thierry_bal

Over the years I’ve had the immense pleasure to work with the brilliant artist @emma.hart_ on various projects. Recently I was commissioned to do the photography of her latest large scale work ‘Café’ for @mao_gallery in Oxford, which is part of a complete overhaul of the interior spaces. Inspired by Hart’s concept Club Together, ‘Café’ is a brightly painted space filled with her bespoke ‘furniture’. Dancing ‘hands in the air’ morph into seating, and tables that evoke disco lights throw pools of coloured light on the floor. Its bonkers and absolutely brilliant. @thesundaypainter @twwco #emmahart #thierrybal

My portrait of Ai Wei Wei in the Observer New Review today. His show ‘The Liberty of Doubt’ opens at the amazing @kettlesyard in Cambridge on Friday next week. @aiww @helen.dickman #kettlesyard @obsnewreview #cambridge.

Shot this cover for @britishairwayspr high life magazine in Doha, Qatar exactly 6 years ago today. It featured an actor from @the_globe theatre in London. The troupe was travelling the world playing their version of Hamlet in every single country in the world, bar Syria and Iraq - I think. #globetheatre #britishairways #quatar

Some new photography. A new public art installation from @lubnachowdhary is now on view at East Bank, London’s newest culture and education district in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Commissioned by @louisetrodden for London Legacy Development Corporation on behalf of the East Bank partners, Temporal Trace is now on view across Waterfront Square. This permanent artwork takes inspiration from the South Indian symbolic tradition of ‘Kolam’ where new rice flour drawings are created every day as an auspicious sign of welcome at the entrances of homes, temples and places of worship. @queenelizabetholympicpark #thierrybal

New work! A.A. Murakami - ‘In Mountains Shadow’, Eastbank, @queenelizabetholympicpark Stratford, London. Wind shaped the landscape of east London. Heavy industry settled here, taking advantage of the eastward winds pushing toxic fumes to the outskirts, sparing other parts of the city from heavier pollution. Today, much of the industry has left, but the winds persist. To manage strong currents between V&A East Museum and London College of Fashion, UAL, AA Murakami designed two overlapping sets of mesh screens. Their dramatic mountain-shaped contours and pigmentation take inspiration from Chinese landscape painting. @a.a.murakami @louisetrodden @queenelizabetholympicpark #thierrybal

Some recent images shot for @ryanjgander and @contemporaryartsociety of his first permanent public sculptures in London in Elephant Park. The works were made in collaboration with primary schoolchildren and depict three of them, decked out in an eccentric array of masks, hats and costumes. Placed directly on the grass, each of these playfully anti-monumental figures are rendered even more fantastical by being paired with a bizarre bronze object— a cartoonish campfire, a basketball/football hybrid and a strange, abstract personage — which also emerged out of discussions with Gander’s junior-co-conspirators. #ryangander @lendlease @contemporaryartsociety @lisson_gallery @southlondongallery

The glamorous @daisyginsberg shot @avivastudios in Manchester in front of her monumental work ‘Pollinator Pathmaker: Four Epochs of Paradise‘, a bespoke double-sided tapestry that is so expansive, it had to be hung in one of the largest venues in the country to be photographed. The shoot was epic! All my own retouching too. @factory_international #pollinatorpathmaker #manchester

Yayoi Kusama, známá svými díly s charakteristickými puntíky, představila nové monumentální dílo s názvem Infinite Accumulation (Nekonečné hromadění) před londýnskou stanicí Liverpool Street. Dílo je tvořeno dynamickými oblouky a stříbrnými koulemi s vysokým leskem, které odrážejí okolní prostředí. Konstrukce dosahuje výšky přes 10 metrů a pokrývá plochu přibližně 100 metrů. Nejnovější dílo 95leté japonské umělkyně reaguje na individuální i kolektivní zkušenost ve stále se měnícím prostoru: „Londýn je obrovská metropole, kde se neustále pohybují a hromadí lidé všech kultur. Koule symbolizují jejich jedinečné osobnosti a zakřivené linie nám umožňují reprezentovat základní společenskou strukturu.” 📷 @thierry_bal 🪩 @artontheunderground • @victoriamirogallery • @yayoikusama_ #CuratedbyDolceVita #YayoiKusama #InfiniteAccumulation #ArtontheUnderground #London

Profoundly moved by a visit to Ellis Island, a place of huge significance in recent American history. The island near the Statue of Liberty, served as the nation’s major immigration station from 1892 to 1924, after which its role was reduced. During that period an estimated 12 million immigrants passed through it, where they were processed and obtained permission to enter the United States. Most first- and second-class passengers who sailed in were checked only briefly on board their ships and were allowed straight into the city, the assumption being that they had sufficient means to prevent them from becoming a public charge. It was primarily the third-class passengers who had medical and legal checks. The inspection process lasted three to five hours and took place in the Great Hall. (first image) For some Ellis Island truly was an ‘Island of Hope’ - the first stop on their way to new opportunities and experiences in America. For the rest, it became the ‘Island of Tears’ - a place where families were separated and individuals were denied entry into the United States. At one point during that period a barely believable 70 percent of the population of NYC was made up of immigrants, mainly from Europe, but also from Latin America and Asia. Most Americans are descendants of immigrants one way or another, this includes a certain mr Trump. Anyone who needs a little reminder of the historic facts or doesn’t quite understand the drivers and mechanisms behind immigration should visit this place. In fact it’s a place everyone should visit. #ellisisland #americanhistory #immigration #saynotoracism #educateyourself #statueofliberty

Some images I shot of @saad_qureshi_studio’s new show Of Paradise and Other Places, at 5 Howick Place, Victoria, SW1, commissioned by @hs_projects. Originally made for his solo exhibition @yspsculpture this is the first time these sculptures are seen in London. The show is there until 13 December 2024.

Some new photography I worked on. Yayoi Kusama’s first permanent public artwork in the UK and her largest public sculpture in the world has been unveiled today. Infinite Accumulation is a new, site-specific work at London’s Liverpool Street station in which Kusama develops one of the most recognisable motifs of her visual language: the polka dot. Here, the dot is expanded into linked forms that interact with and define the public spaces outside the station. Commissioned as part of @artontheunderground and The Crossrail Art Foundation’s public art programme for the Elizabeth Line with the support of @victoriamirogallery, co-funded by @britishlandplc and @cityoflondoncorp. #artontheunderground #victoriamirogallery #yayoikusama #elizabethline #thierrybal. With thanks to @procentre.

Some recent images shot for @rezaarameshstudio in Venice. His solo presentation ’Number 207’, at the occasion of the Venice Biennale, consists of three groups of sculptures created in response to the architectural setting of the San Fantin Church and carved in Carrara marble. One series is made up of 207 pieces of ‘underwear’ dispersed evenly in formation across the floor of the church to achieve an illusion of abandoned garments. Each work refers to detention centres that the artist sought out through his archival research. The historical works of art contained within Chiesa San Fantin include the well-known ‘The crucifixion’ by Leonardo Corona, whose highlighting of Christ’s loincloth stands in direct conversation with the contemporary works installed by Aramesh. #rezaaramesh #labiennaledivenezia #thierrybal