Photography makes its comeback at Polyptyque Marseille — Blind Magazine
The three Art-O-Rama, Paréidolie and Polyptyque fairs make Marseille an unmissable event at the end of August for many collectors on vacation in the region or who make the trip specially. These three events are meetings on a human scale, facilitating contacts between visitors, galleries and artists. See in an intimate format for Polyptyque, the youngest born 4 years ago on the initiative of Erick Gudimard, director of the Marseille Photographic Center (CPM). But, here, small rhymes with requirement, the show being divided between six invited galleries (including a duo), each presenting an artist, and an exhibition bringing together 11 photographers pre-selected out of 54 applications for the Polyptych Prize, following a call for applications. Three winners were chosen by a prestigious jury* on August 26.
The particularity of this price? “It is aimed at photographers living in the South Region and not having a gallery. Because the challenge is to favor artists working here, who are therefore less in contact with the market in order to give them national visibility”explains Erick Gudimard. “It’s the 3e time that I participate in the jury and I observe a rise in power from year to year. The quality of the application files is representative of a wide variety of practices. This allows you to make great discoveries. », confides Caroline Stein, head of patronage at Neuflize OBC, which this year celebrates 25 years of supporting artists and institutions in the field of visual arts. For this 2022 edition, the three winners are Julia Gat, Andrea Graziosi and Jeanne and Moreau.
Among them, a crush on the work of Lara Tabet and Randa Mirza (the duo Jeanne and Moreau) with an installation bringing together prints, a print on fabric, a print in broken glass installed on the floor and an old photo album containing their own images that the viewer is invited to consult. The whole thing tells the life of the couple after the destruction of their apartment during the explosion of the port of Beirut in August 2020. For his part, with his series Animals, the Italian photographer Andrea Graziosi presents an astonishing gallery of portraits of masked characters, half-humans/half-animals, dark and disturbing creatures linked to the ancestral traditions of the Barbagia region in central Sardinia. A documentary point of view or the imaginary in all its place.
With regard to the lounge area bringing together six French galleries and one German, as Erick Gudimard tells us, “Participation is free in return for the payment of a small percentage on the sales made. Because it is an exchange of good practices: the galleries bring us their skills and their advice by accompanying us to promote the integration of the artists of the Prize ». As for the exhibitors, special mention for Céline Croze presented by the Sit Down gallery (Paris). In her work on Caracas, she transcribes her nocturnal wanderings in the Venezuelan capital in a cinematic style all in shades of brown. This series will be presented this fall at the Festival du Regard, edition on the theme of the night (from 14/10 to 27/11/2022 in Cergy-Pontoise).
Another discovery to follow closely, Guénaëlle de Carbonnières, presented by the Binome (Paris) and Françoise Besson (Lyon) galleries. Through works from four recent series, the artist explores the themes of heritage and archeology using different processes combining digital, silver, engraving, drawing, etc. Let the end result be draws – series Submerged, Sunken Cities we Digging Image – or works-objects in which borrowings are sealed in resin – series Capturing Fossils –, Guénaëlle de Carbonnières questions our relationship to history and memory, and lays out the maps of the notion and status of the document.
You shouldn’t leave Marseille without having seen Thomas Mailaender’s exhibition at the Center Photographique. Here too, it’s an appointment with the unusual and the unexpected, two notions that are part of the DNA of the Centre. The place is made unrecognizable by the installations, with in particular a giant greenhouse, cyanotypes made on the walls thanks to tanning lamps bought on Leboncoin, just like the magazines from which the images are extracted. Free electron, Thomas Mailaender has fun with serious, experimenting with recycled materials, calling on students of fine arts for part of this production in the participative spirit specific to this place… The visit ends in the equivalent an artist’s studio where, on a large table, are presented a mix of elements of works in the making made from cult books from the history of the medium. A visit full of twists and turns!
4e Polyptych editionfrom August 27 to September 10, 2022. 3, rue Henri Fiocca, 13001 Marseille.
Thomas Mailaender, passion light from May 27 to September 24, 2022, Center Photographique Marseille (CPM). 74 rue de la Joliette, 13002 Marseilles.
* Polyptych Prize Jury: Pascal Beausseresponsible for the CNAP photographic collection, Francoise Bornsteindirector of the Sit Down Gallery (Paris), Florence Bourgois, director of Paris Photo, Pascal Neveuxdirector of FRAC Picardie Hauts-de-France, president of CIPAC; Alexandre Sairally and Esther Schultedirector and director of the Drawing Room Gallery (Hamburg), Caroline Steinresponsible for sponsorship and curator of the Neuflize OBC bank collection.