BT天堂

I try to photograph intimacy, nudity, transparency and opacity, capturing the darkness that haunts the eyes of women, revealing the ambivalence that is, in my view, the very essence of seduction. Gorgon, medusa, amazon fig- ures of warrior women nourish my personal mythology. Is photography a kind of therapy? Perhaps. What inspires my pictures is the phantasmagorical bond I share with my models, a complicity that is created in the construction of a new form of sexual identity far removed from maternal images, far from pornographic icons. No stolen images, no violation, no voyeurism. It is, rather, a game, a return to the freedom and openness of childhood, the freedom to be ambiguous, where the barriers between masculine and feminine are blurred and uncertain.

Artwork

Left to right:听Meduse;听Meduse bras;听Meduse regard bas; (all photograph听30cm x 20cm)

The essence of the gesture translates my perceptions. I want to be the sand, the wind, the space, and the silence which carry the stamp of architectural poetry of different worlds. I bring up from deep inside myself the ultimate story which I discover and recognize. People, lands, sym- bols, environments and sounds are sources of emotion. My donation to BT天堂 is a bronze low relief of my father, Lloyd DeLamater, who was the founder and first president of BT天堂 in 1962.

Artwork

Detail from Portrait of Lloyd DeLamater, bronze, 38cm x 30cm x 2cm

As for my work I would humbly align my self with the passage by Edvard Munch; 鈥�...a work of art origins solely from the interiority of man. Art is a form of the image made of the nerves, the heart, the brain, the eyes of man, and nature is the only great realm from which art obtains its lifeblood, not the nature which offers itself passively to the eye, but the one concealed behind the eyes...鈥�

This work was donated by Willem Peppler, former chair of the Board of Trustees at BT天堂 and international art collector.

Artwork

Dice, acrylic on canvas, 150cm x 150cm

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鈥�...the sculptures of Daniel Jodet are set solidly in reality. The need to make sculpture be not too precious leads him to create pieces that exist in the surrounding space. This also coincides with the creation of themes. Instead of op- posing the figurative and abstract, he attempts to unify them. His work is an assemblage of different materials that complement one another.鈥� 鈥� Marie-Jose虂 Rodriguez, Muse虂e National d鈥橝rt Modern Centre George Pompidou

Artwork

Jonchet VI, elm and concrete, 230cm x 16.5cm

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My aim is to represent a few human emotions 鈥� love, loss, desire, fear 鈥� qualities that are common to all people and which I believe have not changed with time, style of life or sophistication of society. The human forms depicted are devoid of all signs denoting culture or epoch. You see only man and woman in the ecstasy of their emotion sur- rounded by a rather hostile environment of which they are usually largely unaware. Despite our different ap- pearances, ideologies and thoughts, our human emotions are all the same. They unite us if nothing else does.

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Si (If), acrylic on canvas, 130cm x 97cm

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The etchings are all abstract, reflecting the shapes and colors of remembered environments and experiences, some with nature, some with human created phenomena. Shape, texture and color dominate the formal consider- ations of all these works, and really serve as vehicles for the meaning in the work.

Artwork

Left to right:听Desert Willow II, etching, 38cm x 29cm;听Casbah Nights, etching, 29cm x 38cm

A text about my artwork. Sure! I studied at the E虂cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and I continue to draw and produce lithographs and etchings every day. I鈥檒l describe what happens when, a brush in hand, with black ink and water, I face a white page. I know all about the famous story of the writer, terrorized by the blank page. It鈥檚 not that I don鈥檛 have an idea, but an idea, a thought, is not enough to start. To make it work, my hand, my arm, my body all have to be involved; I have to immerse myself totally into the bath of my drawing. I have to be awash in ink. And for that, I have to believe in what I do, believe that it鈥檚 true, that it will appear in front of me鈥攁 visible presence, but one that鈥檚 also physical, emotional, authentic, alive, and which is far beyond myself. So, overtaken by my subject, by the motif, the goal, my hand and spirit are one. I am nothing more than a human being who paints, a voice in a symphony, a great symphony.

Artwork

Left to right:听Passage Pieton, lithograph, 28cm x 19cm;听Untitled, lithograph, 41cm x 65cm

As an actor, I observe people. My job is to represent them, to give expression to the essence, the soul of a person. The art of theatre is transitory, of the moment. As a graphic artist, I try to fix that moment and capture it forever. A breath, a sensation, an emotion passes through the human body and then is gone. These drawings are an attempt to recreate the beauty of that instant.

Artwork

Emelie, graphite on paper, 63cm x 40cm

No boundaries, no limits,
Layers of colors, of pastels,
Lines in charcoal drawn or not.
Extension of our brain: gesture.

Being able to combine in a piece of art. The complexity of an adult, his maturity. And her fresh approach as a young person. Multiplicity of a character.

Artwork

Femme Africaine, mixed technique on canvas, 116cm x 81cm

My drawings, prints and paintings are part of the journal. After all, life perceived in a certain way, can be compared to one grand suicide note.

Artwork

Left to right: Horror, lithograph, 23cm x 18cm;听Shopping, lithograph, 30cm x 24cm;听Rwanda, graphite on paper, 30cm x 21cm

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The photographs exhibited in this show were derived from a much larger project I have entitled 鈥淭he Production of Capital Space鈥�. The work is centered on appropriation, perhaps better stated as a 鈥渞eading鈥� of the experience of the city. Drawing an analogy between that experience and what is essential to any silver-based image, as opposed to digital image, namely, as a fragment of the real.

