In part of Paris Photo, Ilan Engel Gallery presents the solo show of Stephan Crasneanscki with Landscape & Memory, Schwartzwald and Forêt de Crimée‘s series.
Stephan Crasneanscki takes us on a journey of contemplation. A life force. Intimate. As if placing himself on the edge of the world – or rather humanity – to better understand its interiority. In the wake of those who have preceded us in these inhabited places of memories impalpable yet so present. For Joseph Beuys, the forest is a place of mystical transformations. For him, the forest also coincides to the birth of a myth on which he founds his artistic approach. Collected by Tartar nomads after his plane crashed in Crimea forest June 16, 1944, Beuys owes his salvation to that community that fed him honey and wrapped him in fat and roofed him in felt to bring him back to life. By entering into this individual mythology, he created for therapeutic purposes, using organic materials to unite together in a constellation of energy a shamanic regenerating approach to space. The adventure becomes an agonizing rebirth. Stéphane Crasneanscki gives testament to this scene. He delivers the rustling image between life and death, a ghostly presence shrouded by fog and snow. Some diptychs are vertical to accentuate the elevation. Others are purely monochrome. Color is soundproof, sometimes uniformly white. The horizon is blocked in front, sides, and certainly behind. The purification achieves opacity, like the center of a cloud. By seeing only raw nature, we have a vision of the Stone Age. So many visions that pay homage to an idea, a philosophy, a religion. A human and his mystery finally.
FAIR
Paris Photo 2015
November 12th-15th, 2015
Grand Palais
Paris
France
http://www.parisphoto.fr
http://www.ilanengelgallery.com
http://stephancrasneanscki.com
