Gregory Colbert

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Gregory Colbert is a film-maker and photographer born in Toronto, Canada in 1960, best known as the creater of Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of photographs and films.

Gregory Colbert, Namibia.
Gregory Colbert, Namibia.


Contents

[edit] Career

Colbert began his career in Paris in 1983 making documentary films on social issues. Film-making led to fine arts photography. His first exhibition, Timewaves, opened in 1992 at the Museum of Elysée in Switzerland.

For the next ten years, Colbert did not publicly exhibit his art or show any films. Instead, he traveled to such places as India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Dominica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tonga, Namibia, and Antarctica to film and photograph interactions between human beings and animals. Since 1992, he has launched more than forty such expeditions.

In 2002, Colbert presented his work, Ashes and Snow, in Venice, Italy. An April 9, 2002 review in The Globe and Mail states, “[Colbert] unveiled Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of images and photographs unprecedented in both scope and scale. Covering 12,600 square meters, it is billed as one of the largest one-man shows in the history of Europe.”[1]

In spring 2005 the show opened on the Hudson River Park's Pier 54 in New York City in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure built expressly to house the exhibition.

The exhibition and the museum have since migrated to Santa Monica, California, Tokyo, and Mexico City, with future destinations planned in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

The latest Ashes and Snow exhibition closed in Mexico City on April 27, 2008. As reported by El Universal, El Mañana, and Reforma the Ashes and Snow photographic exhibition concluded in 100 days and hosted nearly 8 million people.[2]

Reception has been mixed: About Colbert Photo Magazine declared, “A new master is born,”[3][4] it has been described as "extraordinary" by the Economist, and "distinctive . . . monumental in every sense" by the Wall Street Journal; but in 2005 the New York Times described it as "spectacularly vacuous...an exercise in conspicuous narcissism."[5]..although regarding the exhibition in 2008, the New York Times has been quoted saying “The power of the images comes less from their formal beauty than from the way they envelop the viewer in their mood. . . .They are simply windows to a world in which silence and patience govern time.”[6]

Ashes and Snow at the Nomadic Museum will reopen in Brazil at the end of 2008.

[edit] Awards

  • Lucie Awards

2005 Photography Curator of the Year Awarded to Gregory Colbert for Ashes and Snow at Pier 54[7]

  • Westside Urban Forum

2006 Westside Prize - Urban Solutions Built Work Honor (top prize)[8]

  • LABC Awards

Los Angeles Business Journal 36th Annual Architecture Awards 2006 First Prize - Public Use Civic also awarded The Community Impact Award[9]

  • 2006 IDSA IDEA BusinessWeek Awards

Gold Award - Environments also awarded Best in Show[10]

  • THEA AWARD 2006

Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Museum or Touring Attraction[11]

  • Venice Film Festival

Nominated by Jeremy Irons Awarded on September 8th -5 Films nominated[12]


[edit] Website Awards (ashesandsnow.com)

  • Digital Marketing Awards 2006

Silver Medal for ashesandsnow.org Category- “Website: Entertainment, Arts & Tourism”[13]

  • The Web Marketing Association 2006 WebAward

“Arts Standard of Excellence” Outstanding Achievement in website development Critical Mass Ashes and Snow[14]

  • Yahoo! Site “Pick of the Day”

March 1st, 2006[15]

  • The FWA “Site of the Day”

January 22nd, 2006[16]

  • Featured on ABC News as one of the top Google searches on May 9th, 2006


[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Globe and Mail: Canadian artist Gregory Colbert's photographs are the subject of a giant exhibit in Venice. And you probably haven't heard of him, writes SIMON HOUPT (2002–).
  2. ^ El Mañana: Acaba Museo Nómada su peregrinar (2008–).
  3. ^ Photo Magazine: Gregory Colbert La Révélation (Cover) (2005–).
  4. ^ Photo Magazine: Gregory Colbert La Révélation (Full Article) (2005–).
  5. ^ New York Timesreview of Ashes and Snow, March 12, 2005 When Nature Becomes a Looking Glass: A Tour Through the Exotic Elsewhere (2005–).
  6. ^ New York Times review of Ashes and Snow, May 23, 2008, Dances With Whales (2008–).
  7. ^ Lucie Awards (2005–).
  8. ^ Westside Urban Forum (2006–).
  9. ^ LABC Awards (2006–).
  10. ^ 2006 IDSA IDEA BusinessWeek Awards (2006–).
  11. ^ THEA AWARD 2006 (2006–).
  12. ^ Venice Film Festival.
  13. ^ Digital Marketing Awards 2006 (2006–).
  14. ^ The Web Marketing Association 2006 WebAward (2006–).
  15. ^ Yahoo! Site “Pick of the Day” (2006–).
  16. ^ The FWA “Site of the Day” (2006–).