Jacques Pugin The Knights of the Devil and Sacred Site

Transcription

1 Press Release Exhibition: Opening Reception: Tuesday February 10th 2015, from 6pm to 9pm, the artist will be present Jacques Pugin The Knights of the Devil and Sacred Site The Galerie Esther Woerdehoff is pleased to present two series by photographer Jacques Pugin: The Knights of the Devil and Sacred Site. The exhibition features two parts, two views on the same subject, Africa: first a black and white work on the ruins of war and then luminous color photographs of traces from an ancient but lively culture. The Knights of the Devil How does one photograph war? Certainly not by repeating pictures of corpses, answers the author who decided to re-appropriate images and subject satellite views of burnt villages in Darfur with at least 300,000 dead between 2003 and 2006 to another treatment, posing the question in a radical fashion. Freed of their colours and converted into black and white negative, the Google Earth captures become graphics. We will not find information, but we will, indisputably, have the form. (...)The information could not be derived from the actual image if it were produced in the photographic tradition or by the sophistication of recent technologies. Satellites which sweep everything, monitor everything supply us with shapes. Shapes to be deciphered. In this case, denoting tragedy. Christian Caujolle, published on The Eye of Photography Sacred Site As a counterpoint to the tragedy in Darfur, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff also exhibits another series: Sacred Site. The series refers to the name that Australian aborigines give to their holy places by surrounding them with enclosures to protect them. The artist travels around the world to photograph theses places, browsing deserted and depopulated areas and natural sites. He photographs traces that indicate the presence of man in the landscape. His photographs suggest a reflection on time, space and the complex relationship between mankind and nature. This series includes many enclosures, buildings, or traces of nomadic dwellings characterized by their circular shape: Jacques Pugin photographs these places like sculptures made with the surrounding elements, by men. Publication: The Knights of the Devil Photographs by Jacques Pugin, introduction by Christian Caujolle 30 x 30 cm, 64 pages, 2014 Limited edition of 300 books, including 20 copies, signed and numbered by the artist, of collector s editions featuring an original print. For any inquiries, please contact Sabine Guédamour by at sabine@ewgalerie.com or by phone at

2 Press images Jacques Pugin, #03, from the series The Knights of the Devil, Ultrachrome pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper, 36,5 x 65,5 cm, edition of 11 Jacques Pugin, #79, from the series The Knights of the Devil, Ultrachrome pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper, 36,5 x 66,5 cm, edition of 11 The use of images is exclusively reserved for promotion of the exhibition and valid up to three months after the end date of the exhibition. Obligatory mention: Jacques Pugin, Courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff 2

3 Press images Jacques Pugin, #299 Tchad, Ennedi, 2013, 16, N 21, E, from the series Sacred Site Ultrachrome pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper, 37 x 56,5 cm, edition of 11 Jacques Pugin, #298 Tchad, Ennedi, 2013, 16, N 21, E, from the series Sacred Site Ultrachrome pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper, 37 x 56,5 cm, edition of 11 The use of images is exclusively reserved for promotion of the exhibition and valid up to three months after the end date of the exhibition. Obligatory mention: Jacques Pugin, Courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff 3

