Minimalism photo exhibition underway in Baku

By AzerNews

The first photo exhibition in the minimalism style featuring works by young Azerbaijani photographer Ilkin Yusif is underway in Baku.

The exhibition will run till October 3 in the center of the Institut Français d'Azerbaïdjan, which is the organizer of the event.

The 29-year-old photographer began his professional career working with info-graphics in 3D animation and then worked as a producer in the audiovisual field. At that very time he was noticed as a photographer.

According to Yusif, he has chosen the style of minimalism to reveal the hidden beauty of the scenes he picked out by emphasizing the importance of small things in daily life.

Minimalism in photography implies simplicity, conciseness and clarity of composition. The main object occupies a small portion of the frame, leaving an empty space around. This approach focuses attention on the main subject.

This direction of art appeared in the first half of the 1960s in the United States.

American painter and printmaker Frank Stella had presented a series of "Black Paintings", which laid the foundation for the emergence of the first minimalist works.

The term "minimalism" is owned by British philosopher and art critic Richard Wollheim, who applied it in the analysis of the work of world-famous French-American painter and sculptor Marcel Duchamp in 1965.

The slogan of minimalism is the phrase "Less is more", which belongs to German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and describes his intention to make an impression on the audience not only with the forms and colors, but with the minimum of means, strictness and simplicity along with high functionality of each element.