Mimmo Jodice — Les yeux du Louvre — Le Louvre — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: May 19 → August 15, 2011

After the recent exhibitions showcasing contemporary photographers Patrick Faigenbaum (2004), Jean-Luc Moulène (2005), and Candida Höfer (2006), the Louvre will host an exhibition by Italian artist Mimmo Jodice, a major contributor to the international photography scene.

The Neapolitan photographer is on familiar ground in museums: in recent projects he has explored the ravages of time on ancient sculptures in the Archaeological Museum of Naples and on baroque paintings in the Museum of Capodimonte, confronting the museum exhibits with photographic portraits. His new project at the Louvre is focused on the gaze.

By juxtaposing photographs of famous painted portraits in the museum (from different periods) with those of Louvre employees, the artist aims to abolish time and to eliminate the difference between painting and photography. The eyes of the characters in these portraits are aligned at the same height, their gazes directed at the viewer.

Mimmo Jodice’s goal is not simply to create analogies between portraits of living people and painted portraits from the past, but also to restore life, soul, and personality to bygone figures and confer new status to the subjects of the photographic portraits of today.