Reclaimed Images Of China's Yesteryear - "Lunar Caustic" Officially Launched On Dazed & Confused

We are very, very, very excited to officially launch our new collaborative project, Lunar Caustic with Dazed and Confused, on Dazed Digital! This is the debuting of the series and shows the largest selection of the works we have made and that will be exhibited at Galerie Paris-Beijing in September. A huge thank you to all of the team at Dazed as well as dearest Kingston Trinder who wrote the piece, here is a little excerpt from the interview we did.

"Lunar Caustic: elements of the moon - Neglected negatives destined for ruin find new life in a new collaboration by Melinda Gibson and Thomas Sauvin.

Archival photographers Melinda Gibson and Thomas Sauvin salvaged thousands of neglected negatives bound for inescapable destruction for their latest collaboration, Lunar Caustic, a collection of quietly decaying images of China's yesteryear. Gibson, an award-winning British photographer based in London, began working with Sauvin, a French photography collector and editor residing in Beijing, following Sauvin's Beijing Silvermine Project, a vast archive of over half a million recovered negatives he amassed & edited between 2009 and 2014.

Lunar Caustic is less concerned with anthropological notions of salvaged memory or preservation, but rather, with the creation of new imagery through neglect, fate and decay by the chemical compounds used in their original formation. Gibson and Sauvin's recovered images organically transform themselves through time beneath rich clouds of discolouration, corrosion and recontextualisation.Lunar Caustic, a two-year endeavour, will be exhibited for the first time at Brussels’ Paris Beijing Gallery in September."

Read and see more of the interview from Dazed here:
http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/19979/1/lunar-caustic-elements-of-the-moon

13213 Collaboration

2014, is proving to be a super busy year and another very exciting collaboration is well on its way, due to be released later this year. I will reveal more very soon, but I can say that it will be a special publication and I am working on the project 13213 which is coming together in new and exciting ways.

Here are some sneaky images, straight off the press (in a matter of speaking!) that I have been working on over the last few days, all around the honest premise of the fire and flood back in February last year. Keep watching, as more will be posted very, very soon indeed. I am very excited about this one too!

Room&Book: ICA Art Book Fair

I am very excited to announce that both my publications, "The Photograph As Contemporary Art" and "Miss Titus Becomes A Regular Army Mac" will be at Room&Book, a three day Art Book Fair, held at the ICA in association with the wonderful Claire de Rouen Books in London! They will be presented with the Louis Vuitton Maison Librarie.

From the Press release, "Room&Book will be the first art book fair in London to focus exclusively on the role of the book dealer. There will be 18 dealers at Room&Book, and each will present a collection of iconic publications from the last 30 years, alongside their vision for more in-print titles that will become the ‘new rare’. 

We’re experiencing a golden age in publishing - from a cultural perspective, it’s as vital as ever and sitting comfortably within our digital age. – Lucy Moore, Director, Claire de Rouen Books 

Whilst celebrating long established iconic publications, the fair will also present works which are undoubtedly destined to form the next wave of coveted books. - Gregor Muir, Executive Director, ICA" 

The fair will run from Friday 6th June to Sunday 8th June, see more here: http://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/roombook-ica-art-book-fair

Preview Evening - Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs

Last night saw a very special outing, a Tate Preview Evening of the Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs show, and what an absolutely ore inspiring, spectral, enlightening and fabulous evening and exhibition! It seems as Spring has sprung there is a wealth of incredible shows throughout London and this one, as all the reviews have stated, "Nothing can prepare you for the joyous brilliance – and scale – of Matisse's late, great work, 'proliferating from one gallery to the next like some super-abundant garden'..  from Laura Cummings of The Observer, to the "Tate Modern's super exhibition shows Matisse's cut-outs aren't just visual delights - but the product of painful searching and thought", says Richard Dorment of The Telegraph. The reviews are surely not a lie and this exhibition brings joy to many as you are pulled through the process of Matisse's making and presented with epic scaled pieces, for a young standing artist, as sure triumph, but lets remember Matisse was a growing old man, the persistence of this great artist is ore inspiring. 

There is so much to talk about with regards to this exhibition it is difficult to know where to start. But for me, what is imperative to mention is the curation of this show, it is spectacular. The moment you enter you are drawn into a film that shows the craftsmanship of this gentleman, the poetic, fluid motion of his cutting action, welding his tool, the scissor, in such a confident manner, as if they were just an extension of his fingers. His touch to paper, reminded me of Wolfgang Tillmans, the way in which these extraordinary artists let the light and air move the paper in a cinematic way, their hands providing the gentleness of intervention. From that moment on, you are visually experiencing his thought process through painted paper, cut, pinned and pasted.

There is an abundance of works on show, 120 that detail the periods of work between 1936 to 1954 and as you enter into the new rooms, you are hit with true beauty, striking colours, fluid shapes and the essence of the outside inside. Intermixed with the wealth of the visual there is a wonderful essence of Matisse in the rooms, as he words and traces are expressed through pieces and text. A very poignant quote that will stay with me for a while is, "removes their sensitivity," in reference to the published works of the Jazz publication and its inherent printing process. It surely talks of Walter Benjamin's idea of the Aura of the original work of art, against the notion of the the reproduction. For me this idea of the original is so paramount for visual engagement, its wonderful to hear such things from Matisse.

One of the most enjoyable elements of the exhibition was seeing the artist books that Matisse made, including his genius maquette of Jazz. This was mind-blowing, seeing the quality of the paper, the torn edges, the hand painted text, against the originals framed above, it was quite a sight to behold and for me, I can completely see why the publication was disappointing, a flatness that stamps out those creases, the mistakes, the lines found within the originals. Neither the less, this publication is stunning and along with the other covers he designed for his exhibitions, it only proves the resolve of this artist and how he truly was before his time.

As he said it himself, "By creating these coloured paper cut-outs, it seems to me that I am happily anticipating things to come. I don't think I have ever found such balance as I have in creating these paper cut-outs. But I know that it will only be much later that people realise to what extent the work I am doing today is in step with the future." Matisse.

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/henri-matisse-cut-outs

Time Flies, Works Evolve

I can't quite believe that this time a month ago, I was very much in the depths of alchemy, shoulder height, head to toe in acid and nitrate! It is quite astounding how quickly the time flies and how much work has already been made and continues to develop and evolve. Our collaborative project, Lunar Caustic is a true delight to work on and in so many ways it reminds me of why I love Photography as a medium, as we get back to the traditions and classic, hand printing tests commence!

The last few weeks have seen an abundance of inspiration, not only with this delightful collaboration, but also on others that will again like Lunar Caustic debut later this year. It seems 2014 is the year to work with others, bounce ideas off, evolve projects and concepts in a group dynamic, something I have found to be incredibly inspiring and fulfilling. More of these projects at a later date!

Tuesday saw a wonderful day in the printers, the fantastic Artful Dodgers to be precise, testing and testing for the bespoke, on demand editions. There is nothing quite like, working with a great printer for an afternoon, working through the colour balances, tonal qualities and paper types to get one excited, it's beautiful to watch. So with this in mind, another print for release, number 8 in the series!