Description: I first visited this emphatically named gallery/museum in the summer of 2012 with my girlfriend. And, we were rather impressed by the whole place. As you might expect, there was a fantastic collection of photography on show. The majority of this had a fantastic local flavour with several shots of the Promenade des Anglais taken during stormy weather that were hugely impressive as well as a series by a local artist that placed people doing bizarre things in routine places across the city – a man playing a piano in the middle of the road for example. I then tried to visit again when my mother came to Nice in the autumn, but the gallery was closed for renovation.
The gallery re-opened again in the winter with a whole new set of work – there was literally nothing from the previous exhibitions – and was possibly even better than it had been before. This time around the focus was far boarder and did not include any local work. In fact, it seemed to eschew Europe altogether and took on a decidedly Asiatic feel. However, it was fantastic.
The first room of the display was taken up by works done by a Korean photographer (Whose name sadly escapes me). These were not hugely impressive as they were, in my opinion at least, far too impressionistic. The shapes of the objects photographed were so blurred that I found it difficult to draw too many conclusions from the works. Therefore, I found it aesthetically pleasing but nothing more.
The second room was far more arresting. Bizarrely, even though the artist (Bertrand Desprez) was French, the material he featured had much more of an Asian feel than the previous room. His work was made-up of pictures taken in Japan. Some of these were truly wonderful as they eschewed the stereotypical images of geishas and crowded streets bedecked in neon and, instead, focused on everyday scenes. He had shots of three girls at the beach that were just wonderful, the composition was fantastic.
The third room featured the work of Patrick Swirc. I have to admit that I enjoyed this less than Desprez as it seemed far original. Swirc took pictures of celebrities that were done in black and white to give a fantastic rough effect. At times, this bordered on the cliché. There was close up shot of Clint Eastwood that seemed to accentuate the haggard lines on the actors face in a way that was striking, but somehow a little stale. The majority of Swirc's works were beautifully put together and looked visually stunning, but they seemed just a tad boring.
I was very impressed at my second visit to the Theatre de la Photograhie et de L'Image. I thought the new displays were fantastic and I will be looking forward to its next new installations.
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