Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2011

Courtesy of the Artemiss contemporary

In the classic comedy Play it Again, Sam, Woody Allen’s character, in Bogart mode, suavely says, “I love the rain; it washes memories off the sidewalk of life.” Somebody else who loves the rain—and any other kind of inclement weather—is French photographer Christophe Jacrot. This is not because it helps him forget, but because it makes everything more ambient and memorable. Shooting cities like Paris, New York, and Hong Kong on the “bad weather days” shunned by other lensmen, Jacrot creates images that add a new twist to well known landmarks and backdrops. Through rain-dappled glass, the Eiffel Tower becomes an almost organic form, while snowy shots of New York add a note of somber silence to a brash metropolis. Jacrot’s partner in the “Winter in the Cities” exhibition at The Yellow Cube is French sculptor Virginie Truchot, whose elongated figurative bronzes recall a primal world before cities emerged.

Yellow Cube
Mar 26-Apr 1, ¥800 (student)/¥1,000 (adult). 4-17-16 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-5772-77751. Open daily, 11am-7pm. Nearest stn: Omotesando, exit A2. yellowcube.jp