4 Biography Artist Jacques Pugin Born in 1954, Jacques Pugin became a photographer in 1972, against his father s advice, and moved to Zurich. In 1977, he had his first exhibition at Galerie 38, a pioneer gallery dedicated to photography in Switzerland, run by Suzanne Abelin. He opened his own studio in Geneva in 1978, traveled to Greece and won a federal grant for Applied Arts. For his series Graffiti greffés, he draws in his photographs, using the Light painting technique of which he was one of the forerunners. This series was soon exposed worldwide. He received the Swiss Federal Grant for Fine Arts three years in a row. Visual artist, Jacques Pugin practices an experimental photography where his research on forms mingles with a reflection on time, space and on the complex relationship of man with nature. While photographing the traces of light, using collage, video, manipulating the colors, he proposes a new definition of Photography and his subjects. He is also an early user of the possibilities offered by the digital tools which allow him to intervene directly on the image. Since 2000, he travels around the world for his Sacred Site series, supported by a grant from the Leenaards Fundation and returns to Switzerland to photograph and to give us a striking vision of the mountains in his series La Montagne s ombre. His work is regularly published and has been exhibited many times, especially at the Musée de l Elysée in 1987 and 2009 and at the Center for Photography in Geneva, which he co-founded. His latest series, The Knights of the Devil (started in 2008) represents a change of approach. Denouncing the massacres of the civil war in Darfur, in a place very difficult to access for journalists, Jacques Pugin decided to use satellite photographs from Google Earth as a starting point for his images. The remaining ashes of the villages, looted and burned by the Janjaweed ( Knights of the Devil ), leave their macabre marks on the landscape, Jacques Pugin, by removing the colors and inverting the images, gives them a surreal appearance and invents a new political and conceptual way of showing the war. Solo exhibitions 2014 La montagne s ombre, AD Galerie, Nyon, Switzerland 2010 Galerie Kowasa, Barcelona, Spain 2009 La montagne s ombre, Galerie Krisal, Carouge Geneva, Switzerland D ombre et de lumière, Musée de l Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland 2006 La montagne s ombre, Galerie Krisal, Carouge Geneva, Switzerland 2005 Sacred Site, In Store, Bruxelles, Belgium 2004 La montagne bleue and Sacred Site, Galerie Chambre Claire, Annecy, France 2002 La montagne bleue, Galerie Osmoz, Bulle, Switzerland Les déserts, Galerie Krisal, Carouge Geneva, Switzerland 2000 La montagne bleue, Photoforum PasquArt, Bienne, Switzerland 4

5 1999 Traversée du désir, Galerie Fischlin, Nyon, Switzerland 1995 Galerie Fischlin, Geneva, Switzerland 1993 Photoforum Pasquart, Bienne, Switzerland Centre de la Photographie, Geneva, Switzerland 1990 Galeria Spectrum (with Centre de la photographie, Geneva), Saragossa, Spain 1988 Palais des Congrès et de la Culture, during the festival de l image de la ville du Mans, Le Mans 1987 Musée de l Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland 1984 Maison de la Culture de Rennes, Rennes, France Galerie Espace UN, Geneva, Switzerland 1983 Galerie Canon, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Galerie Fotografia Oltre, Chiasso, Switzerland Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris 1982 Galerie Suzanne Kupfer, Bienne, Switzerland Galerie Canon, Geneva, Switzerland 1981 Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris 1980 Galerie Edwind Engelberts, Geneva, Switzerland 1979 Galerie Jean-Jacques Hofstetter, Fribourg, Switzerland 1977 Galerie des Pas Perdus, Bulle, Switzerland Galerie 38, Zurich, Switzerland Group exhibitions (selection) 2014 Getxophoto, Struggles, Curator Christian Caujolle, Getxo Bilbao, Spain 2011 Europ ART Genève avec la Galerie Krisal, Geneva, Switzerland 5

6 2009 Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo, MAM, Fotografias da colecao M+M Auer, Sao Paulo, Brazil 2007 Art Paris, Grand Palais, with Galerie Emotion Lydie Trigano, Paris 2006 Sala municipal de exposiciones de San Benito, Una pasion suiza Colecccion M. + M. Auer, San Benito, Spain 2005 Fundación Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain Des goûts et des couleurs, Galerie Nicole et Léon Herschtritt, Paris 2004 Paris Photo, with Galerie Krisal, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris Art Paris, with Galerie Emotion, Paris 2003 Paris Photo, with Galerie Krisal, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris 2001 Le chant de la machine, Galerie Voutat, Crêtes/Vandoeuvres, Geneva, Switzerland Terre Ciel Mer, Biennale de photographie, Montpellier, France 2000 Le Nu Photographié, Galerie d art du Conseil général des Bouches-du-Rhône, Aix-en- Provence, France 1999 Histoires d oeufs, Paris Photo & Galerie Marion Meyer, Paris 1997 Au Cervin qui fume, Forum de Meyrin, Switzerland 1993 Musée Rath, Escale 3, Geneva, Switzerland 1990 Galleria SPSAS, palazzo Morettini Locarno, Switzerland 1988 Musée de l Elysée, La collection Polaroid, Lausanne, Switzerland 1987 Genève : 9 photographes, Galeria ZPAF, Cracovie et Stara Galeria, Warsaw, Poland Sélection III» from Polaroid Collection, The National Museum for Photography, Bradford, Great-Britain 1986 Sélection III, curated by Dr. Erika Billeter from Lausanne, Köln, Germany New black and white West-European photography, Museum of Vilnius, Lituania 6

