HK CITY VISION - Photographs by Thierry Arensma at ArtMoorHouse London

V I S I O N

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

THIERRY ARENSMA

C I T Y

Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks,

laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Image: Thierry Arensma, HK VII - 135 x110 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera

HK CITY VISION The work proposed here was made in Hong Kong.

It is a series of photographs shot with a large format camera on outdated Polaroid silver

lm, which is no longer manufactured

since 2009. This lm had the peculiarity of having a positive and a negative of an amazing quality. The importance of the choice of this type of

lm and its age is essential in the development,

conceptualisation and nalisation of my work.

Indeed, this

lm and the way I treat it allows me a unique and

random rendering on each image. The chemistry (at the time of the almost immediate development of the polaroid negative) that I voluntarily let alter the negative, creates a trace, an identity of its own for each photo. I scan the negative of the polaroid when I consider that the whole, my own image and the traces of chemical destruction on the lm melt together to the point that this whole gives the nal image a new vision.

The image thus obtained exists only at a moment in time because the original negative continues its course towards a de nitive and irreversible destruction.

We are immediately taken by the strength of this city but also by its nature. The energy that emanates from it is both intoxicating

fi

fi

fi

fi

fi

fi

fi

and overwhelming.

fi

Presented by ArtMoorHouse and supported by Robert Appleby

I wanted to show the city of Hong Kong in the diversity of its architecture, both temporal and cultural-historical, and with the particularity of being inserted into a very powerful nature.

I wanted to stay away from this very structured and purely architectural vision of HK that is conventionally shown.

The photographic and aesthetic rendering is deliberately at odds with the modernity, the energy and the urban structuring of this great economic metropolis. The treatment I have developed reinforces this discrepancy and makes sense in the

nal

rendering of the images.

From this point of view the city of Hong Kong becomes at the same time obsolete, futuristic and poetic and gives the impression of hovering in a form of timelessness... - Thierry Arensma

Thierry Arensma lives and works in France.

He began his career as studio and commission photographer in 1985. He opened his

rst studio in 1990 and his commissioned

work covers a wide range of photographic subjects: still life, architecture, reportage, portraits, publishing and advertising.

At the same time, he develops personal work in different axes such as portraiture, still life of heteroclite objects found or sought,

fi

fi

architecture and travel photography.

Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Image: Thierry Arensma, HK XIV - B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera

It’s believed that an image is a sight which has been recreated, an appearance detached from the place and time in which it was rst seen, and preserved - for a few moments or a few centuries.

However it is the bond between the artist's and our own way of seeing that enables us to sense the place and time of an image.

Thierry Arensma proposes a way to read Hong Kong which re ects the multitude of layers that are contained in the city itself.

His artistic process combined with his gaze magically captures simultaneously the concept of space and the evolution of time leading us to sense a suspended, timeless, almost unreal city atmosphere. A sort of distant transmission of a subject that becomes instead a more intuitive exploration of mood, form and vision.

In his City Vision Arensma presents a space as emotionally charged forms where past and future melt into the eternal now. Elisa Martinelli

Elisa Martinelli - Manager and Curator at ArtMoorHouse

fl

fi

About space - HK CITY VISION

ArtMoorHouse curatorial theme 2021: SPACE This year theme was selected to offer deliberately a vast range of possibilities embracing subjects as diverse as cyber space and the environment. Whilst being timely we wanted to select a topic that re ected a cultural shift that is happening now or that it’s about to happen. From the space we work or live in, to the new concept of space as the required distance between us, or from the importance of shapes in de ning space to the abstract idea of it. Our aim is to explore its concept through the very unique point of view of each of the artist or the projects selected.

ArtMoorHouse aim is to establish a unique platform for promoting an unsurpassed synergy between creativity and b u s i n e s s . We c rea te c u ra te d v i s u a l ex p e ri e n ce s a n d presentations, working with emerging and internationally acclaimed artists. We strive to engage, inspire and provide a talking point and an ice breaker in the banking and commercial environment.

