JMB Fine Art
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About Joshua Briggs
I began my career with Sotheby’s Realty in Italy, selling properties across Tuscany, before opening popular contemporary galleries in London (P-inc Studios) and New York (Briggs Robinson). Having made a home with my family in NoHo and the West Village and built a property in the Hudson Valley, I rejoined Sotheby’s in 2013. I now divide my time between Rhinecliff and West Saugerties, with an office in Woodstock and close affiliations with agents across New York City and State. I specialize in land and property in the Hudson Valley, on both sides of the river.Raised in Bath, England and educated at RISD, I have always been fascinated with art, design and architecture. I began my career with Sotheby’s in Italy, selling properties across Tuscany, before opening a popular contemporary gallery in London (P-inc Studios). I moved to New York in 1998 to join Tony Shafrazi Gallery selling art and directing the gallery publications and catalogs. I opened a New York gallery of my own (Briggs Robinson) in 2002.I rejoined Sotheby’s in 2013 and now divide my time between New York City and West Saugerties.
362 ½ Warren Street felt an irresistible opportunity to have a gallery again, and I am happy and proud to present the work of Florence Vacher, an artist I have known and whose work I’ve admired for 25 years.
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About Florence Vacher
Using fabric and thread, textile artist Florence Vacher makes large-scale figurative “paintings” of sculptural objects, usually from the African continent, based on studio photographs for European and American exhibition catalogs. In reinterpreting the representation, she transforms the object with new volumes created by the play of light and shadow in the photograph. Using a variety of textures, colors, and spatial effects, she builds images that lie somewhere between the two-dimensionality of photography and the three-dimensionality of sculpture.What Vacher captures is a facet of the past lives of these objects — lives that now live in the imagination, imbued with the enigmatic whispers of history. With these large embroideries and oversized forms, she reactivates the objects through a symphony of colors and shapes that resonate with joy and vitality. These larger-than-life manifestations become empowered with energy and sentience, offering reassurance and laughter in equal measure.Each stitch, each thread woven into the fabric, is a deliberate act that allows her to connect deeply with her craft. As she meticulously works on her pieces, she enters a state of meditation, where time seems to slow down and expand. This contemplative approach infuses her work with a sense of tranquility and mindfulness, evident in the intricate details and subtle nuances of her creations. It stands as a powerful assertion of individuality and defiance against the relentless march of time, while also questioning the timelessness of her source photographs.In Vacher's world, the past and the present converge seamlessly, each informing the other. Through her art, she aims to evoke a sense of familiarity and connection with these objects while also giving them agency. She invites viewers to embark on a journey of discovery—one where the past is not relegated to mere memory but rather brought vividly to life, pulsating with renewed energy and meaning.
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Biography
Florence Vacher is a Brooklyn-based self-taught artist specializing in large-scale figurative textile work. She began her current series following a transformative trip to Mexico in 2011. This expedition ignited within her a profound desire to breathe new life into objects from bygone eras by changing their scale and representing them in fabric and thread. Using carefully selected fabrics, which she layers and arranges like paint on a canvas, she is able to explore new dimensions of texture, color, and form. Vacher, who hails from France, developed an expertise in arts from Africa working alongside collectors in Paris and later in New York, where she has lived since 1998. She has spent decades admiring and studying these objects and observing the ways in which artists, dealers, curators, and collectors have been approaching them since they were first “discovered” in the early 20th century.Recent and past exhibitions include Tambaran Gallery, New York, 2024; the French Consulate, New York, 2022; Domus Art Gallery, Athens, Greece, 2022, Galerie Chevalier & Parsua, Paris, France, 2016; Tambaran Gallery, New York, 2012; Twenty first Gallery, New York, 2012xt