Foires 2023

Art Basel Miami Beach 2023

December 8 to 11 2023

Save the date: Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 at booth S06 !

 

For its second participation, Polka Galerie, in collaboration with the artist, will be presenting an unprecedented solo-show, uniting for the very first time all the vintage prints used by Franco Fontana in 1978 to constitute this fundamental body of work, which has gone on to influence generations of photographers. The exhibited vintage prints will come straight from the archives of this great master of Italian photography, seeing the light of day for the very first time since their printing in 1978.

 

The 1978 publication of Franco Fontana’s book Skyline, published by Luigi Ghirri’s « Punto e virgola » editions, marked the culmination of a process of artistic research begun by the artist at the dawn of the 1960s. This major work marked a historic turning point in the photographic study of landscape through its abstract and radical approach to the genre. Taut horizon lines suspended between earth and sky, illuminated in a subtle, dissonant color scheme, form an unexpected visual synthesis between artist and medium. The work combines the chromatic perception of a painter-turned-photographer with the incredible capacity of the photographic medium, initially invented to transcend painting, to disclose the hidden geometry of nature, this visual world that often escapes us.

Landscape, Basilicata, 1975. © Franco Fontana / Courtesy Polka Gallery.  

Contact presse :  araffin@polkaimage.com

Paris Photo 2023

November 9-12, 2023

 

 

Foires 2013

Paris Photo 2013

14 - 17 November 2013

Art Brussels

18 - 21 avril 2013

Solo show
Daido Moriyama Silkscreens

et travaux de : Alexander Gronsky / Françoise Huguier / William Klein / Ethan Levitas / Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre / Sebastião Salgado

Art Stage Singapore

24 - 27 janvier 2013
Fairs 2022

Paris Photo 2022

November 10-13, 2022

 Meet at the Grand Palais Éphémère on Paris Photo 2021 booth B01. 

 

Polka presents : PAINTING ET PHOTOGRAPHY.

 

Although the initial ambition of Niépce’s and Daguerre’s invention of photography was the perfect reproduction of reality, twists of fate metamorphosed the medium over the course of its history, from the earliest times of experiments with Bitumen of Judea, eventually handing its practitioners freedom from the constraints of figurative realism. Suddenly, reality, which had become infinitely reproducible with the use of light and lenses, slipped away from the painters. Our booth returns to roots of the photographic medium, one that has never entirely severed ties with its original creators’ codes. Perhaps this means revisiting the origins in sibylline gestures, with colored tints, engravings, drawing with photo developer, chemical tints revisiting the chromatic harmonies of painting... From reportage to abstraction, from photo-poetry to street photography and street art, the artists presented at the booth take on the spectator, bearing witness to their influences and secret fascinations. 

  

Featuring Edouard Elias (& Abdulmonam Eassa)Miho KajiokaDonata WendersNick BrandtJoakim EskildsenMario GiacomelliSteve McCurryAlexander GronskyKosuke OkaharaToshio ShibataMarc RiboudJoel MeyerowitzThe Anonymous Project, Philippe Chancel and Sebastião Salgado.

 

Press contact :  araffin@polkaimage.com

Fairs 2021

Art Basel Miami Beach 2021

December 2nd to December 4th 2021

Meet the Polka Galerie at Art Basel Miami 2021, Booth S8. 

For Polka’s first participation in Art Basel Miami Beach, Survey section, the gallery would like to revisit the first chapter of American artist William Klein’s career. The booth will display this first relatively unknown yet essential chapter that retraces Klein’s gradual development of a unique photographic language, stemming from painting and abstract photography. The booth aims to recreate the atmosphere of William Klein’s first show by featuring an exhibition view of this show displayed as a wallpaper. We will be showing as well for the very first time a set of original vintage, Klein made capturing the blur created by the rotation of the panels as well as other objects. These vintage prints were used to make the mock up for Klein’s first book ‘Abstracts’ (1952).

 

 

3 white ovals+ Pastilles, 1952-1953
© William Klein / Courtesy Polka Galerie.

 

 — From December 2 to December 4 2021

 Press Contact :  mleopold@polkaimage.com 

 

Go to our page Art basel miami 21 !

https://www.polkagalerie.com/en/exhibition-art-basel-miami-21.htm

 

 

Paris Photo 2021

November 11-14, 2021

Meet at the Grand Palais Éphémère on Paris Photo 2021 booth B1. 

