I reserved my last favorite for this year 2021 to the Galerie Ibasho, present for the first time in Arles, in a small room as invisible as it seemed to me to be overpriced. This gallery, very specialized in creations related to Japan, is located in Antwerp with a corresponding editor in Paris. The works of the various authors were presented in a pleasant scenography for a beautiful display in a very small space. I suggest you share my arbitrary choice of three creators among the exhibited works.
The very subtle mixtures of photographs and painted layers made by Casper Faassen, Dutch artist, in his particular style exacerbates the beauty. Whether he dwells on Japanese objects extracted from museums as well as private collections or whether he works in symbiosis with the Japanese dancer Madoka using geisha poses, subtlety delivers emotion in an ephemeral space.
Albarrán Cabrera are actually two Spanish photographers: Anna Cabrera and Angel Albarrán. They frequently travel and stay in Japan which has strongly influenced the aesthetic content of their work. They use a wide range of processes and materials and manufacture their prints by hand using classic photographic methods like platinum and silver halide, or pigment prints on gold leaf.
Japanese photographer Yoshinori Mizutani lives and works in Tokyo; however, he keeps important links with nature through his rural origins.
His work on cherry blossoms (sakura in Japanese) with numerous technical tests, fully symbolizes Japanese culture turned towards the contemplation of the ephemeral.
Thanks to Anne Marie Zethof and Martijn van Pieterson for giving us a few moments of satisfaction and admiration, in the hubbub of Arles, in front of works of irreproachable quality.
Ibasho Gallery <[email protected]>
