Exhibits - ANNA FAROQHI "Replacing Photography"

ANNA FAROQHI "Replacing Photography"
15 novembre 2011 - 26 novembre 2011

ANNA FAROQHI

REPLACING PHOTOGRAPHY

The show presents installations by Berlin-based filmmaker and artist Anna Faroqhi.

In DRAWING CASABLANCA Faroqhi drew the first frame of every take from the film classic "Casablanca". She then made two videos exploring Rick and Elsa's path through the film. In replacing film images with the drawn ones Faroqhi invites us to view these iconographic images with a fresh eye.

The work VARIATIONS ON THE EVERYDAY II - IV portrays the filmmaker's intimate surroundings. The drawings show still lifes from her flat. The films deal with the history of houses in the Berlin district NeukÃ¶lln, where Faroqhi lives. Her work questions the photographic image's objectivity by replacing a film image with a drawing.

Galerie Ivana de Gavardie

10 rue des Beaux-Arts â€“ 75006 Paris

15 November 2011 â€“ 26 November 2011

Opening : Tuesday 15 November 2011 6-8 pm

Contact : Arnaud Lefebvre +33 (0)6 81 33 46 94 http://www.galeriearnaudlefebvre.com

ANNA FAROQHI

REMPLACER LA PHOTOGRAPHIE

L'exposition prÃ©sente des installations de la cinÃ©aste et artiste Anna Faroqhi, qui vit et travaille Ã Berlin.

Dans DRAWING CASABLANCA, Faroqhi a dessinÃ© la premiÃ¨re image de chaque prise du film classique "Casablanca". Elle a fait ensuite deux vidÃ©os qui explorent le parcours de Rick et d'Elsa Ã travers le film. En remplaÃ§ant les images du film par d'autres qui sont dessinÃ©es, Faroqhi nous invite Ã voir ces images iconographiques avec un Å“il nouveau.

Le travail VARIATIONS ON THE EVERYDAY II - IV dÃ©peint l'environnement intime de la cinÃ©aste. Les dessins montrent des natures mortes de son appartement. Le film traite de l'histoire des maisons dans le quartier NeukÃ¶lln de Berlin, oÃ¹ habite Faroqhi. Son travail questionne l'objectivitÃ© de l'image photographique en remplaÃ§ant une image de film par un dessin.

Galerie Ivana de Gavardie

10 rue des Beaux-Arts â€“ 75006 Paris

15 novembre 2011 â€“ 26 novembre 2011

Vernissage : mardi 15 novembre 2011 18-20 h

Contact : Arnaud Lefebvre +33 (0)6 81 33 46 94 http://www.galeriearnaudlefebvre.com

On DRAWING CASABLANCA

I started this work because I wanted to do a piece of work about a world after climate change, electricity, consumerism - and after cinema. This theoretical approach did not last long and I started to draw the film classic "Casablanca" shot by shot as a diligent art student might copy the old masters in a museum. As a film teacher, I love it to watch films slowly, shot by shot in order to really understand what's being done. By drawing a film you have to slow down even more. Small details such as fabric patterns of costumes, change of expressions, chocolate sides of actresses get your attention.
If you go for the concept of drawing every take of a film the work becomes a form of meditation. It does not matter what you do you just immerse in the process and do it. For two years I spent nearly every nap break of my little daughter drawing "Casablanca". I did not have to ask myself what I was doing. I just did it.
While drawing and when looking at a sequence of drawings afterwards, I found out very intimate details about film sequences, facial expressions, formal ideas. F.e. does the Bogart character Rick appear in the film only after 10 minutes. The first ten minutes and many establishing shots indulge in the multitude of faces of Ã©migrÃ©s. The film, shot in Hollywood, seems to be concerned with all those European faces that were not wanted in their old home countries. The love story that at first glance seems to be the core of the film is in reality the MacGuffin for a political statement.
There are amazing sequences in the film that have the power of silent movies, f.e. when Bergman - Ilsa waits for her husband Henreid - Victor to complete a meeting with a resistance conspirator while fearing the French chief and the Nazis to take too seriously an interest in them, al the while accompanied by a singer to finish her sentimental ballad at "Rick's".
The medium of drawing is in my opinion the tool of subjective remembrance. It is the tool to immerse in a face, to fall in love with it, to really take if seriously. There is nothing to hide but your own emotion toward this face. Light, position, field size, they all do not matter. This is what makes a drawn image special. You cannot hide your emotions. And your technical flaws. But no matter how "bad" a drawn image is - it always is subjective, thus original.

Going against the professional, against perfection, against what a computer could do, I am back at the beginning of my thoughts, in a world after cinema. By freezing the moving images of "Casablanca" in subjective drawings, I repossess the film, shot by shot, image for image. I make it my own.
This work is a meditation, a love song to a film work, to film itself, a plea for imperfection.

(Nov. 11, Anna Faroqhi)