Vic Lentaigne, Untitled, 2013
Yann Morrison,Pretty Girls,3 mars 2013
Yann Morrison,After Party, 2 Septembre 2012
Holly Falconer, Twat Boutique, October 2009
Hannibal Volkoff, Chez Françoise,2011
17th October 2013 – 17th November 2013 Dog Eared Gallery, 25-28 Field Street, WC1X9DA London PV– Thursday, 17th October
alisa-gallery.com
The photographs in the exhibition testify as signs and expressions of a story about transient times in our societies.
As a medium photography is exciting in its ability not only to freeze time but to capture the energy and essence of the locality and subject, like dancing youths losing themselves in the moment. The photographs offer viewers a position to become voyeurs of this unique scene as well as represent a ‘portrait of a generation’, as suggested by Nan Goldin or Wolgang Tillmans, at the same time, the essence manifests as “elegiac symphonies” on the youth body – learning, free and instinctual. The photographs capture fleeting moments at night time, in a documentary style. The photographers tend to show a part of the community they belong to and their body of work offers a kind of generational testimony.
« The depiction of marginalized groups that are socially overlooked has been a concern of documentary photography since the coining of the term in the 1920s. The fact that today these images are more likely to appear in artist’s books and exhibitions, rather than magazines or newspaper supplements, is a sign of the shift in the context of photography. And while documentary is by no means the dominant photographic form in the art world, in the hands of a few key artists it remains an important social and political tool. “ in The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton, Thames & Hudson, 2004.
The photos that appear in this exhibition have common values: they show body in motion, youth aware of their insolent beauty, yearning to have fun. Most protagonists wear a mask in a form of dramatized outfits, make-up and hairstyles to be noticed but also to express their individual styles and attitudes. A palpable mad desire of freedom is felt in these clubs and parties.
The photographs find beauty in the ordinary and allow an aesthetic kind of spontaneity to emerge. Moreover, they make sense of what is happening ‘now’. All photographers capture this essence and energy of such universal moments, they make their blinks, timeless.
Nan Goldin fixed the moment as a vital necessity. In the clubs, she takes photography obsessively “I photograph directly from my life. These pictures come out of relationships, not observation”, in Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Aperture, 2004. The artistic creation and framing of each photograph show the sexual energy and erotic intensity to emerge. Ultimately, all art is erotic “Art is never chaste” (Picasso), “Eros, is life” (Duchamp).
Photos by Holly Falconer, Vic Lentaigne, Yann Morrison, Ola Paprocka, Thomas Smith, Justinas Vilutis, Hannibal Volkoff. Curated by Alisa Phommahaxay.