Artwork

Photo from the series Production of Capital Space, photograph, 28cm x 41cm

After many years of painting, the process is still mysterious to me, these illusions taking shape and colors shifting, as the image gradually rises to the surface. The sensual world appears, transforms itself as the light changes, then disappears from view altogether. Another layer of paint, another memory passed, the enigma deepens. I am more and more interested in the natural world, from plant growth to the architecture and spirit of woman. The beauty of it all pulsates through this animated universe and I want my paintings to leave a visual trace of that pulse.

Artwork

La Tempete, oil on canvas, 116cm x 81cm

"Like the thick mist in the telling of a dream, Maria brings the mythical past of her land to painting. She proposes her imaginary musings, infusing into her story the pos- sibility of individual participation, with nostalgic stories that emerge from the culture of a people. Tangos, Indians, cafe虂s carry within the weave of her painting the symbols of a history, illustrating with a sensitive touch the integra- tion process of the assimilated immigrant." 鈥� Renato Rita

Artwork

Cat鈥檚 Coffee, acrylic on canvas, 195cm x 130cm

The goal of the artist is to make a statement. Whether the statement is about life, nature, society, emotions, conditions, or events, is often of consequence only to the artist at that instant of time. Not every statement need be made of el- ements that produce a booming crescendo or controversy. Sometimes the artist simply says, 鈥淚 saw this thing, this place, or this moment; and I saw it in this way. I want to show it to you.鈥� Thus, the statement can at times be nothing more than a quiet affirmation. The better the skills of the artist, the closer they come to producing a statement understood by a larger segment of the population. The artist often tries to show the viewer a commonplace sight through a new viewpoint鈥攈opefully, a viewpoint that excites the viewer or causes that viewer to reexamine the scene or moment鈥攁nd find new truths and relationships in those elements. I have long been fascinated with the forms that mankind forces upon nature. The straight line is predominantly an element that occurs when man attempts to control nature or forge or shape natural elements. Nature rebels and works its biomorphic forms in an infinite variety of responses. Many of the photographs I take are of nature as I saw it at that moment; others are created images of nature as I sought to re- shape it. The viewer is invited to decide whether an image is real or created. The computer and the digital camera are the ultimate collaging tools; limited only by the artist鈥檚 vision.

Artwork

Left to right:听Phylodendrum, photograph, 56cm x 40cm;听Tree in Fog, photograph, 24cm x 56cm

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Georgia Russell manipulates, cuts, and transforms books, music scores, and maps. She resurrects her chosen materials for a new life and gives them new poetic mean- ing. Georgia chooses her materials because they talk of their own history. They represent the many hands which have held them and the minds they have passed through. In Georgia鈥檚 universe books are re-invented and trans- formed. The process of reading and writing is visualized in her time consuming sculptures. The act of cutting is another representation of how we consume books and how we 鈥渂ecome鈥� what we read or write. It鈥檚 as though we devour the books and keep fragments of them inside us. Time passing is expressed by the obsessive process she applies and the actual act of manipulation throws the paper and texts into other realms of meaning. Georgia invents a world where the creation and consumption of paper exists at the same time. The materials become part of our body, mind and spirit. Flourishing and fading, calm and opulent they are in a flux between living and dying.

Artwork

Les Pense虂es, cut book in plexiglass case, 34.5cm x 22.5cm x 10cm

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Frances was a nomad and, still is in her heart. Amongst other adventures she drove overland from Paris to India and back, has driven around Australia living with the aborigines, lived with the headhunters in Borneo, and finally met Mother Teresa in Calcutta. Following this encounter which changed her life, she did a paramedical degree at the Sorbonne. Taking color photography all those years, Frances came upon an exhibition of Ansel Adams in Big Sur in 1992鈥搕he desire to take black and white photos was born, and confirmed, by a later exhibition of Edward Weston. However, it was not realized until she came back from a sabbatical year of diving. Relaxed, her creative mind came to the fore and she started doing black and white photos of her adopted city of Paris five years ago. She continues the work with Special Needs Children but finds the time to carry on her nomadic excursions into the city. Her photos have been exhibited in Cape Cod, U.S., and are exported to four out of five continents by the expatriates who share her love of Paris.

Artwork

Tempest, photograph, 29cm x 20cm

Espi虂rito Santo is best known for his sensuous minimal work that deals with issues of place, structure, material, design, and surface with a rigorous conceptual sensibility. Espi虂rito Santo has exhibited widely in museums and galleries worldwide; his works are included in the collections of many prominent international museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Museum of Mod- ern Art, San Francisco and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Espi虂rito Santo鈥檚 works have been included in the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, the Bienal Internacional de Sa虄o Paulo, Sa虄o Paulo, Brazil and the Istanbul Bien- nial, Istanbul, Turkey.

This work was donated by Willem Peppler, former chair of the board at BT天堂 and international art collector.

Artwork

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 72cm x 84cm

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I have always used structures: the Eiffel Tower, baskets, roller coasters, buildings. They have been the inspiration for my compositions.

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Plaza del Popolo, acrylic on canvas, 38cm x 46cm

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