ARTMOORHOUSE I WWW.ARTMOORHOUSE.COM I INFO@ARTMOORHOUSE.COM I

fi

fl

120 LONDON WALL EC2Y 5ET LONDON UK I +44 75 0 2211914

Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Image: Thierry Arensma, HK XXIX - B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera

surprises due to the oblique path that it takes.

The gaze that Thierry Arensma casts over the megalopolis offers an offbeat, utterly out-of-the ordinary vision of the city. The point of view he adopts is an echo both of a very strong aesthetic bias, and a contemplation of the urban reality of a city nourished by its historic and architectural contrasts. At

rst sight, these

photographs could be mistaken for enlargements of old photographs, quaint snapshots stumbled upon in Cat Street perhaps. We soon realise, however, that these are in fact recent pictures: different types of modern architecture, skyscrapers, given a “vintage” photographic aspect.

Thierry Arensma works in the 4x5 inch view camera format using Polaroid

lm, manufacture of which ceased several years ago.

After shooting, he retrieves the negative from these out-of-date lms, and then uses them in the making of his photographic work. Contrary to standard practice, he does not neutralise it, thereby allowing the chemical process to act. He then captures a given moment of the process by scanning it : this is the photograph that we see, meanwhile the negative slowly deteriorates. This process, in addition to choices of angle and framing, gives the “HK” series an “bygone” aesthetic. The picture undergoes no digital touching-up, the chemicals on the

lm only exert an in uence on the chroma. In

other words, the image we see is in its untouched state, without

fi

fl

fi

fi

any re-framing and entirely in its original format.

fi

The “Honk Hong” series, completed during a voyage instantly

: the question of traces, the trace that the chemicals leave behind on the negative, but also the trace of time which, in a town such as Hong Kong, does not materialise in a linear way but via strati cation. Here, there is a juxtaposition of different universes, they cohabit : the traditional with the ultra-contemporary, 21st century architecture with colonial remains, and spiritual temples with temples to consumerism. But there is also a fascinating contrast of a different kind, shown clearly in the majority of the photographs: the cohabitation between the built-up, architecturally-designed, inhabited world and that of the natural world. For the truth is, the jungle is never very far away in this city, situated between land and sea, and which never ceases to push back the frontier with its resident natural environment as it continues to grow. Nature in its wildest state is to be found there, almost in the very heart of the city, amongst the buildings.

Nature at its most persistant, imperious, and resistant.

The timeless and poetic atmosphere emanating from these photographs provides us with a counter-vision of Hong-Kong.

The skyline is absent and there are no bright lights, nor frenetic, over owing streets, nor neon signs. Instead, there is a strange feeling of a disused world, and we have the impression of being stuck in time, in a place beyond time’s reach. We are cut off from the economic realities of this city, which is however one of the world’s major nancial centres.

fi

fi

Yet there is no question here of a backward-looking or illusionary,

fl

The technique used is a hint, an echo of what of the work is about

nostalgic view of a long-lost, fantastical Asia. In its place, this vision puts into perspective and questions modernity, as well as the place of the living in the city.

The beauty of these photographs undoubtedly stems from this strangeness arising from the unexpected encounter between matter and form. The result is a vision of the city which borders on the unreal. An urban

ction, a sort of retro-futuristic

Metropolis... an extension of what is real.

fi

fi

Marie Deparis - Ya l Critic and curator

Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Image: Thierry Arensma, HK XII - B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera

My wife, Alex, and I arrived in Hong Kong in July 1997, the day before the Handover. We intended to stay for a short while but quickly started falling in love with the place, the people, the gritty, forced coalition of different creeds, colours, nationalities and types. Twenty years later, circumstance called us back to Europe.

We struggle to put into words our experiences and fond memories.

Thierry’s pictorial expressions; the grainy impressions of Hong Kong, past and present, the monochromatic medium touched with a hint of degraded earth colour, captures for us everything we

nd hard to explain. His composition is subtle and speaks to

modern day Hong Kong, expressed in an archaic form.

