The Agnèsb Gallery in Montpellier is hosting the “Photogravies” exhibition until August 1, which brings together the photographic worlds of Alexandra Gonzalez and Laurent Allory. Between black and white compositions playing on the erasure of borders and clichés reworked with paint, the two artists offer a visual dialogue around landscape, movement and imagination, highlighted by a common scenography.
It is rare for the Agnèsb Gallery to highlight photography: take advantage of it with “Photogravies”. A play on words that hides the meeting of the worlds of two artists. Their styles are easily recognizable. On the one hand, Alexandra Gonzalez uses black and white photography, offering remarkable work on evanescence and the border: like the sea which merges with the beach, the mist which makes a bridge disappear, a surfer who becomes an indescribable silhouette. There is also pure formal compositional work with a woman on a rock, parasols planted on the sand or trees surrounding a church. She also uses montage, placing a dinosaur on the Place de la Comédie, elsewhere runners in the 24 hours of Le Mans going towards their car swallowed up by a giant wave.
Color on the photos
Another thematic and aesthetic universe for Laurent Allory, who applies paint to his photos from India, Greece or Thailand. “There is acrylic paint applied directly to the photo print. For my latest series, the process is different: I make a trace of paint on a large sheet of Canson paper, I photograph it, then I add another photo,” confides the photographer.
These two aesthetics respond to each other. “My photos transmit life, those of Alexandra as well. It’s already two lives that intersect, and the goal is for the exhibition itself to reach another level of vitality thanks to the scenography”, summarizes Laurent.
