ArtParis Fair puts Photography in the Place of Honor at the Grand Palais

Written by rubin Wednesday, 11 March 2009 02:04

PARIS.- This year, artparis sets photography in the place of honor with fifteen galleries invited to participate in a special sector, “artparis photography”, which will unwind like a spool though the corridors of the Grand Palais. The participating galleries are: Acte 2, Camera Obscura, Philippe Chaume, Emotion, In Camera, Galerie de L’Instant, CM Art, Nessim Galeria, Obsis, Paris Globe, Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery, Françoise Paviot, Olivier Waltman, Wanted Paris and Esther Woerdehoff. Numerous other participants also choose to display photography on their stands, making it one of the most represented media at the fair. The Fair is on view 19 March through 23 March, 2009.

Portraits of cities
The essence of photographic work, the city always inspires artists to a great degree, urging them to document its evolution, its fascinating character or its function as a receptacle for multitudes of dreams.

At gallery Philippe Chaume, Floriane de Lassée has been wandering the megalopolises of Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai since 2005. Born in 1972, this young photographer focuses on hyper modern architecture, bringing a strange surrealist quality to them that reminds one of Edward Hopper. Fascinated by their light, she endows these places with a quasi-religious glory, her supersaturated light transfiguring them almost beyond recognition. For the first time ever, the artist Frederick Delangle is showing his series Ahmedabad, named for the eponymous Indian city. Several years ago, France decided to save this huge heritage which is rapidly degenerating, left in the hands of disrespectful bric-à brac traders who attack the precious teak facades of the wooden houses. Frederick Delangle contributes to France’s effort in showing his photos, which have been taken only at night because of overpopulation and the surrounding pollution, testifying to what was, according to him, “the most beautiful and richest city in the world”. For his part, Ambroise Tézenas records the last popular houses of Beijing, "Hutongs,” before they disappear forever.

At gallery Philippe Chaume, Floriane de Lassée has been wandering the megalopolises of Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai since 2005. Born in 1972, this young photographer focuses on hyper modern architecture, bringing a strange surrealist quality to them that reminds one of Edward Hopper. Fascinated by their light, she endows these places with a quasi-religious glory, her supersaturated light transfiguring them almost beyond recognition. For the first time ever, the artist Frederick Delangle is showing his series Ahmedabad, named for the eponymous Indian city. Several years ago, France decided to save this huge heritage which is rapidly degenerating, left in the hands of disrespectful bric-à brac traders who attack the precious teak facades of the wooden houses. Frederick Delangle contributes to France’s effort in showing his photos, which have been taken only at night because of overpopulation and the surrounding pollution, testifying to what was, according to him, “the most beautiful and richest city in the world”. For his part, Ambroise Tézenas records the last popular houses of Beijing, "Hutongs,” before they disappear forever.  

Founded in Budapest in 2005, gallery Nessim focuses on Hungarian photography and that of Central Europe. Names such as Moholy-Nagy and Kertész form a part of their programming, accompanied by the following generation which is still little-known to the general public. It is therefore necessary to retain these names: Gábor Kerekes, Zsolt Péter Barta and Ladislav Postupa. For the most part, their photos in black and white depart from reality, relying primarily on their structure.

Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery makes the move of bringing a host of Chinese artists to the fair. Numbering six in total, these artists represents the most common trends in contemporary Chinese photography. Among them, Chen Jiagang realizes large format photos in ochre tones, framed with monumental industrial landscapes, which he immortalizes thanks to the darkroom. Yang Yi is also inspired by urban landscapes, most of them in full decay and which he has imagined as being plunged under the sea. The artist Wen Fang is fascinated by bricks. During the Imperial Era, bricks of gold were meticulously conceived and signed. Today, bricks are fabricated in cement, reproducible, short-lived and reflective of the evolution of the country. The artist thus questions the current identity of China while also honoring its centuries-old culture. 

Constance de Malleray of CM Art works between Paris and Moscow. Among those whom she represents, Nikolay Polissky is certainly one of the only Russian artists to have chosen the countryside for his studio, rather than one of the big cities where cultural life flourishes. He intervenes in the landscape with reconstructions of classic architectural forms and reflects that memory through his photos. He has also written that, "the place most secure for my works is in the memory". Believing that contemporary art is too much removed from the spectacle of nature, he wishes to rehabilitate the rural world. The sculptor Mona Breede, also born in Russia, chooses rectilinear and impressive architecture which she discovers in the United States, in China or in Russia, to serve as the backdrops for the human comedy which parades indefatigably in those places.

The young Galerie de l’Instant brings a selection of photos of cinema stars to the fair. François Gragnan immortalized these stars of the era in the 1960’s and 70’s: Jane Birkin, Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, Juliette Gréco, Simone Signoret, Romy Schneider, Sophia Loren, among so many others… And among the men were those such as Alain Delon, Johnny Hallyday and Steve McQueen. Most of them found themselves at some point in time under the flash bulbs of Giancarlo Botti. Many of the images were taken at Cannes during film shoots and conform to the most glorious images we could have of the 7th art. Bert Stein was spotlighted together with Marilyn Monroe in La Dernière séance where glamour, sensuality and beauty came to the fore, not knowing at the time, however, that she would become the most celebrated blond alive.

. . . more photography, beyond the corridors of “artparis photography”
David LaChapelle heats up the stand of gallery Maruani & Noirhomme. According to legend, his first model was that of his mother, wearing a bikini and holding a martini in her hand… and his vocation was born! His inimitable style, characterized by extremely bright colors and outrageous burlesque settings has earned him great success. He risks showing everything: sex, drugs and alcohol. Even top stars don’t resist his wiles, accepting the most risqué scenarios. For example, Angelina Jolie is ecstatic when Pamela Anderson or Paris Hilton – personifications of the Barbie doll – are drawn into the most outrageous and exciting situations one can imagine. The photos exhibited at artparis testify to the limitless imagination of LaChapelle’s imagination: mountains of candies which form a mosque, a personalize version of the Déluge (decorated with a array of arrogant bosoms), and further, for the pleasure of all the ladies, 72 dolls symbolizing veiled virgins who have taken a nearly naked gentleman hostage, of whom we would like to be in charge. Having fun and delivering messages at the same time, this is David LaChapelle’s style.

New to artparis, YU Gallery specializes in Chinese artists. Among them, Li Wei is an artist who dangerously sets his own body into the work, using the city as if it were a theater. His head can be stuck on the road, his body reproducing the trajectory of a basketball and then coming to balance – or not! – on a scaffolding. He can also mime the act of falling from a building, being pushed by a young woman or landing his head on a windscreen. For him, this violence against the body serves to illustrate the irrationality of mankind. Li Wei seeks to demonstrate that man is capable of the very worst as well as the best, but especially of the worst. In 2006 he took home one of the awards for “the best photographic works in the world,” granted by the Getty Institute.

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