Gilbert Garcin (prices: 2500 € - 6800 €)
Gilbert Garcin, * 1929 in La Ciotat / + April 2020, Lived and worked in Marseille, France.
«In seventy years one has gathered ten thousand souvenirs, one has a sort of attic in one's head,. Piled-up things which end up by suddenly re-emerging", explains the photographer Gilbert Garcin who seems to have decided to profit fully from his retirement by tidying his own attic. With the face of a tranquil father, a respectfully unadorned cranium, a discreet tie over a striped shirt, dark grey gabardine, dark trousers and black slippers, this former owner of a lamp factory has the air of a perfect septuagenarian free from all care.
Debris saved from his son's mecano set, bits of string and small building blocks, armed with glue, scissors and his camera, he constructs miniscule models, for which he uses artificial lighting "to make more real", and photographs in this way, day after day, the different acts of his small indoor theatre. Playing with his auto-portraits and cloning without complex his figure of "man-of-all-the-world", he proceeds to place himself in the most surreal situations. Take for example Sisyphus pushing his enormous boulder or a pitiable man behind a pendulum "Running after time", "The egoist" playing leapfrog with himself, until he is lost to view, or "The peacock" displaying tail feathers which depict his own effigy.
"We are all more or less on show, is it not?", comments with a malicious tone the charming gentleman who lightly manipulates the absurd and the auto-derision, with a naïve zest, a distinct taste for surrealism and a Hitchcock-like sense of his own presentation. "I take notes, I accumulate, I leave it to stew a bit, then I decide which paintings I will realise", he comments while simultaneously removing from his pockets stuffed with small pieces of paper, the notes of his future compositions. He will spend two or three days arranging the decor of each small scene. "There should not be too big a gap between what I imagine and the definitive image. But now that I have more experience, I make fewer mistakes". The bug of disassociation, often linked to the art of photography, infected this Marseillais of origin during a period in Arles in the 80s, while working with the photographer Pascal Dolémieux, himself a master illusionist, who initiated him in the secret charms of microscopic landscapes constructed with two nails, three matches and some cubes of sugar.
Ever since, this distant cousin of Tati, this spiritual son of Magritte, has created with humour and a touch of disquietude common in works featuring parody, not hesitating at mocking himself, and all of us at the same time. "'Do not turn around in circles', ‘Know your limits', ‘Be master of yourself', profiting from maxims such as these, Gilbert Garcin elaborates pedantically, not only a sort of fictitious autobiography, but also a whole philosophy of the human comedy". Without forgetting his latest idea: to propose to other photographers to place their own effigies in all the most inaccessible corners of the world. A way of being everywhere at once, including in the work of others!"
Armelle Canitrot, in Pour Voir n°4, September 2000
Gilbert Garcin (shows since 2020, selection)
2020
- 30 years in focus gallery -group show
- Paris Photo New York
2019
- Aipad New York
- Paris Photo
2018
- Paris-Photo (Grand Palais, Paris)
- ArtVerona, Verona (Italie)
- Espace Culturel Le Kiosque, Vannes
- L'humaine condition, Le Parvis, Espace Culturel E.Leclerc, Pau
- Photo-London
- « La vie est un théâtre » « Das leben ist ein Theater » Anzenberger Gallery, Vienne (Autriche)
- « Adoptive », Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto (Canada)
2017
- Le voyage dans l’imaginaire » à Vinci (Italie), village natal de Léonard de Vinci
- Paris-Photo (Grand Palais, Paris)
- Galerie Montesquieu, 40 rue Montesquieu, Agen
- Centro Internacional Oscar Niemeyer Avilés, Espagne
- Exposition « Kairos », Château de Gaasbeeck, Belgique
- AIPAD Photography Show, New-York, USA
- Holden Lunz Gallery, Palm Beach, USA, « Realism to abstraction »
- Kevis House Gallery, Petworth, West Sussex, UK, « L’Absurdité - Gilbert Garcin »
- Galeria Valid Foto, Barcelona, Espagne, Exposition Gilbert Garcin « Mr G »
2016
- Paris-Photo/Grand Palais
