SPRING SHOW 2015: SPRING BLOOM

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Local Jaws

Chapel Hill. North Carolina. 1995.


34.5” wide print, #2. Black stained oak made by artist (this piece is virtually unique): $11,000.

Unframed Print: $3,150.


I shot this not far from our house when we were living on Dogwood acres in Chapel Hill, in the first years of our marriage in the mid 90’s. A rather fun testimony of my early encounter with the South.

This is part of my series “La Nature Humaine,” which is in tribute to my mentor Denis Brihat, who is the current spiritual heir to Edward Weston. It might not be impossible therefore to find some lineage with Weston in these photographs. See blog post.


Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

Don Quixote Fungus
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Don Quixote
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Cervantes is Among Us

Duke gardens, Durham, October 2005.


20” wide print, #11. Quarter sawed Chatham County oak frame by artist: $6,000.

Unframed Print: $1,400.


This was shot at Duke Gardens, weirdly enough, and is totally genuine. Some say it is a self portrait. There are several possible readings of this photograph, the main, most popular one hides the most important one. This photograph is not really about sex, but as Gopnik implies in his article, dressing up a symbolic scene into something possibly evoking sex, is a good way to attract attention, notably in a puritanical society. I can’t resist quoting what he writes as well: “... I think the French view of sex and life is essentially right and ought to be universally applicable: Sex with children or by force is wrong, and the rest is just the human comedy, unfolding, as it will. Puritanism is a sin against human nature ...”

This is part of my series “La Nature Humaine,” which is in tribute to my mentor Denis Brihat, who is the current spiritual heir to Edward Weston. It might not be impossible therefore to find some lineage with Weston in these photographs. See blog post.


Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

Appalachian tree
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Tree Appalachia
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Lifting

Virginia Grayson Highlands State Park. 1998.


Silver Gelatin, warm tone mordanced 21” tall print, #2,

(this print exhibits a 3D effect due to a rare chemical treatment of the print)


Brown Ash Framed by artist: $12,000. (This piece is virtually unique)


Last year somebody shows up in my studio, sees this photograph and tells me: "I know this tree!" "Get out!"I said. He came back two hours later with a photograph of his own, and of that tree, there was no possible error. I had taken this photograph 14 years earlier, and a good 2 hours away. It seems that the tree had not grown substantially since, matured a bit, that's all, same for the rock.
This is part of my series “La Nature Humaine,” which is in tribute to my mentor Denis Brihat, who is the current spiritual heir to Edward Weston. It might not be impossible therefore to find some lineage with Weston in these photographs.
See blog post.


Alternate unframed prints starting at $2,000.

Abercombie&Fitch
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Abercombie&Fitch
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Neo


17” wide print, #1.

Framed by artist in rare and especially beautiful, quarter sawed black stained oak: $6,000.

Unframed Print: $725.


This was shot at Abercombie & Fitch flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, in April 2012. I had to steal this photograph as corporate America likes to control its communications and is always weary of witnesses with a camera. This scene still goes on everyday, with different participants, but also without the poster in the back which sets up the mood for this neo decadent unlikely scene in todays America, which is still rather prudish ordinarily.


Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

nude
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nude
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Eveil Matisse avec Béatrice


12.” x 18” print, #9. Brown maple framed by the artist: 5,000.

Unframed Print: $1,200.


This was shot in January 1990, in the late days of my presence in the atelier-gallery I once owned in Peynier, near Aix en Provence. The studio which was then converted in living quarters had a nice skylight and terrace, providing the light for this early morning awakening.

This print is a piezzography print, a carbon based pigment ink technique dedicated to printing black and white. I don’t use this technique anymore as I can’t keep all the printers in the world, but those prints certainly have a unique quality, and I only have a handful of them. There will be no more after those, a chance to own a rather rare print.

Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

barber shop, raleigh, rodney king
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barber shop, raleigh, rodney king
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On Paye Content


Silver Gelatin, warm tone 21” tall print, #1,

Brown Oak, framed by artist. (This piece is virtually unique): $10,000.


In 1992, While still living around Paris, I visited Trisha in Chapel Hill around Easter. She was often working at night in a now defunct restaurant, and I was therefore exploring the Triangle by myself. This is how I got into this barber shop on Wilmington Street in Raleigh and took this photograph. It was May 2nd I believe, what I know for sure and only learned later, is that this was the day of the first Rodney King trial, and the tension in town was palpable, I just did not know at the time what its origin was.
See blog post.