 

Polka presents : DEMONSTRATE, DENOUNCE, ACT.


For this year’s edition, Polka Galerie would like to propose an entirely eco-friendly booth, focused on the theme of environmental protection and ecology. Through a selection of largely unseen works by 15 artists.

 

With works by Nick BrandtEdouard EliasMario GiacomelliAlexander GronskyMiho KajiokaWilliam KleinLek & Sowat et Yves Marchand & Romain MeffreJoel MeyerowitzSebastião SalgadoToshio ShibataThe Anonymous Project et Vasantha Yogananthan.

 


Endless night, 2008-2009
© Alexander Gronsky / Courtesy Polka Gallery.

 

— November 11-14, 2021

 

Press contact :  mleopold@polkaimage.com

 

Go to our page Paris Photo 21!

https://www.polkagalerie.com/en/exhibition-paris-photo-2021.htm

Fairs 2019

Art Miami 2019

December 5-8, 2019

With works by William KleinYves Marchand & Romain MeffreManfred Thierry Mugler, et Elliott Erwitt

 


Grand staircase, Casino, Constanta, 2018
© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie.

 

— December 5 - 8, 2019

 

Press contact :  communication@polkagalerie.com

Paris Photo

November 7-10, 2019

Photography as Idea as Idea at booth A41

With the works of Luigi GhirriBruce GildenAlexander GronskyWilliam KleinYves Marchand & Romain MeffreDaidō MoriyamaClaude NoriManfred Thierry MuglerSebastião SalgadoToshio ShibataVasantha Yogananthan

 

 

For the 2019 edition of Paris Photo, Polka Gallery is exploring photography as conceptual art, with a nod to Joseph Kosuth’s “as Idea as Idea”. The gallery is exhibiting works by artists who approach photography with conceptual methods and philosophies, consciously or unconsciously, in an array of approaches and outcomes.

William Klein, who recently turned 91 years old, has himself chosen to exhibit an exceptional large scale “painted contact" taken backstage at one of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fashion shows. The print has already been exhibited at the Pompidou Center in Paris. Additionally, two grandiose prints (160x236) are available in a rare edition of 3 of some of his most iconic images, “Atom Bomb Sky, New York, 1955” (any other editions are no longer available) and “Stock Exchange, Tokyo, Japon, 1961”.

Polka is showcasing pieces by Daido Moriyama with an original silkscreen of “Face, 1969” made in 2007 and by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre with their never before seen large format prints taken from the steps of Oscar Niemeyer’s architectural utopia in Lebanon. The gallery is proud to present work by the most recent addition to their program, the French artist Vasantha Yogananthan, with hand-painted images coming from the third and fourth chapters of his long-term project, "A Myth of Two Souls".

A selection of color prints by Luigi Ghirri are on view, as well as a series by Claude Nori presented for the very first time entitled Je vous aime”, in which he took stills of romance films while sitting in front of a television at the end of the 1970’s. Bruce Gilden has brought out four images from his archives taken in New York City during a prolific period of his career, from 1978 to 1984, as a part of a series entitled “Lost & Found” especially for the fair.

A new series by one of the masters of photography, Toshio Shibata, of black & white Polaroid Type 55 prints printed in the privacy of in his Tokyo darkroom is exhibited and an exclusive video diptych from the young Russian photographic prodigy Alexander Gronsky is available as a part of his ongoing series “Schema”.  

As an extension of the exhibition "Manfred Thierry Mugler, Photographer" that is currently on view at Polka Gallery, photographs by visionary fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler that place fearless models dressed entirely in Mugler couture in larger than life landscapes are also exhibited at the fair. It is additionally a unique occasion to discover a part of the extensive archive of the distinguished photographer Sebastião Salgado. Polka's booth includes vintage prints from his "Serra Pelada Gold Mine" series that are on display for the first time, selected in part from his new book “Gold” and as a preview of the retrospective of his work at the Philarmonie in Paris in 2021.

AIPAD New York

April 4th - 7th 2019
Fairs 2018

Art Miami

From december 4th to 9th

Paris Photo

From november the 8 untill 11 2018

On the occasion of the 22nd edition of Paris Photo, Polka pays homage to the Color.

 

1/ Solo Show: William Klein

 

Atom Bomb Sky, New York, Etats-Unis, 1955 © William Klein / Courtesy Polka Galerie.

