ARLES 2011 Yan Morvan Bikers by Michel Puech in La lettre de la photographie 2011 july 5

“You’ll see, it’s simple”, Yan Morvan says immediately, “In April 1978, Jean-Jacques Naudet published my pictures in PHOTO and asked me to ‘cover’ Arles for his magazine, La Lettre de la Photographie.

Thirty years later, the same person has asked me to cover Paris as I used to cover Arles… “L’oeil de la Lettre”… How can you expect me not to feature this same reportage here?”
Yan Morvan loves clear and simple stories. In fact, the young gallerist Marc Bervillé “learned about photography by reading PHOTO”. He discovered Yan Morvan through the publication of GANG in PHOTO and in Paris-Match. He skillfully talks about Yan Morvan’s talent. “Compared to what we see in the exhibitions in Rencontres, Yan’s work is photojournalism from the 1970’s.”
The 25 pictures featured in rue des Arènes, essentially 30×40 and two large formats are all vintage silver prints.

Photographs that evoke inevitably Easy Rider, and the feature on Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson. Actually, Yan Morvan is a character straight out of a book of Doctor, a real gonzo photographer.

Those who have the chance to be around him can not help but be shocked by the extreme paradox of his character. Guys who are both crazy and strict, it’s not every day that we meet them. It is this aspect of his character that allows him to be embedded among the delinquents, the out-laws and the furious of all sorts.

In addition, Yan Morvan has an incredible talent. An eye and a technical know-how that allow him to get out from under all of the nonsensical challenges he gives himself.

The publishing house Marval has published a book, GANG, since restricted from sales for two years due to a lawsuit in regards to a legend. The character photographed did not want to be qualified as a neonazi. This makes the work a collector, of which a few copies are on sale at the exhibition.

Michel Puech

In Arles, at 5 rue des Arènes, Marc Bervillé from the Parisian gallery “Iconoclastes”, is featuring 25 photographs from an exceptional series by Yan Morvan on gang men and bikers in the 1970’s.

LINKS
http://www.yan-morvan.com/Dernière révision le 3 mars 2024 à 7;15 par Michel Puech