Thierry Bigaignon, Portrait of a future gallery owner 5/8

This week, during our fifth interview with Thierry Bigaignon, we will talk about the rituratorial and artistic vision of his future gallery. We will discuss his selection criteria, upcoming events to follow the inaugural exhibition of Ralph Gibson’s work, and the gallery owner’s personal tastes and desires.

We will accompany Thierry Bigaignon over the next six weeks, until the gallery opening in June 2016.

From the start, I decided not to set myself any specific criteria. However, unlike museums which have the obligation to preserve artworks and which must ignore personal preferences, galleries follow different rules. So obviously I will show photographs I personally like. Then, I think the relationships I am going build with artists whose work I would like to exhibit is as important as my affinity for their art: so I would say this relationship is also a criterion!

I am not planning to feature exclusively emerging artists, even though I am of course always on the lookout for new talent. But there are two things I strongly believe in: exigency and eclecticism. I hope to build a strong image for the gallery through discerning and diverse choices.

2016 is all wrapped up, so to speak. I have some beautiful things in store! From abstraction, street photography and cityscapes, to vintage and contemporary photography, the programming will be in line with the eclecticism I’ve just mentioned. I am in the process of working out 2017, and to that end I’ll be at PhotoLondon this week to meet several people. Recently, I’ve also met a very interesting artist who has a singular way of looking at everyday objects. This photographer has been working for a long time, but thus far has never exhibited his personal work. I would very much like to draw everybody’s attention to his work.

There are so many! When I met Ralph Gibson, I told him there were two photographers who had a particular influence on me, and each for a diametrically opposed reason: Saul Leiter and Ralph Gibson himself! Saul Leiter because he knew better than anyone how to produce layered images; and Ralph Gibson for his ingenious ability to eliminate the inessential from the frame. In addition to these two masters of composition, I would have to name, for various reasons, Ernst Haas, André Kertész, Aaron Siskind, Joel Meyerowitz, Philippe Ramette, Gregory Crewdson, as well as Chema Madoz, all of whom touched me in one way or another.

To be honest, exhibiting Ralph Gibson’s work is already a dream come true, and the same can be said of the next photographer I am going to show! That said, there are some artists for whom I have a special admiration: those who have the amazing ability to stage performances, to create “real-life” works (in the street, in nature…) and then to transpose them into photography. I am thinking of George Rousse for instance who, for the past thirty years, has been producing truly exceptional work. The same could be said of Nils Udo, of Christo & Jeanne-Claude, or even JR. I love expanding horizons, bridging seemingly opposing worlds; this was my philosophy as an art advisor, and I hope to continue it at my gallery.