Art Genève 2023: Palexpo • Stand B43

Michael Hoppen Gallery is delighted to return to Art Genève this year where we will showcase works by Sarah Moon, Richard Learoyd, Ori Gersht, Fergus Greer, and Tiina Itkonen amongst others. 

 

In conjunction with the opening of the ground-breaking exhibition Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream at the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, we will exhibit a selection of Fergus Greer’s portraits of the inimitable Leigh Bowery. Shot between 1988 and 1994, Greer’s photographs capture the iconic artist and designer wearing some of his most extraordinary creations, complete with distinctive exaggerated make-up and overdrawn lips. A group of Bowery’s costumes as well as Greer’s photographs will be on view at the CAC Genève from 25 January.

 

The gallery will also present exquisite prints by two great masters of fashion photography, Sarah Moon and Deborah Turbeville. 

 

One of the highlights of our booth, Sarah Moon’s La Robe Dorée, is a new release from her latest project, a 3-book box set in collaboration with the House of Dior, documenting the couture house over many years and a wonderful homage to Christian Dior himself. The golden ripples of the dress and the soft curve of the model’s back make this an extraordinary example of the artist’s ability to imbue her images with sensuality and mystery. 

 

Deborah Turbeville, a contemporary of Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton, was a pioneer in revolutionising the fashion image, shifting it away from the traditional format towards something much more enigmatic. Working fifty years prior to the #MeToo movement of today, Turbeville was radical in the way she sought to undermine the male gaze and establish a distinctly feminine aesthetic which is evident in the works we will exhibit at the fair. 

 

“I can’t deny that I design the background.” She told The New York Times in 1977, “A woman in my pictures doesn’t just sit there. I go into a woman’s private world, where you never go.”

 

We are pleased to unveil new works by Ori Gersht from his most recent series Fields & Visions which see the artist return to the botanical themes that have occupied him for so much of the last decade. The inspiration for this new work comes from the Swiss naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, who travelled to Suriname (Dutch Guiana) in the 17th century and was the first artist to study and record native tropical plants and insects from that region, and the paintings of the American artist Martin Johnson Heade, who travelled to Amazonia in the 19th century in search of hummingbirds and exotic orchids. 

 

The gallery will also exhibit a selection of photographs by Finnish photographer Tiina Itkonen from her ongoing study of Greenland, its inhabitants and ever-changing natural landscape. Photographing this region for nearly twenty years, Itkonen’s works act as a powerful and striking reminder for climate protection. For a long time, she has partnered with polar explorer Dr. Kristin Laidre and writer Susan McGrath on the Piniartoq (Hunter) series, which explores the relationships and interconnections between polar bears, people, communities, and climate change.

 

We look forward to welcoming you to our booth, and to sharing more details of our presentation online.

 

Art Genève: Thursday 26^th – Sunday 29^th January at Palexpo, Stand B43

VIP Preview Wednesday 25^th January