In conjunction with their 2012 Small Works National Competition, Soho Photo Gallery will present a guest exhibition curated by Aperture Foundation on the art of making small books. The opening reception is this Thurday, February 9 to celebrate  The Art of Small Books, in which we explore the intimacy gained from a journal-sized format.

Like novels or short-story collections, these books are meant for the reader to interact with, not simply to be viewed or put on display. Several included in this show take their form as a result of the artist coming to the table with a concept that hinges on the ability of the finished work to “pass” as—or at least refer to—something other than your typical coffee-table book: Christian Marclay’s Shuffle, which takes on the guise of a deck of cards; Takashi Homma’s Tokyo, the form of which gives a nod to the Penguin Classic pocket-size novel; Stanley Greene’s Black Passport, with its rounded corners and reference to the classic travel document. Even Martin and Munoz’s Travelers is kept within the confines of typical snow-globe scale.

The traditional publishing logic about smaller-size books has tended to revolve around practicality and affordability. So while there is much to be gained from trading the larger reproduction size of an over-sized book for a smaller-scale presentation, photographers who are accustomed to working with large-sized prints can be especially loathe to give up on scale as a way of presenting their work. What this exhibitions aims to show is that small can be beautiful, too.

To celebrate the release of the new publication Takashi Homma: Tokyo (Aperture, May 2008) photographer Takashi Homma will be signing copies at the Kinokuniya Book Store, where an exhibition of selected prints will also be on display.

Homma’s vision of Tokyo navigates a finely nuanced line between sterility and sentimentality, presenting a sleek, contemporary vision of a postmodern megalopolis populated by a new generation of video game aficionados and enervated fashionistas. This first major international publication gathers images from his six previous titles published in his native Japan, including Tokyo Suburbia, his seminal work now considered a contemporary classic.

Takashi Homma: Tokyo
Book Signing

Wednesday, July 2, 6:00 p.m.

Exhibition on View

Tuesday, July 1-Friday, July 18

Kinokuniya Book Store
1073 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York
(212) 869-1700

Limited-Edition Photograph from Aperture also available.