From an ordinary material, ice, we propose a voyage through space and time where photo and video are not only symbiotic but complementary, the almost hypnotic movement of the film echoing the harmony and strength of the photographs.
Ice is made of water. In the sea, there is a lot of water… but less and less ice.
Discover unusual images in a different way. What seems so banal to us at first sight, within reach, so close.
Unless it is so far…
On the rocks :
– Galerie Art’Gentiers gallery, Bordeaux, January 20 – March 11, 2023
– International Multihull Yacht Show, La Grande Motte, April 12 – 16, 2023
– A. Galerie, selection of three large prints, BAD+ Art Fair, Bordeaux, May 4 – 7, 2023
White peonies,
They say
A little red, though
Takahama Kyoshi, 1874-1959
Short and concise, a haiku encourages reflection, imagination, to transport the spirit …
A haiku evokes, suggests, invites contemplation and meditation. With its sobriety it steers our imagination by multiplying it like a guide, at once expert, secret and delicate …
Sensitivity, imagination and emotions are human and universal. Different cultures, through their prisms, make them express distinctly, but the background remains the same!
It is therefore up to the reader to create his own vision, to invent, to consider, to project him/herself rather than by words. As image makers we opt for visual metaphors that are not primarily an attempt at translation(s) but rather transgressions, inspirations, breaths that in our turn we offer to the eyes as so many surprising phonemes.
The black is the origin. With the appearance of light different BLACKS have been revealed, multiple, sensitive, fragile but with what presence! BLACKS that are born from the deprivation of light, BLACK reflections of non-reflections, a kind of anti-light that makes us discovering colors, lights and materials. They emphasize, reveal, make us aware of so close richnesses. Magical, simple, dayly.
We took as starting point existing material or surfaces propitious to the imagination, one could be tempted to recognize skins, minerals, cellars, roads, mountains, water, sea, stars, coal, technical fabrics, bolts or dancer. But does one really need these eclectic identifications? These are just starting points, initializations, suspensions of time, like freezed frames masterfully highlighted by the BLACKS…
Because the light is our brush, we wanted to go on playing, dreaming, looking even further … drilling holes for the light.
NOIRS has been exhibited twice, in June 2018 in the Relais & Châteaux Le Saint-James art gallery and in April 2019 in La Grande Motte. This catalogue is the one of the latter.
After our recent photographic and videos exhibitions, we continue our quest, this time through the prism of color … This exhibition is a reflection of our vision, voluntarily sweet and poetic, on the moment before the encounter, on the first glance. It stops at the first whirlwinds when the glass starts to swirl putting the color in motion … Just before the transfer to the other senses, because what happens next is another story … Beautiful!
Boats, vineyards and desserts compete with elegance, magic and even mystery …
After our last photographic and videos exhibitions, the evidence came from having to continue on an even richer and more varied theme, to travel through different fields where, to our greatest happiness, the spirit and the hand of man shape and shine.
The custom is to show Bordeaux vineyards in the summer or autumn during the harvest, while the light is warm, the grapes are ripe and well plump. But what happens in the winter, when the vine are resting and the branches are cut, the time seems to be slowed down, as if suspended? This exhibition is not a report stricto sensu, rather a poetic, dreamlike but realistic, non-exhaustive ballad around the three vineyards, composed of photographs and a film. We do not look at a film like an exhibition of photographs … Images that show the delicacy, the romanticism where the sweetness of the colors contributes to the beauty and the emotion.
When we proposed our collaboration to Marc Van Peteghem we had no special knowledge of Bangladesh. We wanted to approach the subject without moaning nor voyeurism, but show the beauty and pride of the Bangladeshis and their country – Try to get close, bring our vision, from earthlings to earthlings!
Our aim was not to describe, once more the program of Watever or explain the need for us to be in Bangladesh, as the people’s plight, calls us!
We just felt the need to bring to our our society the reality of the need and the value of Watever self-embedding within the communities that can benefit from sustainable approaches to local resource development. With the sale of prints and film, we can help folk contribute to Watever to continue their selfless and effective work.
Our ‘‘BANGLADESH!’’ exhibit uses the essences of both photography and video. Reinforced thus, we can, perhaps, re-experience emotions of the individual Bangladeshis, suddenly released from dependence and despair. If you can feel such joy we’ve done our job! If your fall in love with a print, you can help sustain these good deeds.
Romain and Nicolas Claris
Chittagong, Bangladesh April 2013
A fully contributory work, all benefits go to the Watever NGO.