Perhaps the best way to disseminate my Paris Photo experience is through the photos I took whilst at the fair and elsewhere. After the visits were cut short due to the tragic circumstances that unfolded that fateful Friday night I am looking back at the things that caught my eye. This is a very informal roundup, but worth a peek!
Photo from from the series
Bird Bald Book Bubble Bucket Brick Potato by Marton Perlaki
Foam Talent: I loved this work by Marton Perlaki - the birds of course appeal to me.
©Mariam Medeva from the series:
When you are dead the pose you take doesn't matter anymore
Although quite macabre Medeva's works were a reminder of Araki's bound women exhibiting beauty despite their objectification.
My fabulous assistant Sarah Reuter
This display reminded me of Yvonne De Rosa's installation
at the V&A Museum of Childhood this year
It was a great way to start the week, before attending the preview the following day.
Catching up with friends too
©Sophie Calle from the series The Hotel Room 1981
Room 30
It was great to this work again, albeit somewhat tucked away upstairs at the fair. So much today is reminiscent of this series by Calle.
Just to illustrate my amusement for the award for the worst technical information ever!
And the work ©Cy Twombly
A pattern began to emerge with prints on things other than traditional papers, in this case tapestries.
A new name here for me: Stephan Schenk
The concept of close up shots of the ground at WWI battle sites reminded me of some works I saw a couple of years ago - but the execution alters it dramatically.
©Stephan Schenk
©Stephan Schenk
Detail of work above
Here are a selection of works I liked at the fair.
©Masao Yamamoto
©Masao Yamamoto
©Albert Renger-Patzsch
Here are a few personal highlights from preview of the Shalom Shpilman Collection at Christies - see the details here & the results here. This is a very angular selection, but marvellous I must say.
©Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze)
Komposition, Vers 1935
This was stunning & the price it reached was not a surprise.
©Barbara Kasten
Construct VI-B, 1981
This Barbara Kasten is a beauty also for shallower pockets but well worth the price it reached.
As I was saying, more images made into 'things' at the fair....
Fabulous anonymous works, selling fast not surprisingly...
©Mario Finazzi (Italian, 1905-2002)
Hot Line, 1945
Solarized Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
Another angular wonder this time from Finazzi, I can see another collection forming already...
©Kurt Schwitters
Normalbühue Merz, c. 1925
A miniature wonder by Schwitters, shows us size isn't everything.
Frederick Kiesler
Interior of Marcel Duchamp's New York Studio, 1945
Vintage Gelatin Silver Prints
(€150,000)
The befitting angled connection between these two photographs illustrate how Frederick Kiesler's worked, in this case when photographing Marcel Duchamp's studio - especially when framed to show them at their best.
Notably printed by Berenice Abbott this is a beautifully rendered depiction of the creative chaos often found in the artists studio - the angles of the paper captured by the camera mirrored by the execution of the joined photographs. Tempered by the geometry of angles and multiplicity of of shapes within the composition - this trio of artistic connections satisfies on many levels. Seeds of his later work Endless House (1947-60) are evident here as reocuuring themes of architecture as a living organism made up of dead objects, somehow brought to life in this case by the camera.
©Edward Steichen
Vogue Fashion: Evening Gowns and Wrap (30,000€)
In these works the carefully chosen frames fit the era - we forget how well this works in an age of white lines. Art Deco angles, geometry and hints of luxurious texture suggestive of elegant grandeur, subtly border these beauties. Placed next to each other the price difference may stand out yet the images compliment one another well. The closeness of the female subjects also have a hint of coy closeness that I find very charming.
©George Hoyningen-Huene (Russian, 1900 - 1968)
Fashion by Sada Sacks, 1939
(€9,900)
And now for something completely different!
In what have become some quickly snapped accidental selfies I couldn't resist recording David LaChapelle's carefully titled Aristocracy series. Floating model planes in dyed water had a high price tag, but I did love them. They are on the one hand quite vulgar with hints of spending many may deem offensive: the world of private jets & luxury travel etc...
In what have become some quickly snapped accidental selfies I couldn't resist recording David LaChapelle's carefully titled Aristocracy series. Floating model planes in dyed water had a high price tag, but I did love them. They are on the one hand quite vulgar with hints of spending many may deem offensive: the world of private jets & luxury travel etc...
©David LaChapelle
Then there is the epic illusion he has created here through a simple devise - but inarguably effective to depict an impossible scenario with planes far too close together in multicoloured smoke/clouds (take your pick)...
©David LaChapelle
Are they catastrophic or celebratory?
©David LaChapelle
Masao Yamamoto
Edition of 20
Seeing this image in two different locations at two prices meant for closer inspections as to their condition (one was much better than the other) & pricing (this differed too) - but ultimately a stunning example of Yamamoto's enduring appeal.
©Ulla Jokisalo
From the series Collection of Headless Women
No surprise here - but just look at the use of a stunning bird collaged using pins - fashion collides with the hand of the artist. Popular of course & again a physicality to the work that I saw as one of 2015's Paris Photo themes.
©Ulla Jokisalo
From the series Collection of Headless Women
(side view to capture pins)
©Ulla Jokisalo
From the series Collection of Headless Women
Just two pictures to end, including my favourite stand - great reference point to get your bearings & great works on display to boot.
So I bid Paris farewell for now...
©Laura Noble - My last night in Paris 2015
