No star photographer nor celebrity has these photos. None have this closeness with everything that we see here with each shot. But, Jean Pigozzi, he does. Not a photographer, he hosts these photos in what has been his family home on the Côte d’Azur for fifty years: the Villa Dorane. Heir turned entrepreneur, a flamboyance carried to the extreme, Pigozzi has tirelessly pursued his passion for photography, of which he collects mostly African work, for forty years. This passion, this infatuation, this youthful craze for photography is something very obvious and pleasant. He is happy to be so involved, and it’s made obvious. Today, these images are in an exhibition at New York’s Gagosian Gallery and in a newly published book :
« Villa Dorane seemed like a chapter F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t live long enough to write but you knew he would. Although the vicissitudes here on the Riviera would suggest some kind of aloofness, it couldn’t be further from the truth… the villa is free of gilded guilt, chintz, and convention; instead, a myriad of mostly African artworks that Johnny picked up on his travels adorn the walls … And yet here amongst the sloping lawns and the conifers we hear on the breeze a quieting thought—“life’s too serious to take so seriously”… of all the wild and wonderful guests jumping in and out of his looking-glass pool. »
EXHIBITION
Johnny’s Pool
Jean Pigozzi
From April 12th to May 28th, 2016
Gagosian
976 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10075
United States
T. 212.744.2313
Hours: Tue–Sat 10-6
[email protected]
http://www.gagosian.com
BOOK
Pool Party
Written by Johnny Pigozzi, Foreword by Bono
Hardcover
Publisher: Rizzoli
7-1/8 x 8-7/8 inch
ISBN: 978-0-8478-4916-1
35€
http://www.rizzoliusa.com
