MEDICAL ART

Born in 1953 in Paris, Romain Slocombe studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Paris), where he met the future members of the graphic group BAZOOKA. From 1977, frequent travels to Japan made this country his main source of inspiration. Slocombe created « Medical Art » in 1983 with his book published by editions Temps Futurs. He switched to photography in 1992, and exhibited his portraits of Japanese girls in bandages and casts in many galleries, in France and abroad (New York, London, Stockholm, Tokyo, Sendai, Bologna, etc). His main exhibitions in Japan took place at THE DEEP gallery (Tokyo) and ICHINENKAN gallery (Sendai).
From 1995, he filmed several videos in Japan : UN MONDE FLOTTANT (60 mn), featuring Nobuyoshi Araki and Masaaki Toyoura, TOKYO LOVE (90 mn), LA FEMME DE PLATRE (14 mn), and WEEK-END IN TOKYO (21 mn), which received awards in many film festivals, and was shown on French and British television. From 2000, Slocombe wrote several novels, most of them published by éditions Gallimard. He also translated from English to French the History of Japanese Cinema by Donald Richie (éditions du Rocher, 2005). Romain Slocombe staged several performances of Medical Art, in Tokyo, New York, and recently in Lyon with Buto dancer and actress Yoko Higashi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY :
Novels : PHUONG-DINH EXPRESS (Les Humanoïdes associés, 1983 / PUF, 2002) UN ETE JAPONAIS (Gallimard, Série Noire, 2000) BRUME DE PRINTEMPS (Gallimard, Série Noire, 2001) SAKE DES BRUMES (Baleine /Le Seuil, 2002) AVERSE D’AUTOMNE (Gallimard, Série Noire, 2003) - Prix Sang d’encre 2004 LA JAPONAISE DE ST. JOHN’S WOOD (Zulma, 2004) NAO (Presses Universitaires de France, 2004) REGRETS D’HIVER (Fayard Noir, 2006) ENVOYEZ LA FRACTURE ! (éditions La Branche, 2007)
Essays : L’ART MEDICAL (Temps futurs, 1983) L’EMPIRE EROTIQUE (La Sirène, 1993) CARNETS DU JAPON (Presses Universitaires de France, 2003)
Translations : Pierre Guyotat, TOMB FOR 500.000 SOLDIERS (Creation Books, London 2003) Su Na, MUSEE DE LA CHAIR (Presses Universitaires de France, 2004) George Sanders, MEMOIRES D’UNE FRIPOUILLE (Presses Universitaires de France, 2004) Donald Richie, LE CINEMA JAPONAIS (Éditions du Rocher, 2005) Joseph Geary, MIROIR (Éditions du Masque, 2006)
Comic art : PRISONNIERE DE L’ARMEE ROUGE ! (Les Humanoïdes associés, 1978 / Le Lézard Noir, 2006) YEUN OK, L’INFIRMIERE HEROIQUE (Futuropolis, 1984) TOKYO GIRL (Magic-Strip, 1985) LA NUIT DE SAIGON (Futuropolis, 1986) TIGRES VOLANTS CONTRE ZÉROS (Albin Michel, 1989) with Marc Villard : CITÉ DES ANGES (Albin Michel, 1989) - prix du festival Jazz-Polar 1990
Photography : KOWASARETA NINGYO / BROKEN DOLLS (éd. Jean-Pierre Faur, 1994) CITY OF THE BROKEN DOLLS (Creation Books, London 1997) TOKYO, UN MONDE FLOTTANT (Michel Baverey éditeur, 1997) BEAUTIES IN BANDAGE (Soft Machine, Tokyo, 1998) Y + Y (Étude et promotion de l’art contemporain, Le Havre 1999) TOKYO SEX UNDERGROUND (Creation Books, London 2001) LES JAPONAISES BLESSEES (Mondo Bizzarro Press, Bologne 2001) SUGAR BABIES (textes de Roland Jaccard, éd. Zulma, 2002) TOKYO BLUE (Isthme éditions, 2005) FEMMES DE PLATRE (texte de Stephan Lévy-Kuentz, éd. La Musardine, 2005)
Paintings and drawings : THE ENTROPY TANGO (text by Michael Moorcock, New English Library, London 1981) TRISTES VACANCES (Carton éditions, 1986) CAUCHEMARS CLIMATISÉS (texts by Marc Villard, Futuropolis, 1987) FEMMES FATALES (Comixland, 1988) SHASEI TECHO (CBO éditions, 1997) JAPAN IN BANDAGE (Artware, Wiesbaden 1997) DAI SHINSAI (CBO éditions, 1998) TRUE ACTION (Éd. Les Étoiles et les Cochons, 1999) DOLLS’ HOSPITAL (CBO éditions, 2000) CRASHSCAPE (CBO éditions, 2001) L’HOMME ELEGANT (texts by Roland Jaccard, Zulma, 2002) MEDICAL LOVE (CBO éditions, 2006)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS :
2006 : Galerie Hors-Sol, Paris. « Medical Love ». Photographs.
