Mardi 03 Novembre 2015 10:49:35 par Myriam Boudjemia dans Expositions

In the age of selfies and doctored photographs, the work of Arno Rafael Minkkinen seems to be from another era. The seventy-year-old Finnish-American photographer has been making self-portraits for more than 40 years, and is more relevant today than ever, having been awarded a 2015 Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his outstanding work. We are proud to present 7 8 9 0 1, Minkkinen's first ever, long overdue solo exhibition in Chicago.

Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a tall, slender, flexible man. We know this because he has been pursuing a constant vision for decades: to make portraits of his naked body as it blends or coexists within nature. Using a nine second delay on his camera, Minkkinen contorts his body into position, awaiting the familiar click of the shutter. "As you leave the viewfinder, trust the camera to finish the job. I do not use an assistant to look through the camera; otherwise she or he also becomes the photographer." A true purist, Minkkinen eschews double exposures or image manipulations through Photoshop. Instead, he tests the limits of his own physicality, assuming positions that seem improbable. It is this test of the human body that pushes him to "...know what you will not do. For me this means embracing reality as a collaborator in the invention of the image, not overlaying multiple images to create such impressions."

Whether working in water, snow, the woods, or a majestic mountain setting, Minkkinen strives to create an equal balance between nature and nudity. In Nauvo, Finland, 1973, his arched torso resembles a stone slab, protruding from the water; In Fosters Pond II, 1989, his arms and legs touch the water, creating a perfect reflection that is both awe inspiring and mystifying; In Maroon Bells Sunrise, Aspen, Colorado, 2012, his outstretched arms and back form a perfect arc, mimicking the curves of the surrounding mountains; In Mouth of a River, Fosters Pond, 2014, he bows down to the water, arms outstretched, in a pose of reverence and acceptance. These are humorous, spiritual and transformative photographs that celebrate the human form and the earth where we reside. As the artist states, "Embrace mystery. Only the camera knows what happened. You will not find out until you see the negative and make the positive. In good pictures, the mystery will still be a mystery."

Arno Rafael Minkkinen was born in Helsinki in 1945, and moved to America when he was six. His work has been published, exhibited, and collected worldwide and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Musée de l'Élysée (Lausanne), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) and Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, among many others. The artist is currently working on his eighth book, a chronology of five decades to be released in 2017.

© Arno Rafael Minkkinen