Presentation
An exhibition of photographs and video by Nicolas Claris and Romain Claris
Espace Culturel du Seeko'o ****
54, quai de Bacalan - 33000 Bordeaux - +33(0)5 56 39 07 07 - contact@seekoo-hotel.com
October 15, 2019 - January 6, 2020
Free entrance every day from noon to 6.30pm
After ROUGE, after NOIRS, now's the time for "Un peu de rouge, pourtant."
Haïku
白牡丹といふといへども紅ほのか
White peonies,
They say
A little red, though
Takahama Kyoshi, 1874-1959
Short and concise, a haiku encourages reflection, imagination, to transport the spirit …A haiku evokes, suggests, invites contemplation and meditation. With its sobriety it steers our imagination by multiplying it like a guide, at once expert, secret and delicate ...
Sensitivity, imagination and emotions are human and universal. Different cultures, through their prisms, make them express distinctly, but the background remains the same!
It is therefore up to the reader to create his own vision, to invent, to consider, to project him/herself rather than by words. As image makers we opt for visual metaphors that are not primarily an attempt at translation(s) but rather transgressions, inspirations, breaths that in our turn we offer to the eyes as so many surprising phonemes.
Fascinated by this haiku written in 1925, we wanted to show how our imagination and our 21st century Western sensibilities can be seduced and inspired by that of a Japanese poem dating back almost a century...
Here we stand, between white and red, searching for which one puts the other in value, which one would be so essential, as if there should be a hierarchy ... And if white and red were inescapable? inseparable? Linked in solidarity, from the flower to the face, from the pistil to the gaze, as a single element fascinating and sublime to our eyes.
Soft as silk with a dazzling and joyful glow, airy lightness, poetic dependencies of white and red, visual diaeresis or synaeresis, illuminated: a completely free approach like that of Takahama Kyoshi.
Romantic and lyrical propositions, images intended to be captivating and sensitive ... A discrete and powerful research around the color red, and revealing in its way the soft and velvety softness of a white that would like to be timeless and immaculate.
Unless …
Nicolas Claris - Romain Claris
Mai 2019
A huge thank you to the marvelous and talented Salomé Costagliola
The film
The film is shown on engraved USB keys, produced in 5 unique copies, attached to a key ring designed by Gilles Jonemann.
Order your own copy of the film
The photographs
As like as so many phonemes ...17 prints prints signed, limited edition (5 copies), superb printing by Lebolabo.
Order a print.
Order a print.
The opening party
On Thursday, October 17, 2019. 180 guests attended the opening party of our exhibition in the cultural space of the Seeko'o**** in Bordeaux, in the presence of Mr. Bruno Lacoste Honorary Consul of Japan in Bordeaux and Mr. Philippe Gauthier of Redman Hospitality … All could enjoy a cup of tea offered by La Maison Jugetsudo, a sake offered by La Maison du Japon, as well as sushis and makis served by SU and SHI with red or white wines of La Maison Dourthe…
A very "Japanophile" evening!
Photos by Sabine Calès:
Photos by Sabine Calès:
They wrote to us
Social networks, emails, here are some comments ...«La bellezza salverà il mondo»
Quando l'occhio di Claris si posa su qualcosa, anche un bullone (sì, un bullone!) diventa un'opera d'arte.
« Un peu de rouge pourtant » è pura bellezza Grazie, Claris!
Selvaggia Oricchio
Traductrice
The rare softness of petal brushes my bones and say touch
from wings and songs of light
red and Peony - upon my dreams
angels ribbons
moons of night-
Charlotte Thompson
Digital Conceptual Artist
Sublime.
De la poésie visuelle.
Merci.
Sophie Troff
Onomaturge. - Traductrice littéraire.
Quelles belles photos ! On a vraiment envie de les regarder encore et encore !
Il y a, à mon sens, une puissance évocatrice entre le blanc, le rouge, la fleur et la jeune femme...
Pour un peu d'abstrait, et rendre encore plus évident le pont entre grain de peau et pétale, entre pureté du blanc et effronterie du rouge, entre secret et désir... En fait tout ça est très érotique, mais pas vulgaire du tout !
C'est un bel acte artistique et les expressions du visage se rapprochent d'un spectacle vivant (ce qui est à mon sens assez difficile pour de la photographie) ! Bref, je vois le talent, la beauté de l'intention, la délicatesse et la violence sont évoquées aussi...
Bravo et merci !
Chloé Guêze
Professeur de danse - Rythmes & Cie
Patrick le Quément
Président du Conseil Scientifique de the Sustainable Design School
Directeur du Design Industriel Groupe Renault 1987 - 2009
J'adore !!! C'est onirique, joyeux, décalé, merveilleux, tendre, généreux : j'ai été pris d'une sorte de saudade à la fin du film, mélancolique face à cet éphémère qui nous renvoie à la vanité de notre propre vie. … En tout cas vous avez eu la chance d'avoir le visage parfait pour ce genre de cession ! Bravo à vous deux : vous m'avez donné une belle émotion !
