The show, running until March 28, features the work of recently retired French photographer Gilbert Garcin (b.1929). His black and white images grapple with the absurdity of the human condition using traditional techniques to create photomontages.
These usually feature Garcin wearing a grey overcoat and posed as an everyman (or ‘Mr Everybody’).
The images refer back to Dada and Surrealist images and are held in collections such as the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris and the West Collection in Philadelphia.
The collection of the late Paul Arden, Toni’s husband, is the basis for the photographs shown in L’Absurdité.
Paul, who died in 2008, was the creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, remembered for creating advertising slogans such as The Independent. It is. Are you? It was through his work with photographers in advertising that he started collecting.
Until recently, it was feared that Petworth was facing a decline. But with the opening of galleries such as the new branch of Rountree Tryon, the continued success of the ADFL Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair (now in its third year) and the refurbishment of the Petworth Antiques Market, the West Sussex town has gone a long way to solidifying its reputation as a dealer destination during the past few years.