- Imagerie de Lannion
- Festival du Regard à St-Germain en Laye
- Photologies à Aubagne
- Galleria del Cembalo, Palais Borghese, Rome
2015
- Paris-Photo – Galerie Camera Obscura, Grand-Palais, Paris
– Musée Arts et Histoire de Bormes, 103 rue Carnot, 83230 Bormes-les-Mimosas, exposition collective
- ITALIE – Spazi Espositivi della Provincia, Pordenone
- Galerie Detaille, 5-7 rue Marius Jauffret, Marseille 8è
- Galerie Camera Obscura, 268 bd Raspail, Paris 14è, « Faire de son mieux – Les travaux de Monsieur G »
- USA - Art on Paper fair, Pier 36, New-York, “Gilbert Garcin’s work”, Stephen Bulger Gallery’s booth
– Le cri des lumières, Château de Lunéville, « Les utopies de Gilbert Garcin »
2014
- ALLEMAGNE - Galerie in focus Arnold Burkhard, Cologne, Gilbert Garcin & Peikwen Cheng
- BELGIQUE - Maison du Peuple, Bruxelles
- USA - Paris Photo / Los Angeles
- SUEDE - Malmö Museum, « Mr G – fotografier av Gilbert Garcin »
- MAROC - Galerie 127 Marrakech
- COLOMBIE - Alliance Française, Bogota
2013
- Exposition chez la galerie Elipsis à Istanbul (Turquie)
- Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg (Allemagne)
- Galerie Détaille - Dans le cadre de "Marseille 2013 Capitale de la Culture" (France)
- Rencontres Internationales de la photographie à Arles (France)
- Galerie Tanto Tempo - Kobé (Japon)
- Université de Louvain (Belgique)
- Festival du film à Martigny (Suisse)
2012
- in focus Galerie, Köln
- Nordic Light Event, Fotofestival Kristiansund, Norwegen, kurated by in focus Galerie
2011
- Fotofest Houston Texas
- MUSEE FESCH - AJACCIO (Corse) UN MONDE SANS MESURE
- CENTRE ATLANTIQUE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, BREST - "Simulacres"
2010
- Hartmann Gallery - Barcelone - Espagne
- Stephen Bulger Gallery - Toronto - Canada
- AD GALERIE - Genolier (Suisse)
- Centre Arc en Ciel - Liévin (France)
- Centre Meyrin - (Suisse)
- Salon Artbygenéve (AD Galerie) - Genève (Suisse)
2009
- Le Printemps des Poètes - Dunkerque - France
- Humour et Dérision (Fondation Regards de Provence) Marseille - France
- MUBE - Sao Paulo - Brésil - (Année de la France au Brésil)
- Astarté Gallery Madrid - (Photoespana)
- Trinta Gallery - Santiago di Compostella - Espagne
- Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire - Paris - France (Rétrospective pour nos 80 ans)
- Chapelle des Pénitents Bleus - La Ciotat - France
- Arte-Lisboa - Hartmann Gallery - Lisbonne - Portugal
- Festival du Lavandou - France
- Printemps de Poètes - Dunkerque - France
- Rétrospective Espace jacques Villeglé - Saint-Gratien - France
2008
- Artotheque, Marseille, France
- Gallery du CHATEAU d´EAU, Toulouse, France
- ARCO MADRID, Espana
2007
- Photo Miami, USA
- Cologne Fine Art mit in focus Galerie, Köln, Germany
- Toronto Art Fair, Canada
- Lisboa Arte, Lissabon, Portugal
- Paris Photo, Paris, France
- Gallery Sozzani, Milano, Italy
- in focus Galerie, Cologne, Germany
- Trinta Gallery, Santiago, Espana
2006
- Months of Photography, Moscow, Russia
- Months of Photography, Quimper, France
- Tecla Sala Art Foundation. Barcelona, Espana
2005
- Months of Photography, Cholet, France
- Gallery Hoopers, London, Great Britain
2004
- Gallery Kowasa, Barcelona, Espana
- Gallery Focale, Nyon, Schweiz
2003
- Biennale de la Photographie de Poznan, Polen
- Festival de la Photographie, Toronto, Canada
- VIIme Biennale Internationale de Teneriffe, Espana
2002
- Photoforum Pasquart, Bienne, Schweiz
- Maison des Arts, Thonon, France
2001
- Noorderlicht Fotofestival, Netherland
- Fotovestival Naaden, Netherland
- Months of Photography,Bratislava, Slowakia
2000
- Photoespana 2000, Madrid, Espana
- Palais des Arts Nogent sur Marne, France
- Biennale de Curitiba, Curitiba, Brasil
2016
- Gilbert Garcin, Photo Poche, Actes Sud
2013
- Gilbert Garcin, LORSQUE LE VENT VIENDRA
- Gilbert Garcin, FAIRE DE SON MIEUX
2009
- Gilbert Garcin, Mister G, Filigranes Editions, France
2007
- Gilbert Garcin, Tout peut arriver, Filigranes Editions, France
2005
- Gilbert Garcin, Le Temoin, Filigranes Editions, France
- Gilbert Garcin, El Testimoni, Edition Tecla Sala, Espana
2002
- Gilbert Garcin, Simulacres, Filigranes Editions, France
1999
- Gilbert Garcin, L ´homme qui est une image, Editions Autre Temps, France
- Gilbert Garcin, La vie est un theatre, Filigranes Editions, France