Jean-Christian Bourcart
dal 27/10/2000 al 28/11/2000
Segnalato da
27/10/2000
Jean-Christian Bourcart
Kagan Martos Gallery, New York
The Kagan Martos Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in New York of Jean-Christian Bourcart. Bourcart, a photographer and film maker, was born in 1960 in France. He gained attention in his native country for a photographic series he had done in 1992 of brothels in Frankfurt, 'Infertile Madonnas'. He returned to these settings the following year to shoot a video using a hidden camera. This exhibition will include that sixteen minute video, also titled, 'Infertile Madonnas', and a selection of large scale photographs from the series.
The Kagan Martos Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo
exhibition in New York of Jean-Christian Bourcart. Bourcart, a
photographer and film maker, was born in 1960 in France. He gained
attention in his native country for a photographic series he had done in
1992 of brothels in Frankfurt, 'Infertile Madonnas'. He returned to
these settings the following year to shoot a video using a hidden
camera. This exhibition will include that sixteen minute video, also
titled, 'Infertile Madonnas', and a selection of large scale photographs
from the series. The focus of the exhibition will be on a more recent
project of photographs he took in Paris and New York underground sex
clubs, entitled 'Forbidden City'. Both projects explore voyeurism as a
means to arriving at an esthetic experience; in so doing they dwell upon
the relationship of the sordid and the sublime.
While taking photographs in the brothels, Bourcart developed techniques
of working with a hidden camera. These experimentations allow him to
photograph the closed world of commercial voyeurism without being
apprehended. Lacking the awareness of being watched, the prostitutes
appear devoid of their sexually charged stigma. By placing the spectator
in his own scope of vision, Bourcart transports the voyeuristic
experience to the viewer of his art work. In the video, which is more
narrative than the photographs, the camera’s gaze travels in and out of
various rooms of the house, opening up to different encounters. Until a
prostitute mistakes the camera in his pocket for a gun. Consequently,
Bourcart is beaten by pimps, and thrown out of the house. The camera
captures the jolted movements through the corridors, the sirens, and the
barking dogs, before the image abruptly stops.
In 'Forbidden City', the voyeuristic act becomes a means to exploring
man’s preoccupation with bodily obsessions, passions and perversions.
The amazing human activities captured by Bourcart are presented as part
of a lineage of pictorial depiction of the subject. With references to
artists such as De la Tour; Bosch; Goya; Ingres; Watteau; Rodin; and
more recently, Bacon, Bourcart grounds his aesthetic in art historical
terms.
Jean Christian Bourcart's photography is the recipient of the Prix
Gilles Dusein, Paris, and The World Press Award, Amsterdam. His films
have been awarded numerous prizes including the Prix du Jury, Belfort
Festival, and the Prix d'interprétation Masculine, Annecy Festival.
Public collections of his work include: the Museum of Modern Art, New
York; Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Genêve; Maison Européenne de
la Photographie, Paris; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Bourcart's exhibitions have included Galerie du Jour, Paris, and Centre
National de la Photographie, Paris. Bourcart lives and works in Paris
and New York.
Opening: October 28; 6 - 8 pm.
The Kagan Martos Gallery is located at 515 Broadway, Suite 5BF, between
Spring and Broome. Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11 to 6
pm. For further information contact Alona Kagan at 212 343-4293 Fax 212
343-4292