7 1985 Selections II from Polaroid, 4th Triennale Internationale de la Photographie, curated by Alain Sayag from the Centre Georges Pompidou inparis, Fribourg, Switzerland 1984 New Black & White West European Photography, The L.A. Center of Photography Research, Los Angeles, USA La Couleur Créative, Mois de la Photo, Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris Young Swiss Photographers, Osaka Prefectural Art Center, Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics Shadai Gallery, Kawtohu Department Store in Morioka, Umeya Department Store à Odawara, Kanagama Prefectural Gallery in Hokohama, Japan Les Gens de l Ephémère, Centre Culturel Français, Beer Sheva, Israel 1983 Les Gens de l Ephémère, Tel Aviv and Haïfa Museums, Israel New Black & White West European Photography, Center for Photography, Houston, USA Les Gens de l Ephémère, Les Rencontres Internationales de la photographie, Galerie Arena, Arles 1982 Photographie et Narration, Centre culturel de l Yonne, with Daniel Boudinnet, Guy Le Querrec, Ange Manganelli, Jacques Pugin and David Seidner, Auxerre, France Photographes contemporains en Europe, Les Rencontres Internationales de la photographie, Arles, France 1981 Jeunes Photographes Suisses, Musée d art et d histoire, Geneva, Switzerland Section des Jeunes Photographes, Rencontre internationale de la photographie, Arles 1980 Section des Jeunes Photographes, Rencontre internationale de la photographie, Arles 1979 Galerie Canon, Geneva, Switzerland Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland Publications 2014 Les cavaliers du Diable La montagne s ombre 2006 paysages.ch, 36 photographs by Jacques Pugin, boxed book, with a text by Daniel Girardin, curator of the Musée de L Elysée à Lausanne 1998 La montagne bleue, Collection Photoarchives 10, Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel 1990 Jacques Pugin, exhibition catalog, SPSAS Locarno Trace dans le monde physique, exhibition catalog, Centre de la Photographie, Geneva 1983 Exhibition catalog, Galerie Fotografia Oltre 7

8 1982 Espace-Ligne, exhibition catalog, Canon Gallery, Geneva 1980 Graffiti greffés I, portfolio, E. Engelberts Graffiti greffés II, portfolio, E. Engelberts 1979 Graffiti greffés, exhibition catalog, Galerie E. Engelberts, Geneva Awards and grants Bourse de la Fondation Leenaards, Lausanne, Switzerland Swiss Federal Grant of Fine arts, Switzerland Bourse de la Ville de Genève «Berthoud», Switzerland Swiss Federal Grant of Fine arts, Switzerland Bourse de la Ville de Genève «Lissignol-Chevalier», Switzerland Swiss Federal Grant of Fine arts, Switzerland Bourse fédérale des Arts Appliqués, Switzerland Collections Bernard Arnault Collection, France Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Fondation de la Photographie, Zurich, Switzerland Musée de l Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland Musée Nicéphore Niepce, Chalon-sur-Saône, France Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva, Switzerland Fonds municipal d art contemporain, Geneva (FMAC), Switzerland Fonds cantonal d art contemporain, Geneva, (FCAC), Switzerland Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France The Polaroid Collection, Cambridge, USA Festival international des Rencontres d Arles Collection, France Goro International Press, Tokyo, Japan Musée d art et d histoire, Fribourg, Switzerland M+M Auer Collection, Hermance, Switzerland André L Huillier, Geneva, Switzerland Centre de la Photographie, Geneva, Switzerland Banque du Gothard, Lugano, Switzerland Banque Julius Baer, Switzerland Chopard Collection, Switzerland 8