After a first sold-out show, Galerie Miranda presents the second exhibition of unique, experimental photographs by Chuck Kelton (1952, American), master darkroom printer whose expressive personal work is made in full daylight, outside of the darkroom. Kelton spends weeks, sometimes months, sketching and preparing each work. His unique, camera-less photographs, are evocative of other media such as watercolor, oil painting, drawing, and invite us into a romantic world that seems nonetheless on the edge of calamity. His imagery is delicate and composed but also the product of improvisation and accident, resulting in highly atmospheric and timeless images:
“I’m looking for spectacular images, something I haven’t seen before, something that references photography and a hundred other things both historical and visual. A moment where chaos seems to undermine harmony. A moment where you feel threatened and peaceful, a visual dialogue between oppositions; from irrational and rational, belief to disbelief, something at once known and unknown.” (from an interview published in LensCulture, 2016)
The exhibition title is from a handwritten note found in Chuck Kelton’s preparatory notebooks, and describes the emotion he seeks to create with his works. The exhibition present photograms and chemigrams from 2015-2024 alongside vintage lithographs by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985, France), in collaboration with baudoin lebon. Kelton’s works are in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the International Center of Photography (New York), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the New York Public Library and the
Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, Florida). The Mana Contemporary museum in New Jersey, USA, is currently presenting, until June 25th, Kelton’s chemigrams alongside his personal collection of African masks, acquired over several decades.
Chuck Kelton : Something to fall into
Until 26 April 2025
Galerie Miranda
21 Rue du Château d’Eau
75010 Paris, France
www.galeriemiranda.com