 

-


A selection of his “Abstracts” (1952-54) will dialog with large new Cibachrome prints from his iconic works (1962) and a wide format of New York (1955).

 


2/ Color versus achromatic visions. A de nition

“A question of color” / Joel Meyerowitz.
A confrontation in diptychs with similar images stemming from the same sequence both in black and white and color.

 

“Color” / Toshio Shibata
A selection of 9 images from “Abstraction of Space” edited in Cibachrome in 2018.

 

 

 

Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, 2008 - 2018 © Toshio Shibata / Courtesy Polka galerie.

 

 

 

“Schema”/ Alexander Gronsky.
The 6th chapter of the series, entirely dedicated to Jerusalem. An oscillation between positive and negative to discuss a political territory.

-


“Amazonia” / Sebastião Salgado.
How black & white glori es the chthonian power of places preserved from the rest of the world.

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“Revisiting Detroit” / Marchand & Meffre.
Why the French duo chooses color to depict the ruins of the world.

 

Facade, Michigan Central Station, Detroit, USA, 2007 © Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre / Courtesy Polka Galerie.

 

 

A venir: Photo London

From 17th to 20th of May 2018

PHOTO LONDON | Somerset House London

 

© Joel Meyerowitz, courtesy Polka Galerie

AIPAD New York

April 5th - 8th 2018

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, Alexander Gronsky, Joakim Eskildsen. 

 

For its second participation to AIPAD, Polka Galerie highlights the works of three young artists that question the artistic heritage of Hilla & Bernd Becher and the Helsinski School : Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, Alexander Gronsky and Joakim Eskildsen.

Fairs 2017

Art Miami

December 5th - 10th 2017

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

Solo Show

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre are two young French photographers, united in their shared passion for contemporary ruins since 2002. “During our visits to ruins, we always try to focus on remarkable buildings, whose architecture embodies the psychology of an age and system; through them we observe the metamorphosis of the process of decay”.

When they started, each self-taught member of this duo carried their own 8x10 camera. By 2006, they had developed a shared vision and began using only one camera. Our booth showcases the artists’ 3 primary series: The Ruins of Detroit (2005- 2009), Theaters (ongoing), and Industry (ongoing), which spans their entire practice.

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

Over the past twelve years, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre have systematized their approach. They always follow the same technique, using a large-format camera to shoot their surroundings with a cold objectivity. Yet, they are able to transcend the apparent idleness of the sites they choose to photograph. Beginning each time with the theaters’ or industrial compounds’ interiors, such as productions halls, machine rooms and control rooms, they work their way to the administrative and social spaces, offces and halls, before fnally heading outside.

Inspired by the Dusseldorf school, this young duo has proved its ability to investigate abandoned places. Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre deliver a superb document of the evolution of our economies and societies. Their images, scenes steeped in a tender yet unsettling apocalyptic atmosphere, reveal the faws of our modern society.

Internationally recognized, their work was recently exhibited in the Deutsches Filminstitut in Frankfurt am Main and in Gent, in 2015.

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Courtesy Polka Galerie. 

Paris Photo

2017, november 9 -12

Photo London 2017

18 - 21 may 2017

For its second participation at Photo London Fair,  Polka galerie Polka is happy to present work from photographers

Matt Henry, Nicolas Comment, Alexander Gronsky, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, Toshio Shibata
.

at F13 booth, Somerset House, London.

 

 

 

 

© Matt Henry

 

 

 

 

© Matt Henry

 

 

 

 

© Nicolas Comment

 

 

 

 

© Nicolas Comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Alexander Gronsky

 

 

 

 

© Alexander Gronsky 

 

 

 

 

 

 
© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre 

 

 

 

 © Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre

 

 © Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre 

 

 

 


© Toshio Shibata



 

 

© Toshio Shibata

 

AIPAD New York

March 30-April 2, 2017

For its first particpation in AIPAD, Polka Gakerie will explore the concept of "landscape" in photography. The booth will be realized as a ballad through memories, seasons, travels and imagination. The photographers presented will be Luigi Ghirri, Mario Giacomelli, Toshio Shibata, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre.

 

© Luigi Ghirri. 

 

© Mario Giacomelli. 

 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre. 

 

© Toshio Shibata 

Fairs 2016

Paris Photo

November 10 - 13, 2016

Paris Photo 2016

 

Polka gallery was at Paris Photo (PRISMES sector and mail sector) from November 10th to 13th, 2016. 