Bruno Belmont
Groupe Bénéteau
The sparseness of the elements is like the brevity of Haiku. It allows for us to imagine. But we are spellbound and have to keep watching to wake up in this new white world of dreams. The movement of the camera remind me of the views inside a boat the seduce me from the cabin to the harbor in Romain's work. The discipline in studying the red lip behavior and allowing it to perform a seductive encroachment on the white space is stellar. This is outstanding art that I will never forget. In the end I watched the movie and have been seduced and in awe. The pictures are superb. A lot of effort in finding the perfect model and pristine peonies that are red inside. Quite an amazing match. These are amongst you very best work and we are so proud of you.
Asher Kelman
OPF Gallery One
Poser sous l'objectif de deux passionnés, accompagnée de mes fleurs préférées, illustrer les mots d'un poète… Texte de présentation très juste et très beau. J'ai re revu le film et je le trouve magnifique ainsi que que les superbes photos. Coup de cœur pour celle que vous avez choisi de mettre en tête sur le site. Merci encore pour cette expérience magnifique et ce rendu magnifié.
Salomé Costagliola
Modèle
The authors
NICOLAS CLARIS
Co-founder in 1993 of Claris Image Builder - Photographer
"It takes a lot of maritime knowledge to give each boat its most beautiful aspects.
It takes a lot of technical knowledge to master the recent art of digital.
It takes a lot of humility to serve your subjects, not use them.
It takes a lot of energy to take on new challenges every year.
It takes a lot of academicism to know how to break codes.
It takes a lot of respect to avoid the easy way out.
It takes a lot of love to make generous images.
It takes a lot of open-mindedness to be a great artist.
It didn't take many years for Nicolas Claris to become one of the world's leading photographers, but since 2000, he has built on the strength of all these "lot of" achievements and continues to astonish us each year with his singular vision of the world around us, impeccably disruptive at times, joyously classic at others, and tenderly devoted, always.
Eclecticism is not an art in itself, but it gives Nicolas a freedom of tone, a creative force that enables him today to tackle any subject with that mix of skill and respect that makes us look at his work with a joyful pleasure, far from any seriousness, ready for any surprise.
This is the talent of Nicolas Claris, who has moved from being a photographer by necessity to becoming a contemporary artist who cannot be ignored".
Bruno Belmont
In 2008, Sinar entrusted him with an HY6 for a year of intensive testing under conditions that were out of the ordinary for such equipment. Now addicted to medium format (large sensors), Nicolas Claris became one of Pentax's rare ambassadors from 2012 to 2021.
In 2022, he switched to even more technologically advanced Fujifilm equipment (still in medium format, but with a 102-megapixel sensor for exceptional color and image quality).
Full biography
ROMAIN CLARIS
Claris Image Builder - Video Director
«If a wide angle shot is what we can all do - more or less, we who have taken too many pictures at every turn and confused wide angle with an overall view - detail is what is lacking for our image-drowned eye with which we look at the world.
Then, only then the fold of fabric in a sewing machine, the stroke of a brush on a white page, the drops of rain on a train window, a pier by the sea, the hand of a sculptor, a pebble becoming a jewel, the flexible foot of a dancer, the look of a Bangladeshi fisherman, jute fibre becoming a boat, all these things, women, men filmed by Romain Claris, move us because they allow us to see, starting with the detail, a wider, richer world, more complex than we thought, so that, freeing our eye with his, we may be able to see better yet...»
Jacques Dubuisson - Screenplay writer, Director.
Romain Claris has been creating short films since 2000, which have been selected and awarded at more than a hundred international film festivals. Graduated of the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris in 2005, he went on to establish the video department at the advertising and communication agency Claris Image Builder, being responsible for the production and direction of 500 films.
In 2020, he co-founded and became the director of the Bordeaux Shorts Biennale. The third edition of the Bordeaux Shorts Biennale is scheduled for October 2024.
He collaborates with photographer Nicolas Claris on several exhibitions of photographs and videos, including Bangladesh in 2013, Rouge in 2017, Noirs in 2018, Un peu de rouge, pourtant in 2020, and On the rocks in 2023.
Romain Claris has been involved in various cinema educational projects, including sessions at the Lycée de Pauillac in 2013, and at the Lycée Victor Louis de Talence in 2019 and 2022.
Currently in preparation for 2026 is the creative documentary Les comptes de la lune, offering an alternative history of the invention of numbers and calculation.
Full biography - Awards
Contact
Emails : claris@claris.fr • nicolas@nicolas-claris.comTel : +33 6 85 32 86 51 • +33 6 70 79 57 36
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