F&D Cartier at Elizabeth Houston Gallery
Image above: ©F&D Cartier, Napoli Egypte from the series GRAND TOUR Revisited, 2014, Ultrachrome pigment inkjet print / Courtesy of Elizabeth Houston
Image above: ©Sang Ha Park, Opening Night, Top left: Francoise and Daniel Cartier
The work of artist duo F&D Cartier combines the talent and vision of sculptor Francoise and photographer Daniel Cartier. The two began working in collaboration in 1995 and began exhibiting as F&D Cartier in 1998. The exhibition Grand Tour Revisited created in 2014 features a body of work that transforms the traditional trip of Europe by juxtaposing 19th century slides with contemporary digital images of F&D Cartier’s own travels. Discovered by the Cartier’s in a market in Switzerland, the 19th century slides by photographer Johannes Ganz depict the original Grand Tour. An educational rite of passage in the 18th and 19th centuries reserved for upper class European and American young men of means, this former trip of privilege is now possible for many people in the 21st century.
Image above: ©F&D Cartier, Carrara Ruse from the series GRAND TOUR Revisited, 2014, Ultrachrome pigment inkjet prints / Courtesy of Elizabeth Houston Gallery
Image above: ©F&D Cartier, Genoa Celant from the series GRAND TOUR Revisited, 2014, Ultrachrome pigment inkjet print / Courtesy of Elizabeth Houston Gallery
Produced with conceptual vision and antique subjects, Grand Tour Revisited embodies the twenty year tradition of F&D Cartier to elevate found objects. Revealing dreamlike connotations poetically shifting between current existence and historical appearance as in Napoli, Kuanas two frames are seamlessly united into one. As a result, Christ merges with a palm tree while a golden staff rising from an abandoned Lithuanian church photographed in the 21st century pierces up into 19th century Naples. A muted grey audio speaker subtly reminds us of the present, creating a bridge between timeframes and breaking the historical structure of the Grand Tour through unexpected visual pairings and compositions.
Image above: ©F&D Cartier, Firenze Bari from the series GRAND TOUR Revisited, 2014, Ultrachrome pigment inkjet prints / Courtesy of Elizabeth Houston Gallery
Image above: ©F&D Cartier, Milano Kaunas from the series GRAND TOUR Revisited, 2014, Ultrachrome pigment inkjet print / Courtesy of Elizabeth Houston Gallery
About the artists: Francoise Cartier attended Kuntstschule, Bern, Switzerland & Daniel Cartier attended Zurcher Hochule der Kunste, Zurich. Switzerland. Exhibiting for over 40 years, F&D Cartier are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzland; Museet for Fotojunst, Odense, Denmarkm Kunstam- mlung F. Hoffmn-La Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland; Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM), Brazil and The Portland Art Museum, OR. F&D Cartier were honored with the National Endowment of the Arts Creativity Grant and will be awarded the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize in 2016.
