Los Angeles, CA (January 23, 2003) Apex Fine Art is pleased to announce a new exhibition featuring the work of leading contemporary photographer Mark Edward Harris. The Way of the Japanese Bath is a wonderful exhibition based on Harris' book of the same name, published to coincide with the opening of this show. The Way of the Japanese Bath opens February 21, 2003 and continues through March 29, 2003.

Harris' exhibition is based on a ten-year study of the customs and rituals of the Japanese bath. Travelling extensively from Hokkaido in the north to Honshu in south, Harris documented, photographed and bathed in hundreds of the geothermal springs (onsen) that dot the Japanese countryside. There are more than 20,000 natural hot springs that bubble up from the islands inhabited by more than 125 millon residents not to mention dozens of active volcanoes. Each year more than 100 million people check in to these natural baths to relieve the stress of population density.

Ceremonial by nature, the Onsen provide both spiritual as well as medicinal benefits. The thermal springs are rich in minerals due to the high seismic activity on the islands. The Way of the Japanese Bath provides an intimate glimpse at a ritual rarely captured for posterity. Sulfur springs create a miasma like veil that gives these photographs a dreamlike aura. In northern Japan steaming water creates an otherwordly effect bordered by the snow and ice. Each photograph is printed on hand constructed Japanese paper giving the work a more vintage wood-block like appearance, and is limited to an edition of 10.

Harris is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Playboy and Black & White Magazine and is also the author of Faces of the 20th Century.He resides in Los Angeles.

A reception will be held on Friday, February 21, 2003 from 7-9PM

Gallery hours are 11AM-5PM Tuesday through Saturday.

APEX Fine Art exhibits photographic works of art and specializes in 20th Century American photojournalism