Sarah Moon: About Colour, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

Sarah Moon: About Colour, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

About Colour follows Sarah Moon’s major exhibition last year Alchimies at Muséum National D’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Running until 5 April at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, this show presents pieces she has never displayed to the public before. Featuring works old and new, the exhibition highlights the artist’s outstanding ability to shoot fantastical images in colour.

Moon’s career in photography spans nearly three decades. Over this period she ha exhibited in Europe, Japan and the USA. Model turned photographer, Moon successfully captured the demise of the swinging sixties and the rise of punk through her photography. She became well known for her personalised commercial and editorial work in the fashion industry during the early 1970’s.

The photographer has long worked towards her a dream world of her own invention, refusing to compromise and repeat what she saw around her. For more than 35 years, Moon’s captivating images have rejected commonly recognised commercial trends, from the need to establish eye contact, to the belief that the most alluring fashion photograph must be glossy and realistic.

About Colour focuses upon the photographer’s long-standing interest in the vibrant form. She notes: “I think of colour as more of a common language. More generous, more open, not transposed, the language of the real. When I shoot flowers or any still life, or fashion, colour forces me to be more abstract, I have to make the effort to transpose it, in order to get closer to what it was that first impressed me. For me, black and white is closer to introspection, to memories, to loneliness and loss, I don’t see the same in colour – it’s another language, a living language.”

Sarah Moon: About Colour, until 5 April, Michael Hoppen Gallery, 3 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TD.

Credits
1. Sarah Moon, Fashion 5, Gaultier, 1998 © Sarah Moon courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery.