Concept
Frederic Monceau believes that photography exists for two reasons: to testify and to escape. He chooses with “Vision” to open a door to other possibilities.

“Vision”, which is presented at the Ananta Kama Gallery in Bangok is the expression of a universe that mixes truth and fantasy. The exhibition plays with the real and the unreal.

More than a concept, “Vision” is the result of a succession of encounters having as a common denominator the artist – Frederic Monceau.

Frederic Monceau gives us with the photographic exhibition “Vision” a work on the body and the imagination.

He does not look at the subject horizontally to get closer to a reality but he puts it in an unreal dimension. First, through a post-production process, he creates an image that moves away from the truth. Then, trying to produce a more aesthetic image as possible, he eliminates any sexual connotation that a naked body could put forward. His goal is not that we are getting attracted but intrigued.

Concerning the creation process, Frederic Monceau gives his team direction and directs towards the universe to which they are heading together. But when photographing the subject, everyone leaves behind what they have imagined upstream to let live the moment. A deconstruction of the creative process is then launched to give birth to the images presented during the exhibition “Vision”. This is a concept that Henri Cartier-Bresson has verbalized during his life: “The composition must be one of our constant preoccupations, but at the moment of photographing it can only be intuitive, because we are taken with fugitive moments where the relations are moving. “.

“The members of my team are the little hands that bring my ideas to life, but most of all they are my friends. They are Odile Jimenez, Delphine Nicole, Selina Beutler, Virginie Pineda and Simon Chossier. “. – Frederic Monceau

To create the images of “Vision”, Frédéric Monceau was inspired, in particular, by the work of Steven Klein and Allen Jones. It is from these references that he creates the image in which Giordano Straniero serves as table for Miss Allanah Starr in order to recall the work of the British painter and his series “Chair, Table and Coat Holder” in which women are assimilated to objects. It was interesting to reverse the roles of a naked man as the object of the image.

Frédéric Monceau was also influenced by the work of Guy Bourdin, Ellen Von Unwerth, Steven Miesel and more recently Nico Busto.

Team
Models: Benjamin Leutwyler, Miss Allanag Star, Giordano Straniero, Mate Kovacs, Zélie Allemoz, Dayana Leyva, Gina Harrison, Tristan Ridel, Adam Amouri
Groomers: Odile Jimenez, Delphine Nicole, Selina Beutler, Virginie Pineda, Simon Chossier

When Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner founded their art, music, and performance project Fischerspooner in 1998 in New York, they had a mission – to make the dull and elitist art scene more open and accessible and to go beyond the boundaries of art and entertainment.

With their exhibition SIR: character studies, promotional materials, self actualization and contemporary photography 2013 – 2018 Fischerspooner present their own queer-lustrous and passionate universe at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein. A site-specific installation filled with the wide variety of images that has comprised Casey’s search for a new identity and character. This journey has taken the form of artist collaborations, a strategy that the duo had already been pursuing for the production of the artist book Egos in 2015.

Works by well know photographers are combined with images by internet photographers and even friends of the artists. In the process Casey Spooner as the depicted main protagonist takes a step back; a portrait of contemporary photography is being generated. Thereby a survey of different and betimes even contrary handling of photography as a medium in the 21st century comes into effect. The emerging material of various different photographic approaches is part of current discourse of digital culture, informed by a constant image production and reproduction.

The exhibition spaces will be unified in a dense collage on all surfaces which reflects the omnipresence of multimedia image culture. In the person and by the photographic omnipresence of Casey Spooner, the idea of excitement and obsession in a society construed to the commercialization and idolization of popculture is being specifically brought into question.

The installation at NAK is an artistic extension of Fischerspooner’s fourth album project, also titled SIR. Recently released, the album was produced by Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and addresses the dissolution of the boundaries between an internal and an external social self as well as the constant need for talkativeness about ones own life – a phenomenon specific in nowadays, more and more transforming the private into performative and public space.

With their show SIR: character studies, promotional materials, self actualization and contemporary photography 2013 – 2018Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner revisit themes of the exhibition SIR that took place at Vienna’s mumok in the summer of 2017 and bring the current era of Fischerspooner to its finale.

Participating artists:

Luke Abby / Jeremy Ayers / Ken Barnett / David Belisle / Javier Tomas Biosca / Thomas Dozol / Greg Endries / Exterface / Santiago Felipe / Rui Miguel Leitão Ferreira / Ricardo Gomez / Constantin Hartenstein / Gil Inoue / Yuki James / Andreas Lazlo Konrath / Jorge Lopez / Frédéric Monceau / Lexie Moreland / Marcus L. Morris / Yann Morrison / Nils Müller / Matthew Attard Navarro / Robert Nethery / Hans Neumann / Josh Paul / Ryan Pfluger / Hadar Pitchon / Denis Pushkin / Jason Rodgers / Rinaldo Sata / Stephanie Shepard / Jesus Ugalde Solis /  Dusty Stamand / Michael Stipe / Wolfgang Tillmans / Ruben Tomas / Vincent Urbani / Kristiina Wilson

At 24, Frederic monceau will exhibit his works in Paris.

After a first exhibition about the danse « Dancing Smoking », here is a new story who turns around the mythical CHELSEA HOTEL. Since it construction, it has been the meeting place of the biggest names and faces of the artistic world: Jack Kerouac, Stanley Kubrick, Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, Dee Dee Ramone, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious, Andy Warhol, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harry Smith…

This legendary establishment has inherited their prints, all leaving behind them makes and memories of their impertinence and incitements.

Marginal and dilapidated institution where all kinds of personalities lived, from the dealer to the prostitute… the Chelsea Hotel became a true shelter: it will have seen pass celebrities from all over the world by welcoming them among it walls, sometimes gracefully or in exchange of works arts. It is one the reasons why today the Chelsea Hotel has become a myth and a global benchmark for the entire artistic community.

Stanley Bard, last owner and director from 1955 to 2007, embodied the salt and the spirit of the Chelsea Hotel. The survivors of the Titanic stayed at the Chelsea Hotel, this one has initially to be the final point of the cruise. Today, its facade is still adorned of plaques engraved with the names of its most prestigious residents. The Chelsea Hotel was also the scene of many suicides, visitors and residents coming there especially to throw them over the balconies.

« Vertige »: Maurice Renoma, last visitor of the place, present us his imagination around the Chelsea Hotel.

May 29th to Friday, July 31st, in Paris

TRIBUTE TO THE CHELSEA HOTEL

by

FREDERIC MONCEAU

Jack Kerouac, Stanley Kubrick, Allen Ginsburg, Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, Dee Dee Ramone, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious, Andy Warhol, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Arthur C. Clarke and Harry Smith… these are just some of the names engraved on the plaques that adorn the legendary Chelsea Hotel. Constructed in 1883, The Chelsea carved its name deep into the hide of contemporary popular history, becoming a harbour for glamour, controversy, tragedy and artistry alike – a strange concoction that is echoed in the dark beauty of the building’s facade.

Adding to the potent narrative of this space, The Chelsea Hotel famously inspired several films, songs and tv series. In it’s time, it sheltered survivors of the sunken Titanic. It also witnessed crime, murder and suicide – it’s balconies becoming a haunting visual reminder of the latter. The hotel closed for renovation in 2011, symbolising the end of an era and with many of its artworks being removed for protection and cataloguing. The hotel is set to reopen this year.

(…)

GQ South Africa : https://www.gq.co.za/style/watches/spotlight-chelsea-hotel-16544122