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Joshua Chuang, curator of the Robert Adams exhibition at the Jeu de Paume, “L’endroit où nous vivons,” follows the work of this American photographer from the 1960s through to the early 21st century. The retrospective features more than two hundred and fifty prints, chosen in collaboration with the artist, offering a panorama of the American West and its transformations.
Adams’ trip to Europe in 1968 marked a turning point in his career. This was when he decided to work with contemporary, personal subjects, taking photographs “as a citizen.” He became the indefatigable chronicler of the damage wrought by human intervention (rampant urbanisation, exploitation of natural resources, globalisation) on once pristine landscapes. At the same time, he continue to seek out the poetry of the places he travelled to, even at the most trivial level. As Joshua Chang observes, light plays the leading role here. “The origin of all forms,” it is particularly intense in the work of Robert Adams.
Throughout his career, Adams has been constantly aware of the balance to be found within each image, in order to resolve the tensions between his quest for Beauty and the disasters inflicted on the landscapes of Colorado and Oregon. For his main concern as an artist is to communicate his vision, to reveal the constituents of a shared experience of “the place where we live.” The care he takes over the quality of his books is another aspect of this desire to communicate, of this artistic engagement.
Exhibition « Robert Adams. The Place We Live » until May 18th 2014 at Jeu de Paume.
Curators: Joshua Chuang, Associate Curator of Photography and Digital Media, and Jock Reynolds, the Henry J. Heinz II Director, both of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Liens
Exhibition : « Robert Adams. The Place We Live »
“Robert Adams. The Place we Live” / Yale University Art Gallery
AMERICAN SUBURB X :“Tod Papageorge on Robert Adams – The Missing Criticism – What We Bought”
“Finding the Shape in the Wood”, interview by Peter Brown