We treasure his works as one might a keepsake. An enduring reminder of lives lived to the full and with no regrets!

Robert Appleby

fi

Benefactor of the HK City Vision exhibition

HK CITY VISION B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass each on edition of 7

Large Format 110/135 mounted under plexiglass TruLife optium Museum Anti-re ection acrylic

For information on price and availability please see the

fl

Exhibition PRICE LIST or contact: info@ArtMoorHouse.com

HK I - B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XII - 100 x 160 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XIV - 100 x 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under

anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXIII - 100 x80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under

anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXX - 100 x 240 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXXIII - 80 x 100 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XIX - 100 x 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK IV - 100 x 160 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XVI - 100 x 160 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass , edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXI- 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXI- 100 x 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK III- 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK VI- 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK VII- 135 X 110 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK VIII- 80 X 100 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK X - 100 X 240 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XI- 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XIII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XIX - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXIV - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXVIII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXXI - 100 X 240 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXXV - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XVIII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK V - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XV - 100 X 160 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXIV - 80 X 100 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXIX - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXV - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXVII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

HK XXXII - 100 X 80 cm, B&W photos made with a 4/5 inch camera Digital prints on Tecco metal paper made by the artist with Ultra Chrome pigment inks, laminated on aluminium and mounted under anti UV plexiglass, edition of 7

Thierry Arensma

Thierry Arensma Impasse le Maine Meunier, 16320 Boisné La Tude, France Mobile : +33 6 85 70 05 86

Thierry Arensma lives and works in eastern Paris. He began his career as a studio and reportage photographer since 1985. He opened his

rst studio in 1990 and independently carried out

commissioned work in a wide range of shots: still life, architectural photographs, reports and portraits for the specialized press, publishing, advertising.

At the same time, he develops personal work in different axes such as portraiture, the still life of motley objects found or sought, architecture and travel photography.

SOLO SHOW 2016: Lodève, Galerie Le Neuf, , “Rétrospective”.

2015 : Millau, Le Magazin Général, “Rétrospective”.

2014 : Romainville ;Expotion “United color of India”. Au 39/93 2012 : Italie, Naples, Galerie Boum Boum “United color of India”.

2012 : Romainville, l’Art au Café, série photos couleurs sur l’Inde.

2011 : Romainville

Galerie Côté Est, Visages de l’Inde “Instants

donnés”.

2011 : Vincennes, Hotel de ville, Coeur de ville.

2008 : Rétrospective à la Médiathèque de Bobigny.

2007 : Colombo (Sry Lanka), Galerie Barefoot « Instants donnés ».

fi

Saint-Denis, Groupe Généralis “Instants Donnés”.

Bobigny - Via le Monde “Instants Donnés”..

Exposition dans le cadre de Arte Na Lerra à Caminia (Portugal) puis à Ponteault-Combeault.

2004 : Paris, Galerie Guillaume, “Portraits” 2003 : Paris, Galerie Peinture Fraîche « Présences Indiennes ».

2003 : « Présences », exposition itinérante dans les 10 Alliances Françaises en Inde. Fnac, exposition itinérante.

2001 : Romainville, Mairie, “Portraits du RAJASTHAN” 2000 : Paris, Galerie Peinture Fraîche « Fouta, portraits noir et blanc de Toucouleurs ».Série de portraits, Visages du Sénégal.

1998: Paris, Galerie Peinture Fraîche. Série de portraits Sri Lanka et Rajasthan 1998 : Colombo (Sry Lanka), Galerie Barefoot, Portraits du Sri Lanka. Galerie Peinture Fraîche. Série de portraits du Sri Lanka et Rajasthan.Route des Indes. Série de portraits du Sri Lanka et Rajasthan.

1997 : En collaboration avec Pierre Collier, « Sur les traces de B.de Boignes en Inde », Chambéry en Avril puis Fondation Bismarck à Paris, Juin.1997.

