Month: October 2015

November 12, 2015 — November 15, 2015

 

Extra! Weegee features new discoveries as well as famous icons of Arthur “Weegee” Fellig’s legendary photographs.

 
Weegee’s unstoppable energy and photographic mastery grants him his prominent position in both artistic photography as well as in photojournalism. His famous use of a flashgun created what he termed “Rembrandt lighting” – a highly contrasted chiaroscuro effect which simultaneously heightened and accentuated visual details,rendering crime scenes less gruesome whilst maintaining photojournalistic standards for print. Weegee’s visions are unique: often showing nocturnal scenery. His varied themes have inspired generations of photographers. Whether visiting a gala event or racing to a crime scene, Weegee’s interest was often directed at onlookers’ reactions rather than at the spectacle itself. His pictures highlight the sensationalist and voyeuristic elements inherent in photography.

 

We are particularly pleased to reaffirm Weegee’s ongoing relevance as a creative force in this ensemble of vintage prints from the 1930s and 40s that we are presenting at Paris Photo this year.

 

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Daniel Blau features breathtaking photographs taken in orbit 50 years ago.

On March 18th, 1965, the Russian cosmonaut Alexey Leonov was the first human to step out of a spaceship during the Voshkod II mission. His 12 minute space walk marked a new level in the already heated competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. It was only a few months later on June 3rd, that Ed White made his space walk debut. This initiated the photographic narratives of the space race between the two superpowers. The camera has always been a silent partner in space. Photography, constantly redefining itself and our perceptions of reality, has played a decisive role in conveying the magnitude of mankind’s achievements. These pictures continue to impact our cultural, spiritual and political understanding of our environment and universe.

 

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Daniel Blau presents universally awe-inspiring photographs of nuclear explosions.

At 5:30 am on July 16th, 1945, the silence of the New Mexico desert was shattered by the blast of the first nuclear test, code-named ‘Trinity’. It irrevocably changed the world, ushering in the Atomic age. The light emitted by the explosion was sufficient to cause temporary blindness to an observer just half a mile away. Daniel Blau’s focus at this year’s Paris Photo is directed towards photographs of American nuclear tests from the 1940s and 50s.

Life Is Not a Test shows a unique selection of rare vintage prints of test explosions in the Pacific as well as the Nevada desert. These spectacular photographs reveal man’s most destructive forces at work and point to the fusion of art, history and technology caused by collisions of political and ideological differences. These photographs stand as a testimony to the history behind the study of the atom, which began centuries ago with philosophers investigating the structure of matter. It was the Greek philosopher Democritus (ca. 460 – 370 BC) who first formulated a hypothesis on the existence of atoms. The intersections between aesthetics, science and philosophy are dramatically demonstrated in these photographs of atomic explosions.

 

 

Exhibition: November Thurs. 12th – Sat. 14th, 12 – 8 pm, Sun. 15th / 12 – 7 pm.

at Grand Palais

Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris

 

November 7, 2015 — November 22, 2015

A special exhibition on the occasion of the Festival Photo Saint-Germain.

Sofia Valiente received her BFA in Art from Florida International University in Miami, Florida in 2012. Her first book, Miracle Village, was published during her tenure in the prestigious photography department of the residency program Fabrica in Treviso, Italy. Miracle Village, first exhibited at Daniel Blau gallery in London, recounts the personal journeys of sex offenders living in seclusion within the purpose-built community on the outskirts of a rural town in an impoverished area of Palm Beach County, Florida.

The project houses over 100 sex offenders. Florida’s stringent legislation requires offenders to live a minimum of 1,000 feet from any place where children congregate, many municipalities extend this law to increase the distance to 2,500 feet.In practice this becomes extremely difficult to abide by, leaving many offenders struggling to find housing and re-establish their lives in society. The village, founded by a Christian ministry, seeks to help offenders that have no place to go.

For over a year Valiente befriended, lived among and photographed the residents of Miracle Village where they shared their stories of estrangement, solitude and rehabilitation.Valiente’s work has, for the first time, given these outcasts whose lives are forcibly connected by their offences and shared stigma, a voice and identity. The undeniable artistic merits of the Miracle Village project lie not only in the exquisite photographic compositions, but in Sofia’s candid portrayal of the feared and ostracised. The photographs, which are both captivating and unsettling, are accompanied by equally striking stories in her critically-acclaimed book.

Sofia Valiente is represented by the Daniel Blau Gallery in London/Munich – her work has been exhibited in London and at New York’s AIPAD fair as well as various museum group shows in Miami. She recently received a World Press Photo award for Miracle Village (1st prize, Portraits, Stories). She is also a recipient of the 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Artist Fellowship and Burn Magazine’s first Young Talent Award. Sofia is currently based in South Florida, USA.

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Muck city road. Près de 10 km de route abandonnée. Il y a une drôle d’odeur dans l’air. Un mélange de barbe à papa et de fumée.

Les champs de canne à sucre couvrent le paysage à perte de vue. Cinq kms plus loin et à côté d’un village il y a des rails d’une ligne de chemin de fer. Les locomotives y passent à minuit. Le bruit de leurs turbines fait écho dans le village. Les gens qui vivent la, ne sont pas gênés par le signal du train de canne à sucre au petit matin. Pour eux, c’est le bruit du progrès et ils aiment ce bruit. Ce village c’est Miracle village. Plus de 100 délinquants sexuels y habitent.

– Joseph Steinberg (dans l’introduction de Miracle Village)

Daniel Blau est heureux de présenter Sofia Valiente, la lauréate du premier prix du concours du World Press photograph 2015 pour les portraits/histoires. Miracle Village, projet exposé pour la première fois la galerie Daniel Blau est une exploration provocante de la vie recluse d’hommes et de femmes, tous délinquants sexuels, vivant dans un village communautaire crée de toutes pièces et situé dans la banlieue d’une ville rurale, une région pauvre de Palm Beach County en Floride. Miracle Village accueille des délinquants sexuels qui en raison, de la législation sévère ne peuvent pas trouver de logements dans la mesure où la loi leur imposent de résider à minimun 300 mètres de tout endroit où se trouvent des enfants. Grâce à Sofia Valiente, ces exclus dont les vies sont irrémédiablement liées à leurs infractions et qui partagent leur stigmates, se voient enfin donnés une voix et une identité. Les qualités artistiques du projet de Miracle Village résident autant dans les compositions photographiques de toute beauté, qu’à sa manière de portraiturer de manière innocente ceux que nous craignons et que nous ostracisons.  Les photographies aussi captivantes que troublantes sont accompagnées d’histoires tout aussi bouleversantes dans un livre éponyme. Publié dans une édition limitée, comme les photographies, le livre révèle une connaissance approfondie des délinquants à travers leurs témoignages écrits et reproduit leur propre écriture.

Opening / Vernissage: November 6, 6 – 9 pm

Exhibition: November 7 – 22, 2015

Opening Hours are Tue. – Fri. 2.30 – 6 pm, Sat. 11 – 1 / 2.30 – 7 pm, Sun. Nov. 15, 2.30 – 6 pm

Sofia Valiente will be at the Gallery for her book signing on November 13, 5 – 7 pm

at Galerie Meyer – Oceanic and Eskimo Art

17 rue des Beaux-Arts, 75006 Paris

+33 1 43 54 85 74