Press release

Exhibition : Opening reception : 11.08. 12.22.2012 thursday november 8th, 2012, from 6 to 9 pm. The artist will be present.

Thierry Cohen - Darkened Cities

In Thierry Cohens Darkened Cities, we see bright night skies over cities. Actually, what were seeing is the opposite. These are the skies that we dont see. Before these pictures can exist, the sky from one place has to be superimposed upon cityscape from another. It is impossible to see this detail in the night sky above a city. Atmospheric and light pollution combine to make looking into the urban sky like looking past bright headlights while driving. By travelling to places free from light pollution but situated on precisely the same latitude as his cities, Cohen obtains skies which, as the world rotates about its axis, are the very ones visible above the cities a few hours earlier or later. To find the right level of atmospheric clarity, Cohen has to go into the wild places of the earth, the Atacama, the Mojave, the western Sahara. As more and more of the worlds population becomes urban, and as we lose our connection with the natural world, so it becomes plain that damage is caused by light pollution. There may be connections to certain cancers, and there are psychological burdens of permanent day. The city that never sleeps is made up of millions of individuals breaking natural cycles of work and repose. Lose sight of the sky, and you become a rat in a lab. Cohen hasnt simply shown us the skies that were missing. His cities look dead under the fireworks display above No lights in the windows, no tracers of traffic. They are (in fact) photographed in daylight, when lights shine out less brightly. In urban mythology the city teems with energy and illumines everything around it. Cohens pictures are crafted to say the opposite. These are cold cities, cut off from the seemingly infinite energies above. Text by Francis Hodgson

Darkened Cities is part of the official selection for the Mois de la Photo 2012, organized by the Maison Europenne de la Photographie, Ville de Paris (MEP). Thierry Cohens work will also be exhibited on the gallerys booth at Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, from november 15th - 18th, 2012. Publication : Villes teintes. Photographies de Thierry Cohen, textes de Maylis de Kerangal et JeanPierre Luminet. Editions Marval. 35 euros. A signature will be organized at the gallery during the opening reception.
Contact for the press : Sabine Gudamour GalerieEstherWoerdehoff 36 rue Falguire 75015 Paris - France Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50 mar. - sam. 14h - 18h wwwewgalerie.com galerie@ewgalerie.com

GalerieEstherWoerdehoff

Press images

Thierry Cohen, So Paulo 23 32 09 S 2011-06-07 lst 11:52

Thierry Cohen, Tokyo 35 41 36 N 2011-11-16 lst 23:16

Digital prints with pigment inks, framed with Diasec 66 x 100 cm, edition of 5 or 100,5 x 151 cm, edition of 3 The use of images is exclusively reserved for promotion of the exhibition. The use is limited to two images by publication and valid up to three months after the end date of the exhibition. Obligatory mention: Thierry Cohen, courtesy Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris

GalerieEstherWoerdehoff 36 rue Falguire 75015 Paris - France Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50 mar. - sam. 14h - 18h wwwewgalerie.com galerie@ewgalerie.com

GalerieEstherWoerdehoff

Biography Artist

Thierry Cohen
Born in 1963 Lives and works in Paris. Thierry Cohen has been a photograph since 1985. Self taught, he was first the assistant to David Seidner then to Bettina Rheims. In 1987, he was one of the first photographs to be interested in digital technologies in photography. As a portraitist, he worked for the main labels in the music industry and for the press and photographed numerous celebrities. Since 2006, he works on his personal projects.

Solo shows

2012 Darkened Cities, official selection for the Mois de la Photo, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris Darkened Cities, Paris Photo, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris 2009 Bugs, Promenades Photographiques de Vendme, Parc du Chteau, France 2008 Binary Kids, slection officielle du Mois de la Photo, Espace Univer, Paris

Group shows (selection)

1993 Photos Folies, Galerie Contre Jour, Paris 1992 Tous parents, tous diffrents, Muse de lHomme, Paris Festival Cration et Infographie, Ecole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux Arts, Paris Photos Folies, Paris International Salon fr Objekt Design & Fotografie, Francfurt, Germany Images numriques, laboratoire Picto, Paris The Color of Fashion, The Courtyard Gallery, New York, USA LEpreuve numrique, Centre National de la Photographie, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 1989 Parigraph89, Paris 1988 Mac 2000, Grand Palais, Paris

Bibliography (selection)

Financial Times Magazine : New life for the light fantastic par Francis Hodgson, 2012 Du Magazine : Starlights in The Cities, 2011 WazzArt, reportage TV 230 Caroll Betty, Antartica Production, 2010 Sciences et Avenir, portfolio Bugs, 2009 Le Figaro Magazine, 2009 Photo, 2009 Lacritique.org, par Christian Gattinoni, 2008 Images Magazine, Portfolio Binary Kids par Herv Le Goff, n 31, 2008 Catalogue du Mois de la Photo Paris, prface de Laura Serani, ditions Actes Sud et Maison Europenne de la Photographie, 2008 Thermes de Vals, Universal Music, Le Monde 2, AOL Time Warner, Warner Classics, Teldec, Errato Disques, EMI, Textuel, Lagardre Active etc.

Commercial projects

GalerieEstherWoerdehoff 36 rue Falguire 75015 Paris - France Tel : +33 09 51 51 24 50 mar. - sam. 14h - 18h wwwewgalerie.com galerie@ewgalerie.com

GalerieEstherWoerdehoff