2005 : Librairie Léo Scheer, Paris. « Tokyo Blue » . Photographs. Galerie France-Fictions, Paris. Photographs.
2004 : Salle Jean-Claude Izzo, Frontignan. Photographs.
2003 : Galerie La Mauvaise Réputation, Bordeaux. Photographs.
2002 : Galerie Michel Vidal, Paris. « L’homme élégant ». Drawings, photographs. Librairie-galerie La Musardine, Lyon. Photographs.
2001 : Centre Culturel Japonais, Colmar. Photographs. Galerie Mondo Bizzarro, Bologna (Italy). Photographs. The Spitz Gallery, London. « Tokyo Sex Underground ». Photographs. (within the event Japan 2001, the « Japanese Year » in London) Galerie Janus Avivson, Paris. Photographs. Photogaleria La Roca, San Sebastian (Spain). Photographs. Librairie-galerie Un Regard Moderne, Paris. « Crashscape ». Drawings, photographs. Gallery Thomas Ehrngren, Stockholm. Photographs.
2000 : Galerie Janus Avivson, Paris. Paintings, photographs.
1999 : Galerie Janus Avivson, Paris. Paintings, photographs.
1998 : Galerie Humus, Lausanne (Switzerland). Paintings, photographs. Galerie Michel Vidal, Paris. Photographs. Galerie Janus Avivson, Paris. Photographs.
1997 : Gallery The Ground, Hanae Mori International, Tokyo. Paintings, posters. Früchtig Gallery, Frankfurt. Paintings, photographs. Shukan Art Gallery, Sendai (Japan). Paintings, photographs.
1995 : Ichinenkan Gallery, Sendai (Japan). Paintings, photographs.
1994 : End Art Gallery, Berlin. Paintings, photographs. Librairie-galerie Un Regard Moderne, Paris. Paintings, silkscreens, photographs.
1993 : The Deep Gallery, Tokyo. Photographs. Librairie-galerie Au Paradoxe Perdu, Geneva. Paintings and drawings.
1991 : The Deep Gallery, Tokyo. Paintings.
1990 : St John Perse Library, Aubervilliers. Paintings and drawings.
1987 : Tea Follies, Paris. Paintings and drawings.
1985 : Librairie La Hune, Paris. Drawings.
1982 : Galerie Elisabeth de Senneville, Paris. Paintings and drawings. Galerie Totem, Bruxelles. Paintings and drawings.
FILMOGRAPHY :
UN MONDE FLOTTANT (60 mn) 1995 prod. Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles. Featuring Nobuyoshi Araki, Yuki Kobayashi, Misa Nishimura.
TOKYO LOVE (90 mn) 1996 prod. Momoko Films / Haxan Films
LA FEMME DE PLATRE (14 mn) prod. ExNihilo pour CANAL + 1998 (co-réal. P. Tasso)
WEEK-END A TOKYO (21 mn) prod. ExNihilo pour CANAL + 1999 (co-réal. Pierre Tasso, scénario Romain Slocombe)
Awards : prix de la recherche / prix de la création sonore - Clermont-Ferrand 2000. meilleur film, festival international de Mons, Belgique 2000. prix spécial du jury, prix de la presse, Grenoble 2000. meilleure vidéo étrangère, British film festival, Londres 2000. grand prix du festival de Regensburg, Allemagne 2000. mention spéciale du jury, festival de Milan, 2000. prix du public, festival Cinémas et cultures d’Asie, Lyon 2001.
KINBAKU, LA FORET DES ARBRES BLEUS (26 mn) (co-réal. Pierre Tasso) production Romain Slocombe / Pierre Tasso / UMT, 2001. With Mai Kawana, Yukino Ichijo.prix spécial du jury – Fetish Film Festival, Paris 2001.
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY WORK, MODELS, AND ARTIST FRIENDS, CLICK ON : "voir : + de photos" (regularly updated / all photos by R Slocombe, except his portraits, by Daïske, D. Carton, Yoichi Nagata, etc)
OTHER PLACES TO VISIT : http://www.primalinea.com/slocombe/portfolio/(some paintings and video extracts)
http://www.primalinea.com/slocombe/news/(info about some books and exhibitions)
http://www.anneezero.net/romain-slocombe/ http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/features/slocombe/slo combe.asp LINK TO MEDICAL FETISH SITE : http://gipsgips.com/ (Castgirls of Japan)