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The exhibition:

Controluce (« Against light ») is an exhibition of urban figures and crowds from a variety of cities, New York, Paris, Brussels and Nice. Painting, watercolor, collage and printmaking often in combination, are the techniques through which the artist interprets and fixes his most recent impressions of the contemporary city.

Michele Tavola, curator of the exhibition:
« The Italian artist and printmaker Nicola Villa combines the technical ability of an old master with the gaze of a modern observer who lives and breathes in the contemporary urban tissue … His inspiration comes from everyday life and the will to see and interpret reality from a modern vantage point. The city is the perfect social aquarium, the ideal place for observation and elaboration of images that tell stories, that speak of us, of today, stories that compel and interrogate our experience. »

The artist:

Nicola Villa was born in 1976 in Lecco, a small town in Lombardy on lake Como in Italy, where he began drawing and painting as a young boy. He went on painting through his studies at the prestigious Milan Polytechnic from which he received his architectural diploma in 2004. He, however, chose art over architecture as a vocation and pursued his artistic studies by studying printmaking in the best printing workshops in Milan: Linati, Pierluigi Puliti, Giorgio Upiglio and at Arte Tre with Alberto Serighelli, the printmaker for Michelangelo Pistoletto and Mimo Palladino. In 2007 he was part of the first group of Italian artists to be invited by the Harlem Studio Fellowship for a year’s residence in New York. He received the prestigious Celeste prize for his work inspired by Harlem.

He is one of six Italian artists – including Mimo Paladino, Nicola de Maria, Ettore Spalleti, Nicola Samorì and the photographer Giovanni Chiaromonte – chosen by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi in 2011 to illustrate a contemporary edition of the four gospels, the Nuovo Evangeliario Ambrosiano for the cathedral of Milan.

Today the artist works in a great studio in a beautiful baroque building in the old town of Genoa in Liguria. He exhibits his art regularly in galleries and art fairs in Italy, France and Great Britain.

The art:

Nicola Villa never quite forgot his years as a student of architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. Though the human figure is very much at the center of his art, the passers-by observed in the streets of his hometown, Genoa, or in the towns he visits on his many trips abroad, are always inserted into a geometric framework and the ambient light of a subtly indicated urban framework. The inhabitants of Harlem, the businessmen of Milan in their sharp suits and the aging prostitutes of the port of Genoa, are all integrated into the spaces of their respective cities. They « structure » by their presence, whether static or on the move, the surrounding urban environment and reflect the varied sociology and constant flux of the modern city. Nicola Villa takes up the study of the modern city where Impressionist artists like Renoir or Monet, or early 20th century painters like George Bellows or Walter Sickert left off. His, is a resolutely modern form of Impressionism, whose graphic style is reminiscent of the 1960s, combining classic techniques – aquatint, paint on canvas and watercolor – with contemporary imagery – photography, collage and digital fragmentation.

The curator:

Michele Tavola was born in Lecco in Lombardy in 1973. After his graduation in literary studies from the University of Milan, he obtained a scholarship to study at the Fondazione Longhi and the Scuola di Specializzazione in storia dell’arte in Florence. He received his doctorate in the history of art at the University of Turin. He has worked as art critic for Radio Popolare di Milano and the daily newspaper La Repubblica. Author of an important manual and dictionary of the of the history of art for the publisher Alpha Test, he was also a member of the scientific committee of the review Art App and the San Fedele art prize in Milan.He is currently director of the collection Impronte – monografie d’arte digitali for the publisher Emuse, and author for the same collection of a monograph on Joan Miró as well as the following titles: La poesia della pittura, Michelangelo, La potenza della forma, Picasso incisore, L’avventura del segno. He has curated numerous exhibitions for Italian museums and galleries featuring, notably, the works of Goya, Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Chagall, Dubuffet and Rouault. From 2010 to 2015 he was the municipal councilor for culture and director of the art museum of the city of Lecco.