 BOOTH A38

On its booth, Polka Gallery will explore the unique photograph concept with works of Tiane Doan na Champassak, Luigi Ghirri, Alexander Gronsky, William Klein, Sebastião Salgado, Toshio Shibata and also withe the works of Lek & Sowat et Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre duos. 

 

 

 

© Yves Marchand et Romain Meffre, Les Cours de Budapest

 

 

 

 

 

 

Views of Booth A38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the Salon d'honneur, Polka Gallery will show “PARIS + KLEIN” : an original installation of William Klein in order to celebrate the 20th birthday of the Parisian fair. 

Prismes Sector - Booth B6

 

 

© William Klein, Le Petit Magot, Paris, 11 novembre 1968

 

 

 

Views of Prismes sector

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo London

May 19 - 22, 2016

Photo London 2016

 

Polka gallery will be at Photo London (stand X4) from May 19th to 22nd, 2016.

With : 

 

JACOB AUE SOBOL

STANLEY GREENE

FRANÇOISE HUGUIER

WILLIAM KLEIN

YVES MARCHAND & ROMAIN MEFFRE

TIANE DOAN NA CHAMPASSAK

MARC RIBOUD

TOSHIO SHIBATA

 

M. Riboud, Gong Li, 1993, serie Personnalités

 

 

 

Y. Marchand & R. Meffre, Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia, PA, 2012 serie Theaters

 

 

F. Huguier, Nu sur journaux, Saint-Pétersbourg, Russie, 2002 serie Kommunalka

 

 

W. Klein, Bikini, Moscou, 1959 

 

 

 

Art Brussels 2016

22 - 24 April

 Solo Show d'Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

 

 

For its fourth edition of Art Brussels, Polka Galerie is presenting a solo show of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, two young French photographers united since 2002 by a shared passion for urban contemporary ruins.

Their collaboration started on Parisian sites, before they moved on to Belgian, Spanish, German and American abandoned places along their travels and discoveries.

“When exploring ruins, we always try to focus on notable buildings which architecture reflects the psychology of a specific area or system, and to observe how they have changed over time.”

After 12 years, Marchand & Meffre have managed to implement an almost systematic work process. They invariably use the same approach –a cold and impartial shot taken with a 4X5 large format camera- as well as a strict typology, while showing innovative resources to transcend the apparent unadornment of the places they photograph.

Polka Galerie booth will present the three main series of Marchand @ Meffre entitled “The Ruins of Detroit”, “Industry”, and “Theaters”, along with some exclusive pieces and épreuves d’artistes. 

Fairs 2015

Paris Photo

12 - 15 November

Booth A52,

Grand Palais Paris

 

With

WILLIAM KLEIN

YVES MARCHAND & ROMAIN MEFFRE 

SEBASTIAO SALGADO

JACOB AUE SOBOL

TOSHIO SHIBATA

DONATA WENDERS

WIM WENDERS

 

 

 

Elvis Inn, Jerusalem, 2000 © Wim Wenders

 

Much the same as in theater, photography makes use of scenic space (the space captured by the photographer when they are framing the image), as well as the use of real space, whatever is "out of frame". It is the link between these two spaces that we are planning to examine on our booth.

 

The new series Cyclopaedia, launched in Saint-Petersburg by Alexander Gronsky, then continued in Japan and Israël, is composed of diptychs. Whereas Gronsky’s past work was focused on landscape and photographed with a large format camera, Cyclopaedia juxtaposes two images - shot in the same location but at a different angle - with a 35mm camera, casting doubts on what is real and what is fake. Deviating from the conventional codes of Street Photography, Gronsky invites the viewer to a new level of reality.

 

With the Theaters series launched in 2006, Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre provide a typology of American movie theater. After systematically photographing abandoned theaters with a large format camera, today they focus on the old mecca of culture sacrificed on the altar of fast-profit, transformed into gyms or supermarkets. The result is a surreal set of images overlapping and inducing the emergence of two spaces – the grand past and the present consumerism.

 

William Klein, with his acute sense of framing, renewed photography in the sixties. His work translates the energy of the city condensed in this New York and Tokyo series, in night views of city lights and movie theaters.

 

In the same vein as William Klein’s photo-journal, Danish photographer Jacob Aue Sobol boards in 2012 the Trans-Siberian for an introspective photographic journey in Arrivals & Departures series.

