Since the very beginning of their existence, art photographer Raymond Clement has been exploring Luxembourg's nature parks of Upper Sûre, Our and Müllerthal with heavy cameras and tripods, roaming through valleys and over hilltops, in search of their numerous faces and facets.
In the meantime, Raymond Clement, through his nature pictures, always caught in his very own manner on plates, on roll film and now also in digital format, has become a recognized documentation of the Luxembourg landscape, using all light effects of nature to his purpose. In doing so, he always patiently waits for the right moment to occur, when form and colour, aesthetics and emotion, light and shade congregate at a very precise moment to constitute the perfect picture.
Thereby, Raymond Clement creates forms which often are either graphic or abstract. He literally sculpts landscapes, modelling them with his camera, polishing them with his lens, using lines and structures like raw materials in order to create a coherent whole.
Clement’s US photo and video show will present a fine selection of his unfailing work made especially in the 3 mentioned nature parks between the end of the 1980s and today. These impressive photos and movies plunge the viewer straight into the secrets of a multifaceted nature, now rich in colours, now transparent, featuring the changing landscapes of the valleys and plateaus of these parks and some other magnificent places of Luxembourg, fixed in time.
The photographer’s eye actually shares these moments and unforeseeable moods of a variegated nature, unique in its kind, which he has immortalised: spectators are placed in the centre of gusts of wind, rays of sunshine, fog patches or the always changing seasons.
Raymond Clement will be joined for this concert by his son, Maurice. Laureate of the International Silberman Competition, acclaimed guest and soloist to international festivals in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Paris, Lyon, Brussels, Zürich, Munich, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Vienna, Innsbruck, Prague, Milan and Copenhagen, Maurice Clement is currently the resident organist of the Luxembourg Philharmonie Concert hall. He is one of the most versatile and innovative organists, pianists and music teachers in Luxembourg and masters his instrument through a constant dialogue with it. That dialogue is even enhanced in this concert project through the improvisations on the piano, perfectly matching the visual effects created by Raymond Clement’s photos. By doing so, Maurice Clement seeks to unite musical matter and form, spirit and sensibility, contemplation and passion. Improvisation allows the artist to live the music in all its immediacy. He embraces the risk of experimenting with chance and accepts to play with the unknown. Discovery and creation coincide. From that angle, Maurice Clement says, “Improvisation is not learned, it is lived”.
Rsvp no later than 12 May to events.luxembourg@mae.etat.lu
