Forever Young — Claude Gassian / Abetz&Drescher — Suzanne Tarasieve, Loft 19 — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: March 21 → May 26, 2012

Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève announce its new exhibition “Forever Young”. Photographer Claude Gassian and the German painters Abetz&Drescher will be showing portraits of rock stars such as Iggy Pop, The Doors, and The Who. Referencing a song recorded by Bob Dylan in 1974, the exhibition title “Forever Young” evokes these personalities whose image and songs have defied the years.

Claude Gassian is offering a selection from four decades of photographs taken at concerts and in personal sessions with the musicians. As a teenager he took his first photos at a gig by The Doors in London. In 1970 he published his first photos in Best magazine, featuring Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa and Santana. Since then he has travelled and attended countless concerts, building up a prestigious portfolio of images that include Patti Smith, The Rolling Stones, Jack White, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Lou Reed, The Clash, Serge Gainsbourg, Daft Punk, Air and Blondie.

The Berlin duo Abetz&Drescher together produce paintings whose sharp colours evoke the rock aesthetic of the 60s and 70s, summoning iconic figures like Ian Curtis of Joy Division, Syd Barret of Pink Floyd and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. Mixing musical, political and artistic references, their works open up a psychedelic fantasy world.

The music associated with the subjects photographed by Claude Gassian disappears from the image, it is

“captured, stopped, frozen at the moment when — this is what he strives for — the artist is alone with himself.”

In contrast, the paintings convey sounds and suggest a fantasy past. For Abetz&Drescher,

“Painting can create sound.”

This is no doubt a reference to David Bowieʼs song “Sound & Vision”. Whereas photography uses black and white or bluish tones, Abetz&Drescher produce highly colourful, visually charged compositions. In both cases, the works have a timeless quality. With Gassian, we are given moments of abandon, of moderation and calm, far from the “rockʼnʼroll” lifestyle. The “heroes” painted by Abetz&Drescher, too, are often calm, or thoughtful, creating a singular distance in relation to their explosive environment. These portraits show the figures represented as timeless archetypes. The memory and image of these musicians is always ready to revived in different periods and places.