Jock Sturges on Alain Laboile

"The secret would appear to be fourfold. 

1) He has an amazing level of physical and mental energy. Simply put, he's very strong. 

2) He has a huge advantage in never having studied photography at all and thus labors with no limits to his creativity. It's a bit ironic for me to set this down as a strength because when I am teaching I am forever abjuring young photographers to invest themselves as deeply as ever they can in the history of both photography and all the other arts as well. But in Alain's case his inherent aesthetic genius (the word is well applied) is usefully liberated by the absence of preconception and exterior influence. 

3) Alain has worked as a successful sculptor working in iron for much of his life. He executes works, often large and very elaborate, on commission all over France. Thence come his physical strength and aesthetic muscle to which I can add my perception of his exceptional creative discipline. 

4) Alain's family -- the subject of the vast majority of his photography. Simply put, Alain and his wife, Anne, are wonderful parents who allow their children to be remarkably free in a beautiful landscape. I have visited them several times and was so very impressed by how much the children loved both their parents and each other(!) as well, and by how profoundly uninhibited and creative they were in how they interacted with and played in their home environment. In fact, I was so very impressed by the beauty of this family that I find myself impatient with the artifice of written language to adequately express the wonder of people and place. Only Alain's pictures do that at all well. They tell the truth." 

- Jock Sturges on Alain Laboile

Alain Laboile, Le cirque, 2011, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches 

Alain Laboile, Autour du bassin, 2011, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches

Alain Laboile, Les bocaux, 2012, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches

See Alain's work at dnj Gallery. Alain's exhibition, La Famille will be up through Saturday, January 4. 

For more information, please contact the gallery.