'i need to live' (Jeurgen Teller/Saint Laurent show)
On the 16th December, the Grand Palais in Paris will exhibit “i need to live,” a show curated by German photographer Jeurgen Teller and commissioned by Saint Laurant. Ministere De La Culture announced the exhibit and gave a brief outline of it. Juergen Teller is ‘internationally renowned’ for his “candid portraits of celebrities, provocative fashion editorials, and distinctive campaigns’. His clientele includes Saint Laurant, Loewe, Vivienne Westwood, and Marc Jacobs. The exhibit will be immersive and present both personal and commissioned works, including a new photographic series, videos, and installations. The show “invites the visitor to discover the straight-forward, realist style Teller uses to respond to notable moments in his life and celebrates the value of human existence.”
The design for the exhibit is adapted for Grand Palais Éphémère by the award-winning 6a architects, who had previously built the artist’s photography studio in London. Teller gained recognition as a photographer in London in the early 1990s, and since then has produced huge bodies of work exploring identity, origins and family. He combines his serious work with self-irony, creating narratives through both intimate and commercial works. The range within his collection - portraits, nudes, landscapes, and self-portraits that depict Teller’s dedication to celebrating all aspects of life and the world as he sees it.
The magnetism of his work can be attributed to its repeatedly playful, slightly contrary elements and tone of immediacy. There is a distinct deglamorization that he establishes around a subject that, as articulated by The New Yorker, “stylizes the human element without abandoning its rawness.” He has faced criticism for being “disrespectful” in his work, as his distinct deglamorization of his subject often diverges from typical fashion photography. What can be agreed on is the direct informality, and almost flirtatious presentation, of ‘”authenticity..”
Saint Laurent’s creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, said that Teller is a ‘”tremendous photographer, whose intelligence, humor, and respect make his work a veritable introspective game, where flashbacks are both tributes and allusions to the founding myths of the Maison Yves Saint Laurent.” He further states that their “collaborative work for Saint Laurent is all about the search for origins as a creative driving force.”
The exhibit will be on show from the 16th of December to the 9th of January, and, after Paris, it will go on to exhibit at the Milan Triennale.
Article by Alana Courtney-Gleeson, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Chenglin Qu, Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
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