Vendredi 03 Août 2012 15:13:22 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Torch Gallery is pleased to announce Oppositions of Coincidents, an exhibition of Doug and Mike Starn's most recent photographs.It coincides with the European premier of Absorption + Transmission, on view at the Stedelijk Museum De Lakehnhal, Leiden, May 11th, through October 8th, 2006. For the Starns the reproduction of a relic of art history, signifies, timelessness, evanescence, and introduces the idea of sublimation. The inevitable imperfections all art must suffer, and the way in which aging becomes part of the meaning of the work is the core.Oppositions of Coincidents, features as series of color-carbon prints of sculptures of bodhisattvas and Chinese deities from the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) and the Freer Sackler Galleries (Washington, D.C.). The Starns focused on gilded and polychromic wooden-sculptures naturally eroded through time and history, from the Yuan and Ming dynasties (13th – 17th centuries), anchoring some directions, instigated since 2000 with their photographs on location of Ganjin at the Toshodaiji Temple in Nara (Japan). It is the first time these 2 groups of works are shown together. Dealing with the concepts of “impermanence,” the “coincidence of opposites,” and the dual appearance of light: extremely bright or black therefore fully absorbed; in the Starns' philosophical lexicon, the artists continue their esoteric and aesthetic explorations.For their new series, they have revived the 19th century carbon printing-process, whereas the images were taken with some of the most advanced digital camera equipment.The exhibition centerpiece is Shi-Tenno (72), a 5½-meter wide, 4-panel photograph.It instigates feelings encountered in the Starns' early photo-collages.But this time, this work and accompanying photographs: Manjushi, Water Moon Guanyin and others, were fathomed and nurtured by over 20 years of poetic and philosophical investigations.Meditation, stillness and tensions are rendered through each layer of color building these pictures stressing their imprint on the paper. As the pairing of art and science is part of the Starn's repertoire, the works in Opposition of Coincidents enlarge the scope of their work beyond the spheres of reason, culture and symbolism.