W H I T E  R O O M  G A L L E R Y: A  P R O F I L E
by Alethea Mock

Eiko  Fukuhara, founder and owner of White Room Gallery in West  Hollywood, California (www.whiteroomgallery.com),  set out to create a space into which photographers could open up  their work to the world after the intense and often reclusive  process of creation. To use a platitude, White Room Gallery is  the light at the end of the dark[room] tunnel. It is a simple and elegant space that allows people to discover new and exciting work.    Fukuhara worked for more than a decade in the advertising industry where she was exposed to a vast body of commercial photography. During that time she developed a deep passion for the medium in  all its vibrancy, as well as an impeccable aesthetic taste. Out  of her experiences with photography grew a desire to share the  intensities of emotion, which were often evoked within her. White Room Gallery is the realization of that desire. Fukuhara sees the gallery as evoking “feelings of simplicity, of innocence and purity.” It is a comfortable space where one can  view the work of a wide range of talented photographers without distraction, which can lead to a deeper communion with the art  and the ultimate decision to make that work a part of their  lives. Fukuhara consciously facilitates this process of acquisition by keeping the prices for high quality work as reasonable as possible.     Since the founding of the gallery in 2001, Fukuhara has mounted several important and innovative exhibi-   tions. One recent example was the show, Taizo Kato: The Modernist Eye, which featured a recently discovered portfolio of rare and vintage prints. Kato was a prolific Japanese-American photo-grapher  from the early 1900s who worked in the pictorialist tradition. Despite the fact that this movement fell out of style later photographers such as Edward Weston were influenced  by his work. Another groundbreaking show put on at White Room was the Inspirations & Interpretations exhibit shown in the fall  of 2003. Inspired by Ansel Adams’ famous saying that a negative is like a musical score and a print like a performance, this experimental show had 14 photographers exchange negatives and print one another’s work.   While photographers from America and around the world are shown at White Room Gallery, one defining quality it possesses is a heavy representation of Asian photographers, especially of Japanese  artists. Since the idea of photography as a fine art form is not  as accepted in Japan and other parts of Asia, as it is in  America and Europe, the recognition provided by the gallery  often enables the artist to expand his or her career in their  native country. More than nationality, however, Fukuhara indicated that what truly drives the selection of artists at her gallery is the power of their work to move viewers. Whether it  is through sheer beauty, emotional potency, or the story it tells the image must inspire thought or feeling. ■

 42 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2004

Above: Light and  Shadow, 1992. ©Intae Kim. Bottom Left: Fibonacci, Acacia  Tree, Oakland,
CA, 2003. ©Rolfe Horn. Bottom Right: Edge of Port, Ehime, Japan, 2003. ©Hisashi Kagawa.

Opposite Page (clockwise from top left): Exterior and entrance toWhite Room Gallery. ©Keith
Nakata; Exterior side view of gallery. ©Keith Nakata; Interior of gallery. ©Keith Nakata.

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