Paris Photo : 23e édition — Secteur principal — Les Galeries nationales du Grand Palais — Event — Slash Paris

Past: November 7 → 10, 2019

Paris Photo welcomes 35 new galleries in the main sector, of which 15 first-time exhibitors: Hauser & Wirth (Zurich) presents a solo show by the German artist August Sander and Dirimart (Istanbul) exhibits a group show of portrait work featuring Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Isaac Julien, Shirin Neshat, and Julien Rosefeldt. Solo shows are proposed by galleries including Galería Elvira González (Madrid) with Spanish artist Chema Madoz and Dali protégé Steven Arnold presented by Fahey/Klein Gallery (Los Angeles). Galleries Anne-Sarah Bénichou (Paris) and The Pill (Istanbul) co-present politically themed works by Mathias Depardon, Decebal Scriba and Seton Smith.

Among the new exhibitors this year, many galleries are returning including: Air de Paris (Paris) who will return with a duo show by Jean Painlevé and Bruno Serralongue, Dominique Fiat (Paris) with a group show on New York’s 1990s voguing scene, Filomena Soares (Lisbon) and Nicholas Metivier (Toronto).

30 solo shows are presented this year in the main sector: Jim Goldberg’s teenage runaways (Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco), experiments in digital imagery by Adrian Sauer (Klemm’s, Berlin) and Nancy Burson (Paci, Brescia), nature and the environment as a source of inspiration with Roberto Huracaya (Rolf Art, Buenos Aires) and Edward Burtynsky (Nicholas Metivier, Toronto) and a project by Juergen Teller (Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris) exploring fashion and Paris. In addition, Ming Smith (Jenkins Johnson, San Francisco) questions the idea of homogeneity in the photography of Black America, Mari Katayama (Sage, Paris) works that sublimate her physical disability and place her body at the heart of her creative process and the American sculptor John Chamberlain (Karsten Greve, Paris) reveals experimental work using the Widelux camera with a series of stretched, wrinkled and highly contrasted images.

August Sander

Born in Herdof, Germany, in 1876; died in 1964

August Sander, Handlanger (Bricklayer), 1928 Gelatin silver print — 15 5/8 × 11 3/4 in © Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur — August Sander Archive, Cologne, DACS, London, 2019. Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Hauser & Wirth’s inaugural presentation at Paris Photo is a solo presentation of the work of August Sander. The project features rare lifetime prints from the 1920 and 1930s by the late German photographer, a forefather of conceptual art and pioneering documentarian of human diversity. Over the course of a career spanning six decades and tens of thousands of negatives, August Sander created a nuanced sociological portrait of Germany comprising images of its populace.

Chema Madoz

Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1958

Chema Madoz, Sin título, 2013 B/W photography on barium paper, with sulphide bath — 53 5/32 × 43 5/16 in Courtesy of the artist & Elvira González Gallery

Galería Elvira González presents a solo exhibition by Spanish photographer Chema Madoz. This group of works provides a journey throughout Madoz’ unique artistic trajectory. The selection will include new photographs which continue his exploration in the hidden and potential meanings of the object.

Madoz began to develop his concept of the object in the 90’s, a constant subject in his practice to date. Strongly influenced by surrealism, his work carries out a perpetual attempt to investigate the nature of the object and relativize its univocal meaning. Madoz often focuses on simple things which acquire meanings depending on the point of view, information and imagination of the viewer. Images which come to life as the result of a former separation, dissociation, and a latter unification of elements — connected under different categories in their object of origin. His work, thus, enacts a visual paradox that questions the limit between abstract and figurative, real and virtual, actual and potential.

Mari Katayama

Born in Gunma, Japan, in 1987; lives and works in Tokyo SAGE, Paris

Mari Katayama, Shadow puppet #020, 2016 C-print — 9 × 12 in Courtesy of the artist & Sage Gallery

Born with a rare physical handicap, Japanese artist Mari Katayama who shows her work both at Pavillon Central and Arsenale at Venice Biennale 2019, chose to have both her legs amputated at the age of nine. Since then she has transcended her condition by the works she creates, using her own body as a magnificent living sculpture.

In her photographic autoportraits, Mari Katayama is exploring the numerous challenges ascertaining to her condition and identity, trying to recover her memories of isolation she felt whilst growing-up. Mari Katayama invites us to her own reality, trying to prompt us to consider the forces shaping ideals of physical beauty. The photography series of Mari Katayama offer a reflection on the physical challenges and psychological fears she faces every day. In her works, the viewer is allowing to emotionally connect to her world in which the image of a fragmented body and the phenomenon of the phantom limb is deeply sensed.

Remarkably, Mari Katayama never set out to be an artist. Her photography was a way to have a conversation with a beholder and the stuffed objects-inlaid with lace, seashells, hair and crystals were made purely for her own amusement.