JAMES CLANCY PHOTOGRAPHY

Berlin 2010

As opposed to the luxury of colours which we get from the spectre of the
sun, the black and white photography has a stronger and deeper impact
on our feelings. In the black and white expression there is no cheating.
The skill of the black and white artist is at test similarto a singer who
sings acappella - live. The black and white interpretation annuls the
reality in its superficial form. Wht grows is the unreality, that is the
spiritual dimension of the same world recorded through light. We can say
that James Clancy solved the métier problems of the black and white
challenge in an artistic way.

Branka Hevnjak, art historian, Zagreb.

Apologies for the silence. It’s just a case of best intentions not quite happening the way I would like them to. Days become weeks and then months and then a new year. Where does all the time go. I have been working on new material (see above). It is currently a work in progress like the others that accompany it. The book has nearly completed its second draft which is 8 inches by 10 inches in size. Not the fastest of workers I must admit but I am of the…. ‘never rush and later regret’ mentality. On the exhibition side I will be on the road from March with a visit to Zagreb with further trips to France and Finland over 2010. Hopefully my next update will not be as long. Until then be well.
Jan 2010

I have just finished the first draft of the ‘Border Country’ photo book. It contains fifty images and runs at sixty pages. As it is a first draft and with there being no official release date, I am looking at doing other options with different shapes, sizes and more pages before deciding on the final edition. The number of images will probably increase as well. Initially I had thought about completing it for Christmas, but 2010 looks more probable. Watch this space for details. The exhibiting continues with further appearances being worked on and finalised from now into 2010 where I will be on the road again. It will be good to return to places like Paris and Zagreb that are so familiar to me, I consider them local. A change can be as good as a rest sometimes.
Aug 09

This is a slide-show presentation of my latest exhibition "Border Country". The background music is "Bina on the Mountain" by Stanley Super 800.
20.05.09







My new exhibition 'Border Country' opens at Alliance Francaise in Cork city on th 26th of March and runs until the end of April. Other Exhibitions take place in Galway and Dublin. 'Border Country' is effectively the second part of my lives series with 'Still Lives' being part one, then 'Border Country' is part two and could be called 'Complex Lives'. 2009 will also see further shows (of both 'Border Country' and 'Still Lives') in France Germany and Switzerland.. So busy times.

Above: An interview from Croatian TV

Critque

“Rainy streets, parked cars, poor lighting, the cool of night, pillars which protect pedestrians from traffic, the despairing face of a young singer, and so on. Where is the message here ?.....was the question posed by the photographer Duro Griesbach when asked about images which delivered nothing new, nothing spectacular, but were easy on the eye. The images appear a dozen and more times on a slide show, a story about the city, the people in its streets, about a naïve life, about the beauty of the every-day. Life measured in the steps of the lonely passers-by who make their way, in the small hours, to their destinations, the turning of the pages of a newspaper in the early morning, the clatter of the coffee cups being emptied as the restaurant prepares for the day.

Humaneness is a word which explains the beauty of these photographs with simplicity as their motif. A pleasant and well observed melody is present everywhere in the photographs of James Clancy, which show states of being without which it is hard to explain a person”.
- Branka Hlevnjak, art historian, Croatia.