Irish Summer by Harry Gruyaert

Description

Irish Summer by Harry Gruyaert

Year: 2020
Format: Softcover
Size: 210 x 150 mm
Pages: 103pp
Language: English
Published by: Gallery FIFTY ONE
ISBN: 9789463883245

For Gruyaert, who turns 80 next year, traveling has always been a way of breathing. Most of his well-known photographs were taken during numerous trips around the world and are often immortalized in thematic books, such as Gruyaert’s publications about Morocco, Moscow, or his upcoming volume on India (scheduled to appear with Editions Xavier Barral this fall). Wherever he goes, the artist’s main concern is to tell something about the country and time by means of photographing its specific color palette and light, and this without a predetermined agenda or story he wants to tell. This also accounts for Gruyaert’s images of Ireland, the island he crossed in 1983-84 in his Volkswagen van, capturing the country’s outstanding natural beauty and distinctive popular culture along the way. The portraits on view of stolen moments of happiness and collective recreation of the Irish working class of the 1980s on one of those rare sunny summer days, illustrate Gruyaert’s interest in complex, borderline chaotic images and his ability to capture the ‘decisive moment’ on film.

Ireland, County Kerry, 1983, by Harry Gruyaert

Ireland, County Kerry, Aran Ireland, 1983, by Harry Gruyaert

With its typical eighties vibe, present in the fashion, hairstyles and even the cars of those portrayed, ‘Irish Summers’ is clearly a portrait of a country in a given time. However, this series is also largely determined by an ultimately timeless element; that of the (changing) light, masterly playing the leading role in the images taken on the beach on which dramatic clouds gather while thin sunbeams break through. This fragile light, the threatening skies and the palette of shades of gray and soft, muted colours might have reminded the artist of his motherland Belgium. The guy from Flanders that Gruyaert is and always will be — despite his universal relevance and deeply singular approach to his subjects, no matter how diverse they may be — unmistakably felt related to these Irish summers.

Ireland, County Kerry, 1983, by Harry Gruyaert

 

The guy from Flanders that I am and the guy from Flanders that Harry is and always will be — despite his universal relevance and deeply singular approach to his subjects, no matter how diverse they may be — unmistakably feel related to these Irish summers. The depicted ’80s are carved into our systems, and the sensibility and honesty of his observations echo in memories of my Flemish childhood. And possibly in his?

– Roger Szmulewicz, owner of Gallery FIFTY ONE

Also by Harry Gruyaert – Edges, Last Call