If you had to explain your work to a child, what would you say?
I look for abandoned places and explore them, that’s what excites me. As a child, when I saw photos taken by archaeologists, it made me dream. I do photographic work on contemporary memory in places full of history that are allowed to die. When I discover an abandoned factory, for example, I probe it, examine the human traces, study the graffiti, then I transform it into a pictorial space. I look for a relationship between painting and space and I create a unique work that I restore through photography. What interests me are the traces of the past.
I have always looked for these unusual and neglected places. They have become my thebaid, calm places where I retreat, far from the crowds. As soon as I see a hole in a fence, I go in… (laughs)
You were born after the war. Does your work connect you to your childhood?
Yes, in Nice, where my father was a soldier, there are ancient ruins. I also lived in Lorraine and, with my brother, we looked in the forts for traces of the war. When I started working in Paris, then in several countries, I always looked for these unusual and neglected places. They have become my thebaid, calm places where I retreat, far from the crowds. As soon as I see a hole in a fence, I go in… (laughs)
You first wanted to be an architectural photographer…
I started by photographing the EDF buildings in Nice, then I photographed unused places that I transformed into a workshop, where I created installations, also ephemeral.
Can you give us examples of your achievements?
In Marseille, I installed large floating areas in a former sanitation station built by the architect Fernand Pouillon. Squatters had burned a car there, so I used this black to put a large red rectangle on it. During a residency in the Paris region, I worked in the old municipal kitchens now rehabilitated into a cultural center. The building was a sort of cube which inspired me with other floating flat areas.
In the Ruhr, it is an abandoned factory in the mining area that I repainted black and then textured, in a meditative experience, with white chalk. All these photos are currently exhibited in Brest, in the La Piscine gallery.
Humans are absent from your works…
Yes. At first there were some, but they were only painted.
Where did you meet Anne-Laure Maison and Michel Cam, the artistic directors of La
Pool ?
In Deauville. We got along, they told me about their desire to create an art center. I lent them some works and here we are! (laughs)
-What did the place inspire you when you discovered it?
I came for the first time, and I wondered about this formerly private swimming pool. She was in her juices. I had the idea of semaphores and their languages which allow us to communicate from a boat to a coast. When I was a Boy Scout, we communicated with pennants that refer to an alphabet. During my military service, I also learned Morse code. So, when I saw the flags on the boats, I was inspired by this signage. The pennants are geometric and it matched my idea of making these shapes in the pool.
Did this link your relationship to writing, geometry, communication?
Yes, I set up my camera, we traced in space, point by point, for three days, a red diamond in a white square which represents the letter F. Red is the birth of color. Then we drew a blue circle.
Is the circle a reference to the photographer’s objective?
In architecture, the circle is a force in motion. The architecture usually is vertical and horizontal. The circle explodes orthogonality. In Japan, sumos fight in a circle which is a space of strength and, at the same time, meditation. In contemporary art, all minimalist artists have used the circle, the rectangle, the square. My aesthetic shock was Kasemir Malevich, with his square painting, black on a white background, then his white square on a white background. This artist’s path to arriving at this language fascinated me. What can artists do after this?
I didn’t know Brittany! It’s the same for me to come here as to go to Japan or South America. (laughs) I only had clichés in mind!
And what does Brittany inspire you?
I didn’t know Brittany! It’s the same for me to come here as to go to Japan or South America (laughs). I only had clichés in mind! So, I started exploring the area. With my wife, we like to trek and my path is being built along the GR 34, which goes all around Brittany. Last year, I worked in Cancale (35) and I just met a man who buys abandoned houses along the GR… So, obviously, that inspires me…
Do you also work with young people in reintegration?
Yes, I like going to places where art doesn’t exist. I was asked to talk about my work to young people in difficulty, and I preferred to create and work with them. I discovered a former abandoned penal colony, not far from their high school, in Lyon, and, for a week, we created an installation. The idea was to open new horizons to them and talk to them about art. At the end of the project, the media came and the teenagers finally felt recognized and valued. I also do it in Japan, in Germany… Young people rebuild themselves in this way, by creating architectural fictions with me.
Practical
La Piscine, 170, rue Jean-Jaurès, in Brest, exhibition until March 9, 2025. Open Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. €1/2/3. Reservation on [email protected]. More information on humansoul.fr
