The story begins in 1986 on the Place des Vosges in Paris. Claude Samuel and his wife Elisabeth founded their contemporary art gallery to champion artists who expressed themselves through photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. In 1994, the gallery moved into one of the spaces in the Viaduc des Arts on Avenue Daumesnil. In 2011, the gallery celebrated its 25th anniversary and an important administrative change: the artistic direction of the gallery was entrusted to Olivier Spillebout, director of the Maison de la Photographie in Lille, and the Transphotographiques and Transfotografia festivals in Lille and Poland, respectively.
Occupying a 200m² space, the majority of the Galerie Claude Samuel’s exhibitions are devoted to contemporary photography, with an international focus. Following several months of renovations, the gallery reopens its doors with a double exhibition featuring the work of the photographers Laurent Dequick and Rosa Muñoz. The two artists explore the limit between reality and fiction. Muñoz’s colorful images set everyday objects in dream-like and surrealist worlds, whereas Dequick transforms the image of the city, giving frenetic life to a landscape grown familiar.
Rosa Muñoz: Paysages entre réalité et fiction
The challenging photographs of Rosa Muñoz, through the concrete nature of their objects and settings, call forth ancient memories of a common past. Her works are made of meticulous compilations, of salvaged objects, of memories and signs, forming images that flicker between truth and falsehood, between reality and fiction.
Laurent Dequick: Reboard
Laurent Dequick uses visions of the city to communicate the exaltation that the urban landscape instills in us: “Winding through the streets, the lights, the sounds, the traffic, the swarms of people, the mixture of smells—no single point of view could capture it all. Does that mean one must choose? I refuse to believe so…”
February 11 – March 11, 2012
Gallery opening: Saturday, February 11, 17h
Galerie Claude Samuel
69 avenue Daumesnil
75012 Paris
Open Monday to Saturday, 13h to 19h
