Hans Gissenger – Black & White Photography Gallery

Notes on LA CONVERSATION

On a snowy night in 1996, Hans Gissinger walked into chef Marc Meneau's kitchen at the restaurant Espérance in the Morvan region of France. Gissinger straightforwardly introduced himself and offered a proposal: Would Meneau embark with him on an artistic collaboration that would transcend mere food photography? Would he be willing to commit to a visual and verbal conversation with Gissinger—a conversation with no limits that would, the photographer hoped, take on a life of its own?

Not one to shy away from challenge, Meneau accepted Gissinger's offer. For the next four years, the photographer was a regular guest in Meneau's kitchen, where the chef cooked, the photographer documented, and the two talked about the deeper meaning of cooking. Cooking was, they decided, "a delicate synthesis of landscapes, hunting, and the various technical processes of agriculture." But above all, it was an unbreakable thread running through the fabric of history, a "conversation" that would be continued for all time.

This conversation, however, is finite: Gissinger’s signed lithograph posters are true limited editions. He has unflinchingly destroyed the negatives and moved on to new discourses on food and life.