In Conversation with Christophe Guye Galerie

Find out how Christophe Guye Galerie uses Artlogic to thrive online, plus the ambitious plans the gallery has in store.
Artlogic Blog
4 minutes to read

Written by Eliza Rennie

 

 

 With Paris Photo just around the corner, and art fair season really hotting up, Artlogic caught up with one of our top photography clients: Christophe from Christophe Guye Galerie to find out how Artlogic helps with the day-to-day running of their gallery.

Read on to find out where Christophe draws his inspiration for the gallery, and discover the ambitious plans the gallery has in store.  

Tell us a little about your background and how you came to work within the art world.
 

I was a communications professional with a medium-sized agency in Zurich. At the beginning of the noughties, I was in the fortunate position of having my agency bought by an international network. I had worked with the agency for 15 years on countless campaigns with internationally-renowned photographers. During this time, I became more and more interested in artistic photography and had the desire to make my passion my profession.

"...the gallery focuses on national and international artists who consider the medium of photography within the broader context of contemporary art."

 
Why does photography inspire you in particular, and how does that inform the way in which you run your gallery?

What inspires me the most is how visual artists in the field of photography, through conceptual approaches and unique visual language, manage to create fascinating artworks with an original visual identity that immediately identify the artist. I find it much more difficult to achieve this with photography than with other media such as painting or sculpture. In photography, you have to work with what is already there.

For this reason, the gallery focuses on national and international artists who consider the medium of photography within the broader context of contemporary art. 

I also have a special interest in Asian artists, with a focus on Japan and Korea. Photography from certain artists from these countries holds a special fascination for me, as it furthermore embraces spirituality, tradition, and unique aesthetics, all combined in a way that doesn't exist anywhere else.

"All of us at the gallery love working with Artlogic because Artlogic understands exactly what a modern gallery needs."

What role does Artlogic play within the running of your gallery, and how has it helped you?
 
All of us at the gallery love working with Artlogic because Artlogic understands exactly what a modern gallery needs. It helps enormously to simplify very complex and repetitive work and to save a lot of time. We are also very excited and can't wait for our new website to go on air!
 
 
You’ve announced that you're presenting a solo exhibition by Risaku Suzuki for Paris Photo. Can you summarise what'll be unique and exciting about this exhibition and why you chose to showcase Risaku Suzuki? 

Risaku Suzuki is one of the most important male contemporary photographers in Japan, and his work is exactly in line with the gallery's focus and direction since, as he himself says: “In my opinion, contemporary photography should be based on conceptual thought and committed to creation.”

The works from the 'Water Mirror' series are a condensation of everything that makes Suzuki's photography so appealing: his profound ruminations on the subject of photography itself and the constant questioning of what it means to 'look'. The series explicitly demonstrates the artist's exploration of the origins of representation and the principles of the photographic medium.

© Risaku Suzuki / Courtesy of Christophe Guye Galerie

Sakura (cherry blossom) has inspired artists since the reign of the Emperor saga in 8th century Japan. The impressive blossoming of trees after winter symbolises hope and strength, but when the petals fall, one is reminded of the fragility of beauty and life itself.

What exciting things in your upcoming programme should we look out for?

We are very excited about the upcoming exhibition, which opens on October 27. We will be showing a big retrospective of Rinko Kawauchi, one of the most renowned Japanese female photographers of the present day, showcasing 40 works from two decades. Kawauchi burst on the international scene in 2001 when she was awarded the Kimura-Ihei-Prize, Japan’s most important emerging talent photography prize, shortly followed by the simultaneous publication of three beautiful books, Utatane (Catnap), Hanabi (Fireworks), and Hanako, her very personal study of a young girl of the same name.

Inspired by Shinto, a Japanese religion devoted to the sacred essence of nature, Rinko Kawauchi considers that no subject is too brief or ordinary to be photographed. Since the beginning of her photographic career, Kawauchi's works have contained a unique aesthetic and mood, capturing intimate, poetic, and beautiful moments of the world around her.

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October 4, 2022