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Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire
Lower gallery of the West wing, Château

Clark and Pougnaud

"Eden"

published at 08/10/2021
Eden, exposition de Clark et Pougnaud au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2021 © Leighton Gough
“A season in paradise has involved
setting up an imaginary garden in front of a painted canvas, painting and taking photographs from morning to night, as long as light enters the studio,
rolling up the canvas when it has been photographed and stretching out another one,
looking for shapes and colours on the paths and in the bushes in the garden which are beautiful enough to be brought back to the studio,
capturing a few insects and collecting small, beautiful examples of living nature, painting and photographing every day in the large open space of a temporary photo studio until the first frosts in October.”
Clark and Pougnaud, 2018.
 

Clark and Pougnaud are Parisians linked to the north-eastern coast of the United States either by their family origins or by having lived there. A ‘Season in Eden’ is the result of this ‘artistic retreat’ and is no less rich in hallucinogenic visions than the poem Saison en enfer (Arthur Rimbaud, 1873). This Eden is often depicted at dawn or dusk - a time when dreams begin or return to their source. Evening twilight or morning dawn? The viewer is free to imagine a story which the images merely hint at. Clark and Pougnaud said about a previous series, called Le Secret (2015), “We are playing with the viewer by asking them to imagine a photo they cannot see. The (invisible) latter can only be conjured up using the imagination”.

If Eden can be found in the in-between time between night and day for Clark and Pougnaud, it is perhaps because their retreat in the midst of the countryside has immersed them in a ‘silence’ which just cannot be experienced in the city. Yet, with interfering noise no longer present, it is the chorus of small voices from the natural world which begin to enchant the ear, just as it starts to soothe the Child’s ear at the end of the lyrical fantasy by Colette and Maurice Ravel, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (1925). Clark and Pougnaud know this and reassure us with the words, “Emptiness is full of promise, absence is the expectation of a return, silence is a soothing whisper, and the wonderful hides beneath banality.”

The illuminated shadow in which these visions are bathed invites us to immerse ourselves in them, just like in a play being acted out on stage. Clark and Pougnaud’s technique is, on the face of it, theatrical. She is a painter, he is a photographer and they set up their images just like you would set up a film or opera set. In previous series, and in Hommage à Edward Hopper in particular, the process began by building models at a 1:12 scale in which figures were placed. In this series, the first step was the canvas painted by Pougnaud. After having had time to dry, the canvas was photographed against a backdrop of still life freshly gathered from the kitchen garden. The light, which at first seems artificial, turns out to be natural on closer inspection. It is the backdrop which seems to plunge the image into a second night. This is always the time when dreaming occurs. The titles of the images also invite you into reverie. ‘Wild oats’ (folle avoine) or ‘Umbelliferae’ (ombellifères) could well be the names of fairies escaped from Titania’s entourage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare and could be imagined chatting with Peaseblossom and Mustardseed.

Eden, while paying homage to the nature on their doorstep, does not depart from Clark and Pougnaud’s typical taste for art and artifice. References are made to the history of painting (Hommage à Edward Hopper, 2000), to film (Dorothy, 2000), and to painting and film (Lost in meditation, 2009). Their work is a cultural echo chamber, mixing traditional and pop culture without prejudice. This is illustrated by ‘La Rose’ where, among other things, references can be seen to the main motif in Beauty and the Beast by Madame Leprince de Beaumont (1757), which was revived in a film version by Jean Cocteau (1946) and then by the Disney studios. Here, we see the father’s hand picking a rose and the bluish horizon often used by the Renaissance painters. The articulated hand also brings to mind an artist’s dummy, reinforcing the impression of disturbing strangeness by recalling Hans Bellmer’s La Poupée (1935). Baudelaire’s Harmonie du soir (Les Fleurs du Mal, 1857) comes to mind in particular. “The season is at hand when swaying on its stem / Every flower exhales perfume like a censer / Sounds and perfumes turn in the evening air / Melancholy waltz and languid vertigo!” Further validation can be found in what the two artists themselves say. “There is often a misunderstanding about our photographs: the apparent melancholy is actually the source of our happiness.”

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Virginie POUGNAUD and Christophe CLARK
FRANCE
 

Virginie Pougnaud, born in 1962 and Christophe Clark, born in 1963, are the two figures behind the partnership of Clark and Pougnaud, which was formed in 1998. Both come from an artistic background. Clark's lineage is in photography, whereas Pougnaud’s is in theatre. She also has a history of female painters in her family. The art of set painting seems to come naturally to Pougnaud, who designs and produces the models photographed by Clark for their series. In the year 2000, their first series Hommage à Edward Hopper was an instant success. It was followed by an exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), an award from the HP foundation and a special mention for the Arcimboldo prize. They received an award from the HSBC Foundation for Photography in 2006. Their work has been exhibited at several museums, including the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen and the Maison Photographique in Lille. Clark and Pougnaud craft their images and combine multiple influences - both pictorial and cinematographic. Patience and taking time are the watchwords of their creative process. Each year, a series is created in their studio, which usually goes through the same three stages. First is the set design, with the construction of models and the painting of sets, which are then photographed. This is followed by shots being taken of the figures who will inhabit most of the series. Finally, the figures are inserted into the set using both digital and traditional techniques. Clark and Pougnaud have adhered unwaveringly to their vision (which is neither backward-looking nor full of new technology) and this has made them sought-after photographers and precious dream-makers.

Clark and Pougnaud are represented by Galerie XII, in Paris.

