Jean Luc Mylayne
On view May 30th, 2008 through August 17th, 2008
In a highly personal approach to image making, French artist Jean Luc Mylayne portrays intimate encounters with birds in monumentally-scaled color photographs. For Mylayne, these images are philosophical meditations on the relationship between man and nature. Mylayne’s artistry requires a deep understanding of the surrounding environment and birdlife. In his 30-year career, the artist and his wife and collaborator, Mylène, have travelled extensively spending months, even years, patiently following migratory routes in search of the appropriate location, atmospheric conditions, and vantage points from which to portray a variety of birds such as sparrows, starlings, and bluebirds.
This first solo museum exhibition in the United States for this renowned French photographer features twenty-three, large-scale color photographs of birds in Fort Davis, Texas where the Mylaynes lived for six months at a time from 2004 to 2007. His process, a laborious one, requires multiple days to set up the scene for each photo shoot, calibrate the cameras, and select lenses—some 50 personally designed of his own invention. After determining the optimum equipment and position, Mylayne waits patiently for hours, even days for certain birds to come in close range and become accustomed to his presence. The results are contemplative images of nature that explore perception, perseverance, time, and memory.
—MARGO A. CRUTCHFIELD, SENIOR CURATOR
[ABOUT THE ARTIST]
Jean Luc Mylayne was born in Amiens, France in 1946. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Europe at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Ia Ville de Paris (1995) and the Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint-Etienne (1991 and 1994) and in America at Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York (1997, 1999, and 2003) and the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe (2004).
[ABOUT THE EXHIBITION]
Jean Luc Mylayne was organized by Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. The exhibition and publication were made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Lannan Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation, the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and its presenting partner, the Levant Foundation, and the French Cultural Services.
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Jean Luc Mylayne, No. 284 February March 2004, 2004, C-print, 72 x 72 inches; Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
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 01. Introduction to Jean Luc Mylayne<...02. No. 186, January February 200403. No. 320, April May 200504. No. 368, February March 200605. No. 334 – No. 336, April May 2005...06. No. 357 – No. 358, December 2005 ...07. No. 284, February March 2004, 200...
American GreetingsKulas FoundationHahn Loeser + ParksContinental Airlines Glidden HouseFrench-American Chamber of Commerce Anselm Talalay Photographic Endowment Fund
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