His photographs were exhibited at Spectra: National Photography Triennial (2007), New Canaan, and Yoshii Gallery “For all the Squares” (2017), New York.