SANAA & Walter NIEDERMAYR

In May, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, a duo of architects known as SANAA, received the Pritzker Prize for architecture; which gives me the opportunity to focus on a long-term collaboration between Walter Niedermayr and SANAA. In a way that is quite reminiscent of the relationship between Thomas Ruff and Herzog&Meuron, Niedermayr has been working closely with the Japanese architects, in order to document SANAA’s projects, such as the Glass Pavilion in Toledo, the Moriyama House in Tokyo, or more recently, the New Museum in NY.
The collaboration works perfectly: the pale, almost abstract light that characterizes many of Nierdermayr’s images fits well with SANAA’s minimal buildings, that often play with transparency. It also gives a broader view of the Italian photographer’s talent, who got first known for his man-altered alpine landscapes.

Some of these pictures can be found in a book published in 2007 by Hatje Cantz. For those who make the trip to Copenhagen, the Danish Architecture Centre exhibits a selection of these photographs, until October 1st.

Thomas Ruff "Haüser" Portfolio

Collecting Thomas Ruff's work is both easy and complex.
Easy, because it is rather difficult to make a mistake, as almost ALL his series are interesting. I read it as a sign that Thomas Ruff is making history. Interiors, Porträts, Hauser, Sterne, Nacht, LMVDR, Jpegs…Even some Nudes images (the ones with immediate impact, and thus the ones that appear more frequently at auctions) deserve attention.
On the other hand, collecting Ruff’s work is very complex. Unless you are a Russian billionaire with unlimited purchasing power, you have to make difficult choices. At a first glance, some series are very different one from another. How to choose between a 1980’s “Portrat” and a 2000’s Jpeg ? Apart from the obvious “subjective” factor, historical significance enters into play.

After several years of wandering through Thomas Ruff’s work, I happen to be more oriented towards his architecture images. They are a recurring theme, as seen in the Hauser series, the LMVDR, some pictures for Herzog & Meuron (the book published in 1994 is a must have) and part of the Jpeg series. And they make full use of Ruff’s image treatment techniques.
Going back to the roots, hence, the Hauser Portfolio released by Schellman Edition in 1989 is a seminal work. The 5 Dye-Transfer prints depict urban landscapes, focused on a house or a building, with so simple an approach that the images come close to abstraction. During a long discussion on Ruff’s work, an art dealer once advised me to have a close look at this Hauser series, as it was the first one where the artist modified images afterwards, in order to rub out some visual interferences. If true, this work announces much of other “image editing” series, such as the LMVDR, the Nudes and Jpegs.

A few thoughts on Paris Photo 2009 (with some delay)

This Paris Photo Fair was the 10th edition I could attend. It is always a pleasure (when possible, I even take a day off to get a broad and quiet view). Here are a few thoughts or comments on this specific edition :

The scope. In 2010, what is a Photo Fair without images by Wolfgang Tillmans, Philip Lorca Dicorcia or Thomas Ruff (except for the illustrated book shown at Toluca Booth) ? The absence of some of these cutting edge photographers poses a challenge. To a lower extent, one could also regret the fact that conceptual artists using photography among other media (Olafur Eliasson, Roni Horn, Rodney Graham, etc) are not featured here. Of course, the reason lies on the art market structure. These artists are represented by contemporary art galleries. And their images can sometimes be seen at Frieze, Fiac or Basel.

The bargain. A Japanese gallery stand sold Taiji Matsue unique prints, details of black&white landscapes, for 50 euros. For those who own one of the two corresponding Matsue books (including the Hysteric one), it made a wonderful addition.

The worst stand. Pieter Hugo’s Nollywood exhibition at Michael Stevenson gallery. Extra Large printing size and delicate framing seemed totally inadequate to these harsh images. Commercial recipes of the German Photography School can’t be applied to all photographic works.

The repetition. Each year, visitors can have a look at new Massimo Vitali beach landscapes. These Diasec prints are always gorgeous. But it is getting difficult to understand Vitali’s artistic project. As long as clients subscribe each year…

The positive surprise. Before arriving at Toni Tapies Gallery stand, I had never seen large Burtynsky prints. The Australia mines images exhibited there were simply beautiful. Days later, I saw Quarries prints at the Pictet Prize exhibit in Passage de Retz, in Paris. Some may find Burtynsky’s work too “easy” and trendy, but the fact that he built a coherent ensemble since the 80’s, when environmental issues were not a priority, makes it truly significant.

The books. One of my favourite features of Paris photo is the presence of many specialized booksellers. Except for Ken Ohara’s One first edition (a book I had been searching for a long time), no major purchases this year. As a bronze donator for Rob Hornstra’s Sotchi Project, I also took my copy of Sanatorium, his last publication.