PHOTO:Jean Luc Mylayne-Autumn of Paradise
For more than thirty years, the French photographer Jean-Luc Mylayne has practiced an unusual form of plein air creativity, working outside, on-site with a large format camera to capture birds in their habitats, exploring how humans and technology have changed the natural world. The subjects of Mylayne’s photographs are birds, but the object of the work is a deeper philosophical investigation of the core of nature and perception. He has developed a vision that puts forward an entirely new approach to naturalism.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles Archive
The exhibition “Autumn of Paradise” showcases the work of Jean-Luc Mylayne, who pursues a conceptual and artistic research unmatched within the field of art. Thanks to a unique knowledge of photographic technique, the painter-photographer makes pictures of a reality within which he reveals the expressions of the present. No French institution has devoted an exhibition to this timeless artist since 2009. The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles presents an ensemble of 39 works created between 1979 and 2008, organised into nine sections according to their relationship with the light and the locality, and playing from the start on a progressive invasion of the azure blue of the sky. Printed as a single original, each photograph is silent about the place it was taken, but gives its date, underlining the length of time needed to gain access to the “other” that is the bird. And as the artist explains, the bird is “the proof that harmony exists on this earth, providing we take the time to tune in to the mysteries that surround us”. His photographic subjects, ordinary birds such as: sparrows, starlings, and bluebirds, contradict the uncommon experience depicted in his photographs. These are not images quickly captured “on the fly” or from a distance with a telephoto lens. Rather, they are the result of days, weeks, sometimes months or years of waiting for the perfect alignment of light, subject, and lenses before capturing his target. Of all the species of birds that have captivated Mylayne’s attention, bluebirds have special meaning: for the artist, their color symbolizes nature. His quest to record these birds has led the artist on an international pilgrimage. In the summer of 1999, Jean-Luc and his wife and collaborator Mylène made their first visit to the United States, stopping for extended stays in New Mexico and ultimately Texas in his worldwide project about the color blue, “the blue of the birds” he says “and the sky”.
Info: Curator: Bice Curiger, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, 35 ter, rue du Docteur-Fanton, Arles, Duration: 17/11/18-10/2/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.fondation-vincentvangogh-arles.org
