Bendana | Pinel Art Contemporain is pleased to present “BPAC Photo”, a group exhibition exclusively dedicated to photography. In a way of pursuing the spirit of Paris Photo in this unprecedented context, the gallery presents an eclectic gathering of works carried out by artists with singular practices. Embodying the vast array of themes and artistic origins within the gallery, the exhibition intends to be a symbol of this multicultural medium.
In the Past Lines series, Maria Friberg (Sweden) makes the tie a symbol of male domination. The complex bundle of ties floating in the void shows that this historical structure is crumbling, ready to shatter. In a world undergoing rapid change and problems of equality, Friberg advocates change. Then, with a sensitive and poetic approach, she illustrates the hope for a better world and an overthrown system of domination.
Lake Verea (Mexico) is an artist duo working on the ruin of modern architecture. Two sets, Gropius House, Lincoln Massachusetts 1937 and Breuer House, Lincoln Massachusetts 1937, from the Paparazza Moderna series, offer a portrait of individual houses designed by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Thanks to the spontaneity, reminder of the stolen photographs of paparazzis, the duo personifies these iconic architectures by showing their intimacy and preciousness. During the shoot, the duo swaps their cameras to merge their subjectivities and create a combined identity.
Alejandra Laviada’s (Mexico) artistic practice is focused on creating art works at the junctions of photography, painting and sculpture. Made from pieces of furniture collected in markets from Mexico City’s suburbs, these cyanotypes are part of a much larger series untitled Ensamble. Through this surprising photographic approach, Laviada emphasizes the abstract beauty of these constructions, and thus, redefines the dialogue between photography and sculpture, image and object.
Niccolò Montesi (Italy) photographs the architectural icons of the Adriatic Riviera as future memories of the current health crisis. Focusing on its consequences, Onda Azzurra illustrates the abandoned "Summer Cities". From symbols, since the 1970s, of the summertime and mass tourism, the concrete monuments he immortalizes became nowadays symbols of lockdown and restriction. In a context of closure to the world, Niccolò Montesi's photographs embody Alberti's "open window to the world".
Caio Reisewitz (Brazil) focuses on collages, which he uses to criticize the environmental issues of his native country. This process becomes an analogy of man's action on his environment. Angatuba is inspired by an Amazonian landscape and indigenous cultures threatened by the exploitation of their land. Close to floral composition, his work invites the observer to an aesthetic and committed journey.
In this last series called Apocalypse, Miguel Rothschild (Argentina) once again combines two fundamental references for all his work. Firstly, he is inspired by Romanticism as an artistic movement of the 19th century, but also by religion. Here, heaven and hell are antagonisms at the heart of the artist’s work. He contrasts the romantic sky with the latent fire as a demonic force that destroys everything. He embodies this destruction by partially burning his prints.
The work of Peter Stridsberg (Sweden) is as much photographic as it is scenographic. Always focused on the notion of habitat, Stridsberg strives to bring new perspectives to the viewer. Through staging, the artist develops a notion of home at the meeting point between fiction and reality. With To pull yourself ahead and simultaneously move with a slow flight through the chest where our tender hands still keep us alive, he explores the symbolism of home in our lives. Ironically, the person in the photograph is looking for a new place to live while remaining bound to the security offered by his home.