Le Huit:

Founded in 2012, Le Huit, is a new art space in the 10th arrondissement in Paris, the result of the collaboration of ten young people from the milieus of art, literature and communication: Mayli Grouchka, Léo Cogos, Théodore Famery, Eliot Leblanc, Louis Ziegle, Sonia Ye, Ethan Assouline and Cécile Malgouyres.
Its aim is to bring a breath of spontaneity and fresh air in the often humdrum and unadventurous contemporary Paris art scene. Le Huit hosts more or less ephemeral exhibitions and happenings that last a few days, a week or a month by artists from a great variety of backgrounds. « We noticed that many young creators in mixed media were looking for a dynamic space more supple and flexible than the traditional galleries ». Fashion shows by the group D.Time’s, satirical cartoons by de the blog writer Tiffany Cooper, group shows by art students held for the Huit Thursdays, but also art dinners and pop-up conceptual boutiques are all held at Le Huit. Every event is new or unprecedented and contributes to the steady advance of the cultural art scene of Right Bank Paris further north to the Great Boulevards, between République and Strasbourg-Saint Denis.

Léo Cogos, Cécile Malgouyres, Eliot Leblanc, Théodore Famery:

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Place: Le Huit, 8 boulevard Saint-Martin 75010 Paris
Metro: Strasbourg-Saint Denis or République

Dates: 12 – 24 May 2015
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday, 14h – 19h / Saturday and Sunday, 11h – 19h
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Controluce – Urban Spaces and Figures:

Controluce – Figures in the City:

Conroluce – Faces:

Controluce – Urban Tales, prints:

Controluce – Oils on canvas:

(Jean-Christophe Ballot) is one of the best architectural and museum photographers In France today.
www.jcballot.com

Among his numerous photographic campaigns, the best known are undoubtedly that at the musée du Louvre during the great renovations of the 1990’s, the musée Rodin, the Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt before its demolition, the renovations of the musée de l’Orangerie, the Bibliothèque nationale de France at the historical Richelieu building or the celebrated Susse foundry.

His latest series of photographs, Les Dormeurs de Saint Denis, of the celebrated French royal tombs in the basilica of the abbey of Saint Denis, north of Paris, will be exhibited in an exceptional setting, the 17th century church of the Billettes in the heart to the Marais in Paris.

The series was commissioned by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and photographed in the spring of 2014.

One of the finest Baroque churches in Paris to survive the French Revolution the church of the convent of the Billettes on rue des Archives was designed in the mid- 18th century by the last of the celebrated Mansart family of architects, Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne (1711-1778).

Today the church it is the principal Lutheran temple of city of Paris.

The black and white photographs of the gisants (recumbent effigies) and orants (praying figures) of the Kings and Queens of France will be presented in two triptych compositions in the choir of the church, as single large prints on the pilasters of the nave and in smaller formats in the south gallery of the church.

The statues were photographed so as to look like live figures, contemplative when kneeling or asleep when recumbent. In the twilight of the beautiful Gothic architecture of the basilica of Saint Denis they take on an otherworldly, dreamy dimension, delicately balanced between the inanimate quality of stone and bronze and the animating quality conferred on them by the shadowy light. The classical architectural setting of the church of the Bilettes and the filtered daylight and shadows of the church provide the perfect background for the contemplation of Jean-Christophe Ballot’s photographs emphasizing their mysterious and spiritual quality.

Organization and visits

The exhibition, sponsored by the Lutheran Temple of the Billettes and Chris Boïcos Fine Arts, will be open to the public Tuesday though Saturday from Wednesday 11 to Saturday 28 March from 2 to 7 pm at 24 rue des Archives, 75004 Paris (Métro Hôtel- de-Ville). It is presented by
Protestantisme et Images as part of the cultural events of the Christian Marais.

Guided visits
Jean-Christophe Ballot and Chris Boïcos will be on site to welcome you and comment on the exhibition on Saturday 14, 21 and 28 March and Thursday 26 March between 3 and 5 pm.

Sale of the Works
All photographs are on sale by Chris Boïcos Fine Arts. Price lists will be available at the exhibition and can obtained by contacting Chris Boïcos (+33 (0) 686 58 98 09 – christophe@boicosfinearts.com).