RESIDENCIES

2010: Chine Sichuan, invitation par le Syndicat de la Chambre du Commerce et de l’Industrie.

2005 : « Portraits en Sierra Arga ». Résidence dans un village Portugais.

2003 : Invitation en résidence par le Service Culturel de

l’Ambassade de France en Inde.

1997 : Invitation dans le cadre d’un projet de construction dans un village du nord du Sénégal. Réalisation d’une série de portraits de gens du village.

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS

2 0 1 9

:Promenades

photographique

de

Vendômes ‘ Hémopoiesis ‘ 2016: Paris Hôtel de Sauroy “L’oeuil au bord des mondes” 2016: Paris Hôtel de Sauroy “H.K. vision de ville” 2016 : PARIS Les Blancs manteaux “H.K. vision de ville” 2016 :Exposition en Chine dans le Yunnnan à Duoyishu sur les terrasses de YUANYANG 2015 : Paris- Les Blancs manteaux“United color of India” 2015/2016 Monastére royal de Brou: A l’ombre d’Éros 2014 :Romainville” Culture et Identité” portraits d’artistes 2014 : Romaiville “migration et citoyenneté” serie sur le Maroc 2013 :Romainville “Las noches de los muirtos” Instalation photographique de l’autoportrait à la tête de mort 2009 : Lyon, Festival d’art contemporain Arty vitrines.

2009 : Vendôme, Promenades Photographiques, “Instants donnés” 2009 : Alençon- Printemps Photographique de l’Orne,”Voyage et peuples du monde”.

2006 : Hon eur, festival “Chroniques Nomades”.

2006 : Saint-Malô, Festival “ Etonnants Voyageurs ”.

2006 : Paris, La route des Indes. « Instants donnés ».

fl

2005 : Metz, Foire Européenne d’Art contemporain Art Metz.

2005 : Pontault Combault, Parcourts d’Artistes, “Instants donnés”.

2005 : Romainville, Salon de l’image, “Memoires et identités: Portraits en Sierra de Arga” 2003 : Hon eur, festival “Chroniques Nomades”, « Le jeu dans le miroir indien ».

2003 : Romainville, Salon de l’Image.« Mémoires et identités » « Regard sur L’inde », 2003 : Pontault-Combault, Salon d’automne.

2002 : Ponteault-Combeault, Salon d’Art plastiques.

1999 : Mois Off de la Photo « Regards croisés», Galerie Un Autre Regard, Paris.

EDITION

« Instants Donnés », Thierry Arensma, Portraits des populations du sud du Sri Lanka et du Tamil Nadu, éditions Passage d’Encre.

2005. Préface Jean-Claude Carrière.

« Sur les Traces de Benois de Boigne en Inde », livre réalisé en co l l a b o ra t i o n ave c Pi e rre Co l l i e r. Ed i t i o n Cu l t u re s & Développement en 1996.

PUBBLICATIONS

Portefolio “Instants donnés” in Le Monde 2, 2007.

Série de portraits -Porte-folio- in revue Ulysse, N°109 en 2006.

fl

Série de portraits, revue Asia Spa, Honk-Kong, 2004.

Revue Passage d’Encre N°18 « Impaire passe et manque », mars 2003.

« La jeune

lle à la chambre Noire », portraits d’Africains du

fi

Sénégal, Edition Sépia 2001

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to Madeleine Pugh and all Moor House’s building management team who, for the past ten years of collaboration, have been directly involved in the development of ArtMoorHouse thanks to their precious help and great

support for our Art Program.

15th of October 2021 - 7th January 2022 ArtMoorHouse 120 London Wall, London EC2Y 5ET, UK View by appointment only

Contacts: E. info@ArtMoorHouse.com W. www.ArtMoorHouse.com T. +44(0)7502211914 T. +41 (0)782036899

Press information:

E. project@ArtMoorHouse.com

HK CITY VISION

ArtMoorHouse Elisa Martinelli E. info@artmoorhouse.com T. +447502211914