ANTOINE D’AGATAs FIRST SOLO SHOW IN HONG KONG
Antoine D’Agata
–
position(s)
June 21st – July 31st 2013
toof | contemporary is proudto present French photographer Antoine D’Agata in his first Hong Kong exhibition, position(s).
One of the world’s most provocative contemporary photographers, D’Agata has been called a ‘living legend’ by Galerie les Filles du Calvaire’s Curator Christine Ollier, and his work is currently on view as a retrospective at Forma, Milano and earlier this year at Le Bal, Paris (ANTICORPS).
position(s) showcases fourteen of his sensual and intimate portraits of the delicate, yet strong woman he meetsalong his journey around the world, portraying depth and darkness, photographing his life and living photography to it’s extremes, his works spans over 20 years.
The exhibition includes some of the artist’s most iconic images as well as images that have never been shown before. Evolving from grainy, black and white to color and a more abstract interpretation, the candid shots taken in low light result in timeless pieces.
Position(s) aims to offers Hong Kong audiences a comprehensive view of D’Agata’s practice, a small-‐scale retrospective unto itself.
The show is the artist’s first solo exhibition in China and toof | contemporary represents the artist exclusively in Asia.
The opening reception is scheduled for Friday 21st of June at the gallery.
Antoine D’Agata will attend the exhibition opening
position(s) refers to the artist’s autobiographical practice, capturing moments and memories from the artist’s life.
His subjects are often his close friends and lovers, as well as D’Agata himself. Photography doesn’t serve as merely a record of a
a live lived, but as a vital component of the artist’s existince.
Photography lives within him, just as he lives within his photographs.
The result is a subjective, empathetic mode of photographic practice, in which the perspective of the artist, the subject and the viewer coexist within the same image.
D’Agata’s photography is a stark portrayal of a man existing on the fringes of society and of consciousness. The bodies in his portraiture are raw, exposed, yet captivatingly beautiful. Whether enrapt in ecstatic abandon or staring out blankly into the gallery space, the psychological terrain between the subject, viewer and artist is constantly shifting: a disarming flux of empathy and estrangement.
It’s not how a photographer looks at the world that is important. It’s their intimate relationshop with it:
‘ I never photograph if I’m not a full participant in the situation I am interfering in or provoking. I slowly abandoned the position behind the camera to integrate myself in the images, as a mere character of the situation I depict. The process was brutal. Distancing myself from straightforward documentary photography, I document what I live and I live the situations I document. By transgressing the border that separates the photographer from the photographed, I become the object of my photography, a forced actor of my own premeditated scenario. The craving and the pain through the sexual act, take me back to my own body. I face up, in my flesh, to the disorder of the world, to it’s violence and indignity. it is not a question of opening my eyes to this excess and horror, but letting it contaminate me, for better or worse.’