Practical Information
Dates : Wednesday 11 March to Saturday 28 March.
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 2 to 7 pm.
Free entrance.

Place: Eglise des Billettes,
24 rue des Archives,
75 004 Paris.
Métro : Hôtel de Ville

Contacts :
Christophe Boïcos : + 33 (0) 686 58 98 09 – christophe@boicosfinearts.com
Twitter : @BoicosGallery – http://boicosfinearts.com/
Presse : Agence Charles & Compagnie – 15, rue Ambroise Thomas 75009 Paris – 06 07 59 17 55 – charles@charlesetcompagnie.fr

Artist’s Statement:

Avec Les dormeurs St Denis je développe une réflexion photographique sur l’idée du passage. Passage à travers le réel et le rêve (le sommeil), la vie et le trépas (la mort). Pour le croyant, la mort ne sera qu’un passage.

Cette nouvelle série de photos explore la représentation de la mort dans le statuaire funéraire historique. La question de l’existence de la vie éternelle n’est pas posée, mais est au contraire affirmée par les commanditaires et les artistes des tombeaux royaux et la société de leur époque.
Cette affirmation sereine de l’existence d’une vie éternelle questionne forcément le doute qui habite l’homme contemporain.

Dans mes photos j’ai voulu entretenir le doute entre le vivant et l’inanimé. Je ne photographie pas des statues, mais des personnes. J’aborde ce travail comme du portrait. François 1er ou Catherine de Médicis sont là, ils posent devant mon objectif. Ils sont vivants.

La dimension spirituelle habite toujours mon regard sur le monde : la grâce est juste là, à fleur de pierre, à fleur de peau…

Jean-Christophe Ballot
février 2014

Saint Denis funerary monuments photographed by Jean-Christophe Ballot:

Charles Martel (688-741)

Carloman 1er, King of the Francs (751 – 771) and Ermentrude first wife of Charles the Bald (830 – 869)

Robert II le Pieux (972 – 1031)

Henri Ier (c .1008 -1060)

Berthe de Hollande (1055 – 1093)

Constance de Castille (c. 1136 – 1160)

Blanche de France (1328 -1393)
Execution: 1390. By Jean de Liège and Robert Loisiel

Philippe IV le Bel (1268 -1314)
Execution: c. 1392.

Jacques Longuejoé , Grand prieur of Saint-Denis
Execution: Early 15th century

Louis d’Orléans : (1392 – 1407)
Execution: 1502 – 1516. Monument by Michele Aria, Donnato Di Battista Benzi, Benedetto Di Rovezzano, Girolamo Di Viscardo

Louis XII (1462 – 1515) and Anne de Bretagne (1477-1514)
Execution: 1515-1531. Attributed to Jean Juste and family, gisants and priants possibly by Guillaume Regnault.

François Ier (1494 – 1547) and Claude de France (1499-1524)
Execution: 1548 – 1559. By Philibert de l’Orme.

Louis XVI (1754 – 1793) Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
Execution: 1830. By Edme Gaulle and Pierre Petitot.

All photographs (numbered and signed editions of 9) are on sale, price is by format:
40 x 60 cm : 1300€
60 x 90 cm : 2300 €
80 x 120 cm : 3400 €
100 x 150 cm : 4500 €

A special porfolio of 27 of the photographs (edition of 9, format: 31 x 46 cm) is also available:
1 portfolio photograph: 750 €
10 portfolio photographs: 6750 € ( 10% discount)
20 portfolio photographs: 12 000 € (20% discount)
27 portfolio photographs: 14 850 € (27% discount)

Tomb of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne

Tomb of François 1er and Claude de France

Tomb of Henri II and Catherine de Medici

Tomb of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

Other tombs

Sculpted Drapery

Triptychs

Issenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald

The Saint Denis funeral monuments are also visible on the French National Monument website:

www.regards.monuments-nationaux.fr/fr/spotlight/5896/page/1