 

In response to this singular use of photography – a direct opposition to the Provoke Era – Toshio Shibata offers a photography in the “third person”. His series Night Photographs is a set of images taken at night, when the real world wears off and becomes a universal space free of any structural markers.

 

And in an Off selection, Sebastião Salgado will present for the first time six unique vintage prints used in the production of the book “Other America”.

Photo London

21 - 24 May

Booth M29B, Somerset House, London

 

With

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO

ALEXANDER GRONSKY

YVES MARCHAND & ROMAIN MEFFRE

TOSHIO SHIBATA

 

 

Cooling Tower, Power Station, Scheibler Textile Factory, Lodz, Poland, 2012

Art Brussels 2015

25 - 27 April, 2015

Solo Show de Sebastião SALGADO

 

 

Church Gate station, Mumbai, India, 1995

 

Le photographe, économiste de formation, porte un regard pénétrant sur les paradoxes du progrès. Chacune de ses photographies constitue aujourd’hui un document.

Servies par une écriture photographique singulière, qui s’appuie sur le noir et blanc, beaucoup de ses images sont devenues des icônes dont la beauté plastique est toujours enrichie de sens. L’ensemble parle, avec respect, de la juste place de l’homme dans la vie et la société.
Menés avec rigueur sur le terrain, y compris dans les zones dangereuses, parfois difficiles d’accès, les travaux photographiques de Sebastião Salgado se succèdent, depuis presque quarante ans, telle une démonstration.

La scénographie du stand mettra en avant la première partie de son oeuvre, Autres Amériques, faisant aujourd’hui l’objet d’un portfolio inédit de 20 tirages. La galerie présentera également les tirages iconiques des séries La main de l’Homme (1993), Exodes (2000) et du projet Genesis (2013), portrait éclaté de la planète Terre et véritable plaidoyer pour que l’Homme retrouve, avant qu’il ne soit trop tard, l’équilibre fondateur qui le lie à l’univers et au vivant.

Fairs 2014

Paris Photo 2014

November 13 - 16, 2014

Stand D43, Grand Palais

 

Avec les travaux de

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO

STANLEY GREENE 

ALEXANDER GRONSKY

FRANÇOISE HUGUIER

WILLIAM KLEIN

YVES MARCHAND & ROMAIN MEFFRE 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articulés autour de la relation que l’image entretient avec la mémoire, la galerie Polka réunit sur son stand les travaux de sept photographes. Plusieurs générations, des travaux qui s’affrontent au premier regard… mais tous les artistes exposés utilisent la photographie comme un moyen d’expression pour témoigner, dénoncer ou redéfinir un fait réel.

De la chute du mur de Berlin jusqu’à la rencontre de populations oubliées, Stanley Greene, Sebastiao Salgado et Françoise Huguier, tous les trois construisent leur œuvre sur le champ de l’action, usent des techniques de l’essai photographique pour informer leur lecteur de la réalité du monde. Face à ces maîtres de la photographie, la jeune génération incarnée par le duo français Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre et le photographe estonien Alexander Gronsky font le choix de revenir, a posteriori, sur une situation. Leurs travaux développent un nouveau langage photographique où le lieu est célébré comme le garant de la mémoire collective. « Industry » (2004 - …) de Marchand et Meffre dénonce les effets néfastes d’une société de consommation emballée et « Reconstruction » (2013)  de Gronsky soulève le rapport « in fine » qu’entretient la société avec le souvenir.

Le stand réserve une place à part à William Klein avec la présentation de Brooklyn + Klein (2013). Le photographe revient à Brooklyn, soixante ans après « Life is good and good for you in New York » (1953) qui sera représenté par la projection dans une black box de « Broadway by light » (le premier court-métrage de William Klein réalisé en 1958 à New York).

 

Art Brussels 2014

25 - 27 April 2014

Solo Show  : William Klein

Films + Abstraction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairs 2012

Slick Paris

17 - 21 octobre 2012

Vip Photo Art Fair

11 juillet - 12 août 2012

Scope Basel

12 - 17 juin 2012

Madrid Foto

07 - 10 juin 2012

Art Paris Art Fair

29 mars - 01 avril 2012
Fairs 2011

Slick Paris

20 - 23 octobre 2011

Madrid Foto

05 - 08 mai 2011

Art Paris Art Fair

31 mars - 03 avril 2011
Fairs 2010

Cutlog

21 - 24 octobre 2010

Art Paris Art Fair

18 - 22 mars 2011