Just after that I was saved from a fight in a bar next door, by a lady who seemed to offer professional services ..!


Alternate unframed prints starting at $1,000.

African man, mali
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African man, mali
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Regard Furtif sur la Nègritude

Mopti, Mali, March 1987.


12.” x 18” print, #8. Framed by artist: 1,500.

Unframed Print: $775.


This was shot Mopti Mali, the point of departure by boat or track for Timbuktu. I was there coming from Timbuktu and on my way to Bamako during my life changing trip across north and west Africa in 1987.

This print is a piezzography print, a carbon based pigment ink technique dedicated to printing black and white. I don’t use this technique anymore as I can’t keep all the printers in the world, but those prints certainly have a unique quality, and I only have a handful of them. There will be no more after those, a chance to own a rather rare print.

French  Market Butcher shop
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French  Market Butcher shop
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Dans les Moments de Vérité

Paris, Maubert Mutualité,
Février 1993.


12.5” x 17” print, #2. Crimson red ash frame by artist: $7,000.

Unframed Print: $775.


This photograph is like a crucifix, to remind us of our sins and the consequences of our actions.

I shot this in Paris not long before emigrating to the U.S.,in 1993, and upon seeing my American love displaying profound emotions at this sight. I instantly dedicated the photograph to the American People and it has prefaced a lot of what my experience in the country was going to be.

Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

eggplant, la nature humaine
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eggplant, la nature humaine
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The Old Bore and the Kid in Me


11.” x 11” print, #1

Unique Piece, brown ash frame: $1,200.


In 2001 I visited my mentor Denis Brihat in Bonnieux where he lives. I was writing an article on him for Photo Techniques. Upon our return here, I find this eggplant at the farmer’s market, and had to buy it in tribute to Denis who has made a career photographing vegetal life, and is known for photographs of sometimes weirdly or evocatively shaped fruits or vegetables, something that Edward Weston started with his well known peppers back in 1930. I did not want to photograph the eggplant like Denis or Weston would have done, theatrically on a background, but rather placed it in a regular life setting, here in company of my daughter Olivia. This is how my series “La Nature Humaine started, a collection of photographs of nature metaphoric for human tales in tribute to Denis Brihat, who is the current spiritual heir to Edward Weston. See blog post.

This print is a from an early version of the current Epson technology . It actually has higher conservation ratings, but presents more metamerism.

minor league baseball, durham bulls
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minor league baseball, durham bulls
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Unsquare Dance

Durham Athletic Park, 1994


Mordanced silver gelatin 13” tall print, #1,

Brown walnut framed by artist (This piece is virtually unique): $6,500.

Alternate unframed prints from: $850.


This photograph was shot in 1994, the last season of the Durham Bulls in Durham Athletic Park. That summer and spring I covered the entire season of home games as I had fallen in love with Durham Athletic park and its kitsch, rather well portrayed in
Bull Durham. This series is called Hit Bull, Win Stack, and is the subject of a book whose narrative is written by Clyde Edgerton and is seeking a publisher.

This print is “mordanced” which means that a rare chemical treatment was applied to the print, post processing, and results in the silver content being brought up, resulting in a 3D-like effect.

See web page.


New York Rockefeller
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New York Rockefeller
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Like Rockefeller


38” wide print, #5. Framed by artist: $10.000. (this piece is the very one featured in Monsieur Contraste)

Unframed Print: $3,500.


This was shot in December 2009 from the very top of the Rockefeller tower. It offers the perspective that Rockefeller could have on the world.

I was there to shoot a portrait of a French wine maker visiting NY with his family, and during a downtime brief moment, I leaned over, saw this and just had the time to capture it before the people moved in a different organization that altered the composition. It seems amazing that in the 80 years or so of this building’s existence, nobody seems to have shot this perspective.



Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

barack obama inauguration
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barack obama inauguration
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Of, By, For


12.” x 27” print, #12. Walnut frame by artist: $6,500.
(replica of White House piece)

Unframed Print: $1,125.


Tuesday January 20, 2009. I shot several excellent photographs that day of Barack Obama’s first inauguration, but this one is quite up there. My neighbor, Bill Erwin, who at the time was working in D.C. and kept a small apartment there, graciously hosted me, as it would otherwise have been impossible for me to find a place to stay. I was therefore able to arrive in time on the mall, and secure the exact spot from which I wanted to photograph this historic event. This is the second shot I took that day, in the first minute upon arriving on the Mall.


This piece was presented to the White House by Monsieur François Delattre, Ambassador of France in October 2013. See blog post.

Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

pope
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pope
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More Art, Less Pope

Moral Monday, Raleigh, NC, July 2013.


16.” x 24” print, #1. Black Lacquer frame by artist: $8,000.

Unframed Print: $1,500.


This was shot on July 29, 2013, during the last Moral Monday in Raleigh of that year in which the movement was created. This photograph has (obviously?) nothing to do with the Pope, especially not Francis, but rather with Art Pope, the North Carolina Koch brother who was then director of Budget for the Governor. Nicole Uzzell, whom I did not know then, is holding the sign that she created. She works at Piedmont Craftsmen in Winston Salem.

Unframed prints available in various sizes, as well as this piece framed

zionism
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zionism
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The Three Musketeers


19.25” wide print, #2

Black Lacquer framed made by the artist: $8.000.


This was shot in Washington D.C., on January 18 2003, at the beginning of a march against the war in Iraq. The Three Musketeers were actually 4, the 4th one was D’Artagnan. This photograph is part of my series Life on Mars,

In case you are wondering, I personally believe that the only solution is one State, one State for both in which they will live happily ever after. The latest positions on a Palestinian State by Benjamin Netanyahu allow me to contemplate that he must share this vision.

Project for a new american century
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Project for a new american century
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The American Way


19.25” wide print, #1.

Black Lacquer framed made by the artist: $9,000.


This was shot at main and 9th St. in Durham in May, 1999. The fellow holding the sign is Rex Quinn, a professional right wing activist then living in Sanford but well known around Chapel Hill in those days for his provocative stances. I encountered Rex Quinn years in 2005 in front of the White House, and asked him if he knew on that day of the “Project for a New American Century,” which then had just been completed, and if this is why he was holding those signs, and he said “yes.” This photograph is part of my series Life on Mars.


Alternate prints available, of various happiness available, from $1,000.

2000 presidential election
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2000 presidential election
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Nostalgia for the Good Old Days

houston, New York City, Nov 2, 2000.


115.5” wide print, #1. Blue pigment and resin frame by artist: $4,500.

Unframed Print: $600.


I found this on Houston in Manhattan on November 2, 2000, two days before the election that would have such deep implication in the world’s history. At the time those two caricatures, side by side seemed to capture the pulse of America. I have never been able to find out who did these posters, only a handful seem to have emerged on Houston. With this I started a tradition of producing one photograph every four years that to me capture the essence of the Presidential election of that cycle. This photograph is part of my series Life on Mars.


Unframed prints available, as well as this piece framed

Iraq war protest
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Iraq war protest
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Bush is a Terrorist

Fayetteville, NC, 2004.


42” wide print, #1,

Black Lacquer framed: $5,000. (This piece is virtually unique)


Shot on Mars 20, 2004 in Fayetteville, N.C. during a protest against the war in Iraq which was growing in unpopularity and many were wondering why people serving seemingly accepted to be slaughtered due to neocons idiocy.

This photograph is part of my series Life on Mars, and was relatively controversial still when it was first showed at Through This Lens gallery, here in Durham, for my show “Life on Mars, part 1” in November 2006. What a difference a few years make ...

Photographically, it is reasonably remarkable to have been graced with the ability to capture this moment with a medium format camera, as that is normally not suited for action photography like this. But because of it, the resolution is such that this type of enlargement is possible, enabling impact proportional to the cause.


Alternate prints available on order

Archdiocese and Monastery: 918 Carolina Avenue, Durham, NC 27705. Jean-Christian Rostagni: 919 416 1111 Anytime on Appointment.

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SPRING BLOOM

April 17-June 13, 2015. All photographs by Jean-Christian Rostagni


We are pawns of forces that control us. In a best case scenario the forces of nature, which in the spring are irresistibly potent, yield tantalizing desires, romantic as well as political.  The new show at the Church of Photography celebrates these seemingly different pulses which are ruled by two fundamentals of human life: sex and power.

The show presents photographs curated for this show and which while from various subjects and origin, follow a non-monolithic thread.  One characteristic of Jean-Christian Rostagni's work is that his photographs, while superficially different, carry in fact enough common grounds that they may be arranged together in different fashions and produce as a group an impact following different themes.

Jean-Christian Rostagni makes all his frames, which he typically mills from wood boards issued from local forestries. He designs his moldings, assembles and finish them, and in the case of wood stained finishes uses the most environmentally friendly products available, including natural oils and resins. His state of the art frames feature Museum glass and make each piece unique.