The « dance and music » special show held on January 12th at Galerie du Jour. It shows photos celebrating celebrating New York rock, Brasilian baile funk and Malian dance, designed by agnès b. for us to forget ourselves till the end of night…
Little by little, the gallery fills up. The reason for tonight’s get-together, which sees a mix of locals, journalists and a simply curious crowd, are two passions dear to agnès b. : dance and music. ‘After these periods of isolation that we’ve all experienced, Agnès meant for all of us to reunite in the most literal terms,’ explains Sébastien Ruiz, secretary general to the agnès b. donation Fund.
Between Agnès, music and dance, the relationship goes far back, as far as when she had her habits at CBGB in New York. At the entrance of the great square room that opens up the gallery, a space is dedicated to photos she took in the CBGB rock club in New York, where she met Patti Smith in the 70s. Going deeper inside the gallery, the eye is caught to the end wall: two large prints in black and white by the Malian photographer Seydou Keïta, enhanced by a fresco. ‘Agnès gave me carte blanche to frame these two powerful pictures,’ says Thibaut Bouedjoro-Camus, a graduate of the Paris’ Beaux-Arts and winner of the 2018 prix agnès b. ‘This scene is inspired by Ivory Coast night haunts’ explains the young artist. On the left wall, six pictures by Malick Sidibé, also celebrating Malian youth, pictured forever dancing or about to.
The energy of youth can also be seen in the photos of Vincent Rosenblatt, a photographer based in Brazil who immortalises the panache of the local baile funk scene. Energy still in the pictures of mythical photographers Alain Dister and Godlis. The former carried his camera around the hot spots of the musical counterculture, in Woodstock, London, Tokyo or Paris. He mostly shot the public, while Godlis, the American, focused on the energy on stage: The Clash, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Blondie or Nico, sweating at the Palladium or at CBGB, obviously.
Jonas Mekas, the Lithuanian underground cinematographer, submit a video of whom presenting a breathless musical session turns on a loop on a screen in the room. Suddenly, a saxophone covers conversations. Intrigued, the crowd heads towards the mezzanine. An orchestra of four (bass, drums, saxophone and vocals) from the jazz school of Vincent Segal is having fun. Drinks in hand, a handful of crisps in the other, the visitors stomp their feet and shaking their heads. Almost dancing.
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All the pieces of the exhibition are for sale.
Exhibition ‘Dance and Music,’ from December 16 until February 19, at La Galerie du Jour, Place Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris 13
