Intimate Portraits of European Nobility 1985-2000
June 14 to July 21

From June 14 to July 21, M.Y. ART PROSPECTS in New York presents a photography exhibition of Francois-Xavier Seren. There will be an artist reception on Thursday, June 14, 6-8pm.

Since 1985, Francois-Xavier Seren has been a privileged witness of an exclusive circle of today's European nobility. As a photographer, he has been a frequent contributor to Europe's top society and fashion magazines. For the first time, this exhibition showcases Seren's 15-year project (1985-2000) of intimate portraits of members of a world apart - Europe's high society. Some unposed group shots, some up-close and personal, these portraits also demonstrate the evolution this photographer has gone through as a portrait artist. The exhibition will be presented as a kind of installation.

Though taken for the press, Seren's portraits are amazingly sensitive and compelling as a result of the mutual trust the artist gradually cultivated with his subjects. Although Seren himself is not of aristocratic origin, he says he feels an affinity with people whose world is ruled by old modes and customs that complicate their lives. For him, a photographic shoot is an exchange of moments only he and his subject can share. It is within this context that he captures the "truth"--nothing less, nothing more--regardless of class or social status.

In fact, the theme of nobility is only part of this artist's Balzac-inspired interests in human beings. Seren embraces a remarkable diversity of French society, from the Salvation Army to aristocrats, from working class Parisians to peasantry. But whatever social class his subject may belong to, Seren's camera work always avoids cliches or mystification.

A dazzling encounter at twenty with a shot of an ordinary Virginian house by Ansel Adams made Francois-Xavier Seren choose photography as his means of expression. His admiration for Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Irving Penn and August Sander is also evidenced in his work. Seren's versatile style combines different elements such as figures, locations, detailed fashions and surroundings. Seren has established himself as a published photographer for Point de Vue et Images du Monde, Vogue-Homme, and Dynastie among other internationally known signature publications.

"Noblesse oblige.." is co-organized with Charles Levy and Martine Ruescas, a Paris-based art promoter team. M.Y. ART PROSPECTS, founded in 1997 by Miyako Yoshinaga, a former museum professional, has a mission to promote emerging and mid-career visual artists through the presentation of quality exhibitions, thus bringing them into a public dialogue