Galerie Maria Lund
Helene SCHMITZ
Jardins engloutis - Carnivores
Exposition
Photographie
Galerie Maria Lund
•
Paris 03
➜
Tout un volet de l’art et de la littérature occidentale attribue à la nature une « bonté innocente ». Ainsi, quand elle prend la forme du jardin, elle est souvent la métaphore du Paradis perdu… Dans les séries Jardins engloutis et Carnivores, Helene Schmitz place la trame symbolique au cœur de sa démarche. Mais, loin de cette vision idyllique, elle s’est penchée sur le côté plutôt obscur de la nature, sur ce qu’elle a d’insatiable, de menaçant, - parfois - de cruel, et traite des représentations que nous nous en faisons, des projections que nous lui associons.
Avec la poésie des Jardins engloutis et la beauté réaliste des Carnivores, l’artiste interroge ces espaces fascinants où nature et culture s’embrassent et s’imbriquent. Elle nous emporte vers des univers secrets, captivants, faisant naître un sentiment mêlé d’attirance et d’angoisse. L’ambiguïté qui émane de ses photographies se manifeste dans l’approche formelle, à travers la coexistence d’un grand dépouillement et d’une exaltation par la couleur et la lumière.
Jardins engloutis
Ce projet est né durant un voyage qu’Helene Schmitz a fait dans la jungle du Surinam, sur les pas d’un naturaliste suédois du 18ème siècle. Il traite de quelque chose qui s’est perdu : les rares traces qui évoquent la présence humaine sont dominées, voire absorbées, par une nature sauvage. Ainsi, dans ses photographies, nous contemplons des lieux partiellement recouverts par la végétation où nous avons le sentiment d’être les témoins de quelque chose qui a été.
Carnivores
Pendant deux ans Helene Schmitz a travaillé sur le projet les Carnivores. L’artiste a été fascinée par ces végétaux prédateurs qui vont à l’encontre de nos idées reçues sur la belle plante paisible et passive : au contraire, elles attirent, attrapent et dévorent leurs victimes. Dans le but de mieux saisir ces particularités, l’artiste a fait le choix de sortir les carnivores de leur élément naturel pour les photographier sous l’éclairage artificiel de l’atelier.
Parcours
Helene Schmitz est née en 1960 en Suède, elle vit et travaille actuellement à Stockholm.
Diplômée en histoire de l’art et en cinéma, elle enseigne la photographie puis se consacre à ses propres créations dans les années 1990. Depuis lors, elle montre régulièrement son oeuvre, principalement en Scandinavie. En France, ses photos ont déjà fait l’objet de plusieurs expositions : dans le cadre du Mois de la photo (1996), le Centre Culturel Suédois a montré la très émouvante série Livingrooms sur sa maison d’enfance dévastée par un incendie. En 2007, à Paris, le Jardin des Plantes a accueilli une exposition en plein air de ses œuvres. Ce printemps, le Palais Rameau de Lille, dans le cadre de Transphotographiques, a exposé sa série Blow Up - un portrait de fleurs en très gros plans où semble se révéler la personnalité de chaque spécimen. Des présentations du travail d’Helene Schmitz ont également eu lieu aux USA, en Amérique du Sud et au Japon.
Une partie de son activité est consacrée à la publication d’ouvrages ; le livre A passion for Systems (System och passion - Linné och drömmen om Naturens Ordning, 2007) a été récompensé par la Bibliothèque Royale de Suède et le Publishing Prize de Suède.
L’exposition Jardins engloutis et Carnivores présentée à la GALERIE MARIA LUND du 22 octobre au 4 décembre 2010 a été sélectionnée pour participer au Mois de la Photo-OFF.
Complément d'information
Sunken gardens - Carnivores
A whole section of Western art and literature attributes a “kind innocence” to nature. Thus, when it takes the shape of a garden, it is often a metaphor of Paradise Lost… In the series Hidden gardens and Carnivores, Helene Schmitz places the symbolic at the heart of her work. Yet far from the idyllic vision, she focuses on the more obscure side of nature, on its insatiable, menacing, - sometimes – cruel aspects, and the representations we make of it, the projections we associate with it.
With the poetry of Sunken gardens and the realist beauty of Carnivores, the artist questions these fascinating spaces where nature and culture meet and overlap. She takes us to secret, captivating universes, awakening mixed feelings of both attraction and anxiety. This ambiguity in her photographs is manifest in the formal approach through the coexistence of great sobriety and an exaltation of colour and light.
