Accademia exhibits photos by Vincent Perez until December 20, 2014
Accademia Fine Art Gallery, that owner Joel Girardi has recently moved to new quarters on Boulevard des Moulins in Monte-Carlo, currently runs an important exhibition of superb black and white photos by Vincent Perez, result of a photographic research in Russia on the Bolchoi’s Ballet, open to the public until December 20, 2014. It is no coincidence that the Monaco Premiere of the Bolchoi Ballet in The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot, will take place on Friday, December 19 with additional performances on December 20 and 21 at the Grimaldi Forum. Both events are part of the Russian year cultural celebration in the Principality.
In this previous successful exhibition entitled “Face to Face” at the Arles’s Festival of Photography, he featured people close to him like Carla Bruni, Johnny Hallyday or Gerard Depardieu. It was his encounter with Francois Hebel the Director of the Rencontres d’Arles who found looking at the artist’s work confirmed that his force was in his portraits. Perez confessed that seeing his portraits lined up against the wall had a particular effect on him.
The Bolchoi and Russian Souls photographic exhibition
This time around the actor turned photographer chose Monte-Carlo to expose his latest work on the Bolchoi dancers. Working with utmost care he succeeds in seizing the dancer’s fascination and fragile instant of harmony. In this exhibition the artist offers his interpretation on ballet where the silhouettes connect with each other transforming themselves into an animated scene. Perez said: “The difficulty was to photograph the dance itself, meaning the movement, the lift-off, it is exactly that lift-off that I tried to capture.” His message is about the interplay of masculinity and femininity, and we especially admire the strength of his portraits. In Perez on words: “I think I have found my path, my language, and it is the portrait.”
Vincent Perez is fascinated by all things Russian, so much that he was President of the Jury at the 22nd Russian Film Festival in Honfleur, France (November 25-30, 2014), alongside his wife Karine Silla who is from Dakar Senegal, also member of the jury. At the festival Perez was quoted saying: “Russia has huge heart and Russian cinema is very rich.”
Vincent Perez is a man for all seasons
Vincent Perez (born 10 June 1964) in Lausanne, Switzerland, but coming from German and Spanish bloodlines, is a soulful, exotic-looking leading man Vincent Perez is known for his grand and glossy French pictures, exuding a sexy stare and irresistible charm that has swept Gallic women off their feet for nearly two decades. He was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Perez had been in relationships with Jacqueline Bisset and Carla Bruni, and has been married to model/actress Karine Silla since 1998 and they have three children, including one set of twins). It all rests in the family, as Silla also has a child by Perez’s ex-co-star Gerard Depardieu.
He has had a varied career as a fashion model, author, screenwriter, actor, director, and now turned photographer. From the classical theatre stage (Paris Conservatoire, L’Ecole des Amandiers) in works ranging from Shakespeare to Chekhov, Perez became an instant romantic idol after pairing opposite Catherine Deneuve in the Oscar-winning film Indochine (1992). His breakthrough role, however, came as the callow, vacuous lover “Christian” opposite Gerard Depardieu’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990). The film is considered these days the definitive version of the Edmond Rostand classic.
With this European success, he branched out internationally, finally making his American film debut in The Crow; City of Angles (1996), taking over the vengeful title role from the late Brandon Lee who was accidentally killed in the original. The sequel did not work as well and the U.S. has been surprisingly unreceptive to Perez ever since. This may be in part due to some of his subsequent less than successful American movies.
In Europe, however, Perez is an art-house favorite. Among his latest projects is the movie The Price of Desire by Mary McGuckian filmed partly in Roquebrune Cap Martin last year, where he plays Le Corbusier. The film to be released next year, explores the triangular tale of insidious chauvinism experienced by the remarkable bisexual Irish architect and designer Eileen Gray as a universal female experience and her controversial relationship to Le Corbusier . The actor considers it one of the best roles of his career that really marked him. I had the chance to be on site during the filming and below are a few photos I took of Vincent Perez as Le Corbusier.
While we await for the movie release next year, you still have time to go to Accademia to admire the photographic talent of Vincent Perez.
Accademia Fine Art Gallery, 27, Bd des Moulins, Monaco – Opening hours: Monday through Friday: 10:00-12:30 & 13:30-16:30 – Tel.: +377 99 99 86 70 www.accademiafineart.com
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