Third Party Event: WORLD PREMIERE – ‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’
First major work by photographer Johnny Green sketches an abstract and dream-like canvas, saturated in love and confusion, alive in memory, looking for a future, seeking control. Through L.O.V.E.
JOHNNY GREEN
“Pour niaiser et fantastiquer”, (“To be foolish and fantastic”), Montaigne
‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ is a collection of photographs providing an abstract and dream-like narrative to my life during a ten-year period including the course and breakdown of a relationship with a love and muse. The photographs, which bear witness to the lives of holocaust survivors, the homeless, children, soldiers, prostitutes, models, dancers, clubbers and anarchists, to name but a few, of the living and of the dead, of mountains, trees, seas and of her, are played over a soundtrack, full of beginnings and endings.
“If there is truth in the old quip that marriage is the most important reason for divorce, it also follows that nothing determines an ending so fatally as a beginning”, Andre Brink.
‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ is about love and letting go. But mostly it’s about love.
The seemingly eclectic and haphazard range of photographic styles and subject matter is neither accidental, nor staged or produced for any other reason than…it is. Our natural way is often first to seek to understand. To work it out. We like control. But you may not find that here. If there’s too much going on, it’s because there was. To divide this work into convenient sub-sections of styles or topics is to miss the point. There is chaos. There is confusion. Yet there is also clarity, and completion, finally. Well, almost.
The period was one of pace and change and similarly, much of the work was shot at speed. Running around, searching for thrills, looking for love. Finding it. Losing it. Wasting it. Chasing the sun, looking for warmth, yet drawn also to the cold, and to a life of extremes. And as for beauty, where art thou? Less elusive than love, for sure. So visible and abundant in places. Yet, there, everywhere, where our mood is happy. And the woman, who breezes in and out of the work? She was always there. I went missing. Lost. Why, I don’t know.
If we look upon our lives as films, with us, you and me, all cast in the lead role, I don’t appear to be in mine so much. Always running. Restless. Yearning to be free. But so rarely feeling free. Moving too fast. Yet, adventures mount, experiences accumulate and wisdom can be acquired. And misplaced. For you don’t need to move this fast in order to see. Slow down, you, the one with the quickening heart. But then, is that not life? And love? When your heart races so and you feel so alive? But then, what of stillness? Ah, this life.
But memories fade and emotions lose that rawness as they melt. The photographs, along with the music, draw a sketch of a life past. Of a shared life past. We are no more, yet here we are, my lover and I, still together in this work. All of us reside there in part. The key is when we return there, it is with acceptance. And not remorse.
So to now… and now we would prefer it if you could just watch. This is all about you now. There are so many journeys contained within this work, so many lives, so many unknown, so many not knowing. There are beginnings and endings for all of us. And many of these won’t always make sense. If you think too much, there are far too many questions. But the answer is always the same. To return to the beginning. And L.O.V.E.
This is dedicated to her.
BIOGRAPHY
Johnny Green was born in Leicester, England, in 1974. He has been working professionally as a photographer since 2000 and has worked in journalism for the Press Association since then. His work appears daily in newspapers and magazines around the world from The Observer and The Sunday Times to The New York Post and South Africa’s The Independent on Saturday. Johnny has previously exhibited in both solo and group shows in London over the past seven years. ‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ is his first major project. He is currently nearing completion of a second work entitled ‘God knows how I adore life’.
NOTES
‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ was conceived in late 2004 and finished in April 2007. The work consists of 328 still photographs, shot in 26 countries between 1996 and 2005, with a soundtrack of 12 pieces of music, curated by the artist, including one song written specifically for it. The project runs as a film or video installation (40:25 mins in length) and has been created to run as such within a gallery setting.
Featured on Saatchi Online is a promo of the work (3:57 mins). Showcasing 60 of the 328 photographs and 20 seconds or so of each piece of music, it is a taster. Made especially for you with the busy life. It is a promo, no more, no less. It is not what the work is. Still, if after 4 minutes there is nothing there to draw you in, then thank you for trying.
The copyright to all the images contained in ‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ lies with either the artist, Johnny Green, or in some cases, the Press Association. The copyright to the music is owned by each artist and/or their respective record company. The copyright to ‘Those eyes are enough to take this heart of mine’ is solely that of the author, Johnny Green. All rights reserved. For more information, please contact Johnny Green.
Johnny Green
Tel : +44 7971 611424
Email : [email protected]
Web : http://video.saatchigallery.com/artist/profile/28990/Johnny+Green/JohnnyGreen.html
