Paul Graham at Le Bal

A few months after retrospectives of his work at London’s Whitechapel Gallery and the Folkwang Museum in Germany, Le Bal presents two series by the acclaimed British photographer Paul Graham: Beyond Caring (1984-85) from his early career, depicting unemployment offices in Thatcher’s Britain, and The Present (2011), shown for the first time in France and the final part of an American trilogy which also includes American Night (1998-2002) and A Shimmer of Possibility (2004-2006). In the mid-1980s, Beyond Caring introduced a new kind of social commentary to the great British tradition of sociological surveys, regenerated by the unconventional and, given the documentary nature of the work, controversial use of colour. The Present pays tribute to the legacy of the American masters of street photography – Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand – and the hustle and bustle of New York City whose streets are a jumble of people, neon lights, signs and gestures.
Until 9 Dec.
Noon-8pm (10pm Thu). Weekends, 11am-8pm (7pm Sun). Closed Mon, Tue. Le Bal, 6 impasse de la Défense, 18th. www.le-bal.fr/

© Paul Graham, Wall Street, 19th April 2010, 12.46.55 pm, 2010