Sunken gardens
This project was born during a trip Helen Schmitz made to the Surinam jungle, following in the footsteps of an 18th century Swedish naturalist. It deals with something lost: rare traces evoking human presence are dominated, absorbed even, by wild nature. Thus, in her photographs, we contemplate locations partially concealed by vegetation giving us a feeling of witnessing something that once was.
Carnivores
For two years Helene Schmitz worked on the Carnivores project. The artist was fascinated by the predator botanicals, confronting given ideas about the beautiful, peaceful and passive plant as on the contrary, they attract, catch and devour their victims. Aiming to better grasp their particularities, the artist has chosen to take the carnivores out of their natural element and photograph them in a workshop under artificial lighting.
Background
Helene Schmitz was born in Sweden in 1960. She currently lives and works in Stockholm. She graduated in History of art and Cinema and teaches Photography, focusing on her own creations in the nineties. Since then, she regularly shows her work, mainly in Scandinavia. In France, her works have been exhibited on several occasions: in Mois de la Photo (1996) the Swedish Cultural Centre showed a very moving series Living rooms about her childhood home devastated after a fire. In 2007 in Paris, the Jardin des Plantes hosted an open air exhibition of her works. This spring for Transphotographiques the Palais Rameau in Lille exhibited her series Blow Up – portraits of very large scale flowers where the personality of each specimen seems revealed. Presentations of Helene Schmitz’s work have also taken place in the USA, South America and Japan.
Part of her activity is dedicated to publishing books; the book A passion for Systems (System och passion - Linné och drömmen om Naturens Ordning, 2007) was rewarded by the Royal Swedish Library and the Swedish Publishing Prize.
The exhibition Sunken gardens and Carnivores presented at the GALERIE MARIA LUND from 22nd October to 4th December 2010 was selected to participate in the Mois de la Photo-OFF.
A whole section of Western art and literature attributes a “kind innocence” to nature. Thus, when it takes the shape of a garden, it is often a metaphor of Paradise Lost… In the series Hidden gardens and Carnivores, Helene Schmitz places the symbolic at the heart of her work. Yet far from the idyllic vision, she focuses on the more obscure side of nature, on its insatiable, menacing, - sometimes – cruel aspects, and the representations we make of it, the projections we associate with it.
With the poetry of Sunken gardens and the realist beauty of Carnivores, the artist questions these fascinating spaces where nature and culture meet and overlap. She takes us to secret, captivating universes, awakening mixed feelings of both attraction and anxiety. This ambiguity in her photographs is manifest in the formal approach through the coexistence of great sobriety and an exaltation of colour and light.
Sunken gardens
This project was born during a trip Helen Schmitz made to the Surinam jungle, following in the footsteps of an 18th century Swedish naturalist. It deals with something lost: rare traces evoking human presence are dominated, absorbed even, by wild nature. Thus, in her photographs, we contemplate locations partially concealed by vegetation giving us a feeling of witnessing something that once was.
Carnivores
For two years Helene Schmitz worked on the Carnivores project. The artist was fascinated by the predator botanicals, confronting given ideas about the beautiful, peaceful and passive plant as on the contrary, they attract, catch and devour their victims. Aiming to better grasp their particularities, the artist has chosen to take the carnivores out of their natural element and photograph them in a workshop under artificial lighting.
Background
Helene Schmitz was born in Sweden in 1960. She currently lives and works in Stockholm. She graduated in History of art and Cinema and teaches Photography, focusing on her own creations in the nineties. Since then, she regularly shows her work, mainly in Scandinavia. In France, her works have been exhibited on several occasions: in Mois de la Photo (1996) the Swedish Cultural Centre showed a very moving series Living rooms about her childhood home devastated after a fire. In 2007 in Paris, the Jardin des Plantes hosted an open air exhibition of her works. This spring for Transphotographiques the Palais Rameau in Lille exhibited her series Blow Up – portraits of very large scale flowers where the personality of each specimen seems revealed. Presentations of Helene Schmitz’s work have also taken place in the USA, South America and Japan.
Part of her activity is dedicated to publishing books; the book A passion for Systems (System och passion - Linné och drömmen om Naturens Ordning, 2007) was rewarded by the Royal Swedish Library and the Swedish Publishing Prize.
The exhibition Sunken gardens and Carnivores presented at the GALERIE MARIA LUND from 22nd October to 4th December 2010 was selected to participate in the Mois de la Photo-OFF.
Autres artistes présentés
Helene SCHMITZ
Accès mobilité réduite
Oui
Comment s'y rendre
M°1 - St Paul
Dernière mise à jour le 13 octobre 2022