JONATHON KAMBOURIS

JONATHON KAMBOURIS /// THE LAST MEAL PROJECT

Every prisoner waiting to be executed is granted a last meal. Prisoners waiting to die choose their last meal for different reasons. Some choose from past memories, while others feast on what they crave at the moment. Such fascinating details surrounding the final hours before being put to death are a matter of public record and are the inspiration for this series of photographs. Justice may not always be served because the innocent can be proved guilty and the guilty can be proved innocent. Choosing the last meal is a significant ritual because the accuracy and validity of this choice is the only answer one can ultimately accept. This series visually documents the face and last meal of a convicted killer and is without question, honest and true. This will be an on going project as executions continue to take place in the United States. The core of the issue lies not on the emotionally loaded (for or against) arguments, but to question, how is society really served by the death penalty?


☁ JONATHON KAMBOURIS
☁ JONATHON KAMBOURIS /// THE LAST MEAL PROJECT

ÉLAINE DESPINS

ÉLAINE DESPINS /// PRÉSENCE / ÉMERGENCE

Presence / Emergence is a series of large format oil paintings giving full presence to the human body. Suspended in the upper part of the painting against an absolute black setting, these horizontal nude backs act as a poetic metaphor from which emanate both our strength as well as the more vulnerable aspect of ourselves. In the bottom part of the painting, a small face emerges, barely visible, almost like an apparition, gazing at the viewer.

A parallel series of small square paintings echoes what we see in the lower part of the large format oils. This series constitutes the artist’s visual exploration of the experience of sensing the body from within. It is this exploration that leads the artist to question the imperious quality and depth of what is perceived visually. What interests her is the gap between what is seen and what is felt. This rift calls into question the primacy, even the veracity, of sight. Through the felt sense, the body is perceived from within like a fluid mass, a space with indefinite boundaries. The concerns of this artist are not narrative, contextual or psychological. Rather, she seeks to throw into question our preconceived ideas and beliefs about the representation of the human body and to solicit the senses in a new way. Her painting is a way of reflecting a world that is complex, touching and fundamentally paradoxical.


☁ ÉLAINE DESPINS

LUIS GONZALEZ PALMA

LUIS GONZALEZ PALMA /// ARA SOLIS

Luis González Palma is a modernist Guatemalan photographer. Born in 1957, the artist grew up in Guatemala City where he later continued to live and opened up a portrait studio. He studied architecture and cinematography at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and then turned to photography. He has presented his work since 1989-present in more than 58 expositions in America and Europe. (Wikipedia)

☁ LUIS GONZALEZ PALMA

JENS HESSE

JENS HESSE /// Paintings, influenced by digital distorted satellite signals (OIL ON CORDUROY)

"My work examines the emotions of daily life. Facial expressions and figures in my paintings reveal only one part of the emotion, in addition there is a surreal element: emotions resulting from the world of numerical signals.


We live in a numerical time, a time when all that was analogical becomes numerical. Everywhere, digital images are at our disposal, reaching us by satellite, TNT (terrestrial TV) or by cable. They surround us in the form of signals and electronic waves. In my work I initially try to transform a piece using digital visual effects. Especially for this exhibition, I translated my work into the vertical banding effect seen on LCD-screens. In doing so, I looked to corduroy as inspiration. I simulated the vertical lines using darker colours for the furrows and lighter colours for the ribbing.


During digital transmissions there are often disturbances occuring if the apparatus is malfunctioning, the receiver is unstable or if the signal is disrupted by atmospheric circumstances such as a storm. These disturbances can trigger various visual effects: image shifts, transformations of the image, interruptions, blurring, pixilation, colour changes, ghostly effects or image merging.


All these projections and disturbances are part of our everyday life. They influence the way we view our world. For most viewers, these disturbances are quite literally, disturbing. On the other hand, such transformations in still images intensify a visual experiment and reinforce an emotional expression.
The images in my work are based on photographs of a TV screen, with all its accidental irregularities. They are no photomontage. They are snapshots of reality, translated into paintings.


In summary, my paintings show the characters of three types of optical images which influence the final image: TV/video (the source of the image), photographs (the means of recording the image) and finally the paintings themselves."

☁ JENS HESSE

KARINE LAVAL

KARINE LAVAL /// POOLSCAPES

"In the Poolscapes series I'm trying to explore the friction between the real and the imaginary. In some of the images the main subject is not the pool anymore but the invisible world surrounding it reflected in the water. I intentionally flipped some of the images upside down as I like to use photography to challenge the familiar perception we have of the world and I often see my pictures as a bridge between the world we live in and a more surreal and dreamlike dimension. I think that aspect in my work is not only created by the sometimes-unusual angles, but also by the color palette I use, which gives the images a painterly quality. I do find inspiration in painting, both abstract and figurative, and some of the images in the series intentionally echo some modern and contemporary painters." (KARINE LAVAL)

Born in Paris in 1971, KARINE LAVAL currently lives and works in New York. Educated at the University of La Sorbonne and the University of ASSAS in Paris, where she majored in communications and journalism, she completed her education with photography and design courses at Cooper Union, SVA and the New School of New York.

☁ KARINE LAVAL