Rhona Bitner
dal 16/3/2011 al 29/4/2011
Segnalato da
16/3/2011
Rhona Bitner
Blondeau Fine Art Services BFAS, Geneve
Following her investigation of the circus and its performers and Clown, and subsequently her images of theater in Stage, Rhona Bitner continues to question the notion of spectacle and performance and presents a new series of images titled Listen (2006-in progress), dedicated to music. A special selection of 25 photographs will be exhibited for the first time.
On 17 March 2011, to coincide with the “Nuit des Bains” in Geneva, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services is pleased
to present the photographs of the American artist Rhona Bitner, at its space at 5 rue de la Muse.
Following her investigation of the circus and its performers in the series CIRCUS (1991-2001) and CLOWN
(2001-2002), and subsequently her images of theater in STAGE (2002-2006) Rhona Bitner continues to
question the notion of spectacle and performance and presents a new series of images titled LISTEN (2006-in
progress), dedicated to music. A special selection of twenty-five photographs will be exhibited for the first time.
In October 2006, CBGB – the iconic New York club and pillar of American underground rock for over 30 years –
closed its doors. The artist explains: “As CBGB’s closed its doors in 2006, I began to think about music, primarily
popular music, its wide reach and direct relationship to the human experience. I became intrigued by the notion of
physical emptiness (co)existing with the memory of what had occurred there.” Criss-crossing the United States,
Rhona Bitner photographs the clubs, theaters, stadiums, concert halls, churches and recording studios where
American music was written, recorded and played, ranging from gospel to jazz, blues, folk, rock, and punk.
“These venues encompass a wide range but still retain the unifying significance of the place where it happened,”
says Rhona Bitner. Resolutely, the artist has, to date, photographed 193 venues which represent the culture of
popular music: Electric Lady Studios, the recording studio built by Jimi Hendrix in New York’s Greenwich Village;
Elvis Presley’s music room at Graceland in Memphis; the Cobo Arena in Detroit where the Doors (among others)
recorded a live album; Randy’s Rodeo in San Antonio where the Sex Pistols concert ended in a general riot; or
Woodstock.
LISTEN is not a documentary project but the result of frank and thoughtful observation. These photographs are
neither narrative nor nostalgic; they are neutral and autonomous. They reflect the attentive gaze of a detached
observer. The artist focuses on the spaces as they are today, without any manipulation – still active, abandoned,
closed-down or transformed. Empty of all human presence, these venues retain the resonance of memory.
Thus – through an immediate or intimate response, and with the memory of past experiences – the viewer just
might be able to hear the images...
Rhona Bitner lives and works in New York and Paris. She is represented in Paris by Galerie Xippas, in Boston by the Howard
Yezerski Gallery and in New York by CRG Gallery. Her photographs are represented in the Whitney Museum of American Art
in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie and the Fonds National d’Art
Contemporain in Paris.
A selection of photographs from the series LISTEN was shown at the Rencontres d’Arles in the summer of 2010.
Press packs and HD illustrations are available on request.
Image: First Church of Deliverance, Chicago, IL 2008. Color coupler photograph mounted on aluminium, 100 x 100 cm. 39.5 x 39.5 in. Edition of 6 + 2AP
BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services moved in 2000 to 5 rue de la Muse in the heart of the Quartier des Bains in Geneva. Consultants and connoisseurs in art
since 1820, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services propose works to collectors and institutions world wide. It has a unique reference library comprising almost
15’000 titles. Aspiring to share its vision of contemporary and emerging art, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services mounts regular exhibitions at its dedicated
gallery-space, 5 rue de la Muse, showing artists such as Alex Brown, Michael Cline, Fabrice Gygi, Louise Lawler, Raymond Pettibon and Jim Shaw.
More informations:
Marine Galley - External relations T. +41 (0)22 5449595 marine@bfasblondeau.com
BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services
5, rue de la Muse CH-1205 Genève, Switzerland
Hours: Thu-Fri 14h-18h30, Sat 11h-17h