Awards

2006
Prix de la Fondation HSBC
 
2000
Prix Arcimboldo
Complete Biography

EXHIBITIONS

2021
Vibrating Colors, Galerie XII, Shanghai, China
MIA Fair x Edition, Milan, Italy
Photo fair Shanghai 2021, Shanghai, China
 
2020
Gathering Blue, Galerie XII, Los Angeles, USA
ART PARIS, ART FAIR, Grand Palais, Paris, France
 
2019
Eden, Hangar Centre d’art, Brussels, Belgium
Eden, Galerie XII, Paris, France
ART PARIS, ART FAIR, Grand Palais, Paris, France
 
2018
Photo Brussels, Hangar Centre d’art, Brussels, Belgium
Le Crxssing, Festival culturel franco-britannique, London King’s Cross, United Kingdom
 
2017
Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
Photofairs, San Francisco, USA
Art Élysées – Art & Design, Paris, France
Photo Brussels, Hangar Centre d’art, Brussels, Belgium
 
2016
Art Élysées – Art & Design, Paris, France
Paci contemporary Gallery, Brescia, Italy
Salon Photo, Los Angeles, USA
Le temps des collections, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
 
2015
Le Secret, Galerie Photo 12, Paris, France
Retrospective à la Maison de la Photographie, Lille, France
Photo Shanghai, China
Art Élysées – Art & Design, Paris, France
 
2014
ART PARIS, ART FAIR, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Mood indigo, Galerie Photo 12, Paris, France
Photo Shanghai, China
Art Élysées – Art & Design, Paris, France
 
2013
10 ans d'Images Magazine 2003-2013, Maison Européenne de la photographie, Paris, France
Behind the scene, American Library, Paris, France
Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
Fotofever Brussels Art Fair, Belgium
 
2012
I Have a dream, Paci contemporary Gallery, Brescia, Italy
Hommage à Edward Hopper, Mona Bismarck American Center for art & culture, Paris, France
Galerie PhotoHub Manometr, Moscow, Russia
Lost in meditation, Galerie Photo 12, Paris, France
C'est si pratique tout communique, Les Modillons, Vindelle, France
 
2011
La Filature, Mulhouse, France
Peripheral Visions, John Wayne airport, Santa Anna, USA
La tête dans les nuages, Théâtre d'Angoulême, France
Paci contemporary Gallery, Brescia, Italy
Des clics et des classes, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
Au fil du conte, département de la Charente, France
Go West, UNESCO, Paris, France et Williams Tower, Houston, USA
L'Imagerie, Lannion, France
L'Onde Centre d'Art, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France
 
2010
L'Imagerie, Lannion, France
Entre code et corps, La Fabrique, Université Toulouse le Mirail, Toulouse, France
MIART Art Fair, Milan, Italy
ARCO Madrid, Spain
Madrid Foto, Spain
Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, USA
SCOPE Art Show, Basel, Switzerland
Galerie Duchamp, Yvetot, France
Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
Galería Inés Barrenechea, Madrid, Spain
La Filature, Mulhouse, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts Pouchkine, Moscow, Russia
Galería Spectrum Soto, Zaragoza, Spain
 
2009
Musée du Montparnasse, Paris, France
Photo Miami, USA
ArtVerona, Italy
Paci contemporary Gallery, Brescia, Italy
 
2008
Étrange Europe, Mois de la photo à Paris, France, Centre de Recherches Internationales, Paris, France
Trans Photographiques, Lille, France
Il était une fois, Parcours Saint-Germain, Paris, France
Presumed Innocence, deCordova Museum, Lincoln, USA
ArtParis, France, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
AIPAD New York, USA
 
2007
Femme y es-tu ?, ArtSenat Orangerie du Sénat, Paris, France
Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
Galerie Soardi, Nice, France
28ème Quinzaine de la Photographie, Cholet, France
Suspicious origins, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, USA
Philips de Pury & Co, New York, USA
Art Chicago, USA
AIPAD New York, USA
SIPA, Seoul, South Korea
Paris, France Photo
AIPAD, Miami, USA
 
2006
Un tableau peut en cacher un autre, Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art, Luxembourg
Le petit chaperon rouge, Fondation Albert Marinus, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Maison de la Photographie, Toulon, France
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
Paris, France Photo
Art Chicago, USA
AIPAD New York, USA
Art Miami, USA
 
2005
Instantanés d'un siècle, grilles du Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France
Collection de la Fnac, Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, Italy
Picturing Identity, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, USA
C'est la vie, Musée de l'Image, Épinal, France
Paris, France Photo
SCOPE Art Show, New York, USA
PB3, Palm Beach, USA
 
2004
Parcours Saint-Germain, Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, Paris, France
Transhumance // 6, Le Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France
Les vilains dans les contes de fées, Musée de l'Image, Épinal, France
Vues d'Enfance, Hôtel de Ville, Aulnay-sous-Bois , France
Mois de la Photo, La Conciergerie, Paris, France
Intimité, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
ART Brussels, Belgium
Kunst Köln, Germany
FIAC, Paris, France
ART Cologne, Germany
 
2003
Les Bourgeoises d'Angoulême et les Contes de Fées, Galerie Bruno Delarue, Paris, France
ART Brussels, Belgium
Paris Photo, France
 
2002
Collection de la Fnac, Centre Culturel Français, Milan, Italy
Voyages d’amour, Festival Terre d'Images, Biarritz, France
Photo L.A, Los Angeles, USA
 
2001
Biennale de Nancy, France
Images numériques et nouvelles technologies, Fnac Forum, Paris, France
Salon Photo-Images, Paris, France
 
2000
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, France
 

On the web

Clark et Pougnaud
La perruche, 2018, Tirage jet d’encre sur papier Hahnemüle, 60x80cm © Clark et Pougnaud, Courtesy Galerie XII, Paris
La rose, 2018, Tirage jet d’encre sur papier Hahnemüle, 105x140cm © Clark et Pougnaud Courtesy Galerie XII, Paris
Le papillon, série Eden, 2018 - © Clark et Pougnaud
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