Chuck Samuels, Expression, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe, Plein sud, centre d’exposition en art actuel in Longueuil announce the release of a major publication titled Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography. The publication is co-published by Expression, Plein sud and Kerber Verlag (Berlin). Richly illustrated and designed by Dominique Mousseau, it includes two essays on Chuck Samuels’ work by internationally renowned Catalan (Spain) artist and writer Joan Fontcuberta, and accomplished art historian Mona Hakim of Québec (Canada).
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography follows an aspect of the artist’s practice in which he performs before the camera in order to examine how photography (and, to a lesser extent, cinema) works and doesn’t work. In each of the six projects he selected for the publication, the artist uses himself as a surrogate for photography and, by focusing the camera on himself, he is actually turning the spectator’s gaze upon the very nature of photography. In an absurd but rigorous manner, he is attempting to become photography. The book addresses the following six projects: Before the Camera (1991), Before Photography (2010), The Photographer (2015), After (2020), On Photography (2020), and The Complete Photographer (2020).
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography was produced in both French and English editions which are currently available in Canada at Expression, Plein sud as well as online at the websites of Plein sud (English version; French version). The French edition is distributed in Canada in several French-language bookstores by Diffusion Dimedia Inc., on behalf of the Collectif d’éditeurs en art contemporain (CÉAC), of which Expression and Plein sud are members. The English edition is (or will shortly be) distributed in Canada and in the U.S. in selected bookstores by D.A.P. | Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. (one of Kerber Verlag’s partners). In Europe, the book can be purchased directly from Kerber Verlag (English version; French version) or can be found in selected bookstores. A complete list of Kerber Verlag’s international distribution partners, who market the book in over 85 countries worldwide, can be found here.
The artist is grateful to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its support of the publication.
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography
Essays: Joan Fontcuberta and Mona Hakim
Texts in English
136 pages. Hardcover: 28.6 x 23.5 cm (11.25” x 9.25”)
ISBN 978-3-7356-0732-4
