The second part of the exhibition Notre beauté fixe (Our Beautiful Stillness) features previously unseen pictures from nine photographers represented by the gallery. The pictures are all variations on the photographic thought , expressed each in his or her own way, depending of their being to the world, their sensibilities, and their visual and intellectual commitments. These photographs testify, nine times over, to the gallery’s position in the contemporary world of photography.“Photography in itself is not art; only those who use it may turn it into beautiful stillness. Here in a nutshell is the core question we have been debating for the past thirty-five years: how is it possible that this man-made, unthinking machine could be capable of capturing the searing explosiveness of energy that condenses a culture and the point of its erasure in the ‘encounter between time and the beautiful,’ as Denis Roche put it?
What fascinates us is the way, the form, or yet, the style that photographers invent in order to short-circuit the world, and the stage setting that they offer us. Every photograph is a mise-en-scène of reality which transforms into a photographer digital or analog imprint. What we are looking at is therefore the being there of a presence, of humanity; in any case, that is what interests and motivates us. The title of the exhibition, Notre beauté fixe, underscores the fact that we are speaking about beauty that is ours, beauty that is our source of delight! Any categories and classifications, which are constantly under debate, seem to collapse in the face of the independence, and the magical evidence, of what we recognize as works of art. Stylistic asceticism is what separates the masses of images makers from photographers. We are looking for photographers who transform space-time into pure presence; who push the boundaries of the real ; who turn the muteness of images into eloquence. And we blow to pieces this stale debate between contemporary art and photography.”
Catherine Dérioz and Jacques Damez
Catherine Dérioz and Jacques Damez are directors of Le Réverbère Gallery in Lyon, France.
Featuring photographs and videos by: Arièle Bonzon, Pierre Canaguier, Serge Clément, François Deladerrière, Pierre de Fenoÿl, Lionel Fourneaux, Emmanuelle Fructus, Rip Hopkins, Philippe Pétremant.
Notre beauté fixe, Inédits
January 20 to April 29, 2017
Galerie Le Réverbère
38 rue Burdeau
69001 Lyon
France
www.galerielereverbere.com
