HONG KONG.- Louis Vuitton unveiled today Stéphane Couturier’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong: Mutation at Espace Louis Vuitton Hong Kong opening to the public tomorrow, Thursday 21 March 2013. Curated by William Zhao, the exhibition will feature a survey of Couturier’s work with key photographs from the Melting Point, Landscaping and Urban Archeology series, alongside a new series of photographs and videos drawing out the architectural themes and details of the current construction of the Frank Gehry designed Louis Vuitton Foundation For Creation in Paris.

Stéphane Couturier’s photography embodies visually what Hong Kong embodies physically; momentum, growth, transformation and the modern logic of flux. Couturier has continuously viewed cities across the globe as living organisms. This is highlighted in the presentation of key works from the famous Melting Point series, where images embodying urban life and modernisation have been flattened and edited. These monumental images, some up to two metres wide, echo common city encounters where landscapes are filled simultaneously with construction and destruction. In Barcelone – Parallel no.1 (2008) Couturier ‘melted’ two photos of Avenue Parallel in Barcelona into one image. The disparate photos were taken 200m from each other and highlight the ever-changing face of the urban landscape; a concept that Couturier’s Hong Kong audience will readily associate with.

Couturier’s latest series of photographs and videos explore the boundaries of art, architecture and fashion on the Frank Gehry designed Louis Vuitton Foundation For Creation, through photographs and videos detailing the variation on the themes of architecture and likening its elements with the idea of jewellery,. Located in the Bois de Boulogne, a large public park in Paris; it is scheduled to open in 2014, making this exhibition the first opportunity to view the architecture in progress through Couturier’s thought-provoking presentation.

Louis Vuitton’s association with the arts has a long history, the House has been working with the best designers and artists for 150 years and since Marc Jacobs’ appointment as Artistic Director in 1997 a refreshed impetus has been placed on collaborations with artists. James Turrell, Takashi Murakami, Michael Lin, Olafur Eliasson, Tim-White Sobieski, Zhan Wang, Liu Jianhua, Chen Wenbo and Koh Myung Keun are amongst the many artists showcased in Louis Vuitton Maisons around the world. Louis Vuitton is committed to furthering its art programme in Hong Kong and across Asia and to using the Espace as a key exhibition space within the visual arts sector.

Stephane Couturier was born in Neuilly sur Seine, France, in 1957 and currently lives and works in Paris. His characteristically architectural photographs are all about transformation, a subject he explores with a strong sense of design and composition and a brilliant sense of color. The result is images that with an extraordinary clarity and poetry of conception capture a vast array of complex visual information. Couturier began his career as an art photographer in his native Paris in the early 1990s and has since made significant bodies of works in Dresden, Berlin, Seoul, Moscow, Beijing, and Havana. His photographs have been featured at many international venues, among which are the Moscow Biennale; the ICP triennial, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg; and the Museum of Photography, Charleroi, Belgium. Couturier’s work also resides in many major museums and collections worldwide, including The Museum of Photographic Arts, USA; The Art Institute of Chicago, USA; The Cleveland Museum of Art, USA; Landes Museum, Austria; Assemblée Nationale, Paris; Israel Museum; and Museum Nacional da Republica, Brazil. In 2004, the Bibliotheque National in Paris featured a major retrospective of his career to date. MUTATION at Espace Louis Vuitton Hong Kong is Couturier’s first major exhibition in Asia.