The CRP/ presents “Mytho”, a show of new work by French artist Robin Lopvet that examines the digital image and its infinite powers through a number of series.
The first of these series, Là d’où je viens (Where I’m from), sees Robin Lopvet expose the fundamentals of his work. His use of raw, flash photography peppered with touches of the absurd underpins an atmosphere that can be both funny and uneasy. Lopvet takes us on a nocturnal journey through his home town of Épinal that reveals the fundamentals of his photographic approach. In this, the capital of the Vosges region, just like everywhere else, what photography shows us is not reality. Here, the medium of truth is used to feed an aesthetic of legends and fairytales.
Animals feature front and centre in Lopvet’s work, often visually repurposed in the most awful, uncompromising ways. He also knows how to appeal to the broadest of audiences but is often surprised and overwhelmed when the images of dogs’ heads in smoky landscapes (tsunamis, explosions, sand storms…) he uploads to the internet go viral. Shared by millions, they prove that nothing works better on social media than photos of animals and show how quickly images, however futile, can spread online. The schoolboy humour of the D.O.G.S series evokes the vertiginous nature of this virality in a light-hearted way.
While Robin Lopvet’s work is obviously imbued with geek culture, references to art history abound. He has no issue with revisiting classic forms, from nudes to self-portraits, using visual codes that are bang up-to-date.
Series entitled Prémices (Signs) and 7ème continent (7th continent) reinvent the still life form through photomontage. Motivated by similar preoccupations as 17th century painters, using a profusion of elements arranged in a complex space, Robin Lopvet exposes the concrete reality of things.
Robin Lopvet is a gifted photographic editor, using his skills and the extensive range of tools at his disposal to create his own world of mythology and mythomania. The unlimited freedom and creativity he allows himself results in pictures that disrupt, transform and reappropriate, giving us access to a whirling world of colour and parody, that nevertheless remains intensely aware and curious.
Curator of the exhibition : Audrey Hoareau, director of the CRP/
“The entire world is available to anyone with an Internet connection.” – Robin Lopvet
Robin Lopvet
Multimedia artist Robin Lopvet was born in the Vosges region of France in 1990. While working as a photographic editor for the luxury and fashion industry, he began to develop his own work using the same tools. The economy of salvaging and recycling form the basis of his artistic approach.
After graduating from ESAL (École supérieure d’art de Lorraine) in Épinal, in 2010, Robin Lopvet went on to study at the ENSP – École nationale supérieure de la photographie in Arles. He rounded off his training in 2016 with a post-graduate course at the ICP, the International Center of Photography in New York.
He has had solo shows in the Magasin de Jouets in Arles, at the Festival MAP in Toulouse, at Jeune Création Romainville and the Capsule Galerie in Rennes. He has also taken part in group shows at the Villa Arson in Nice, the International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Poland, at the Mucem in Marseille, the Panacée in Montpellier and in Paris galleries Binôme and Agnès B.
His work is regularly published in Libération, Le Monde, Society, Vice and Der Greif.
Lopvet also works as a DJ and comanages the Club Late Music label. He lives and works in Arles, Paris and online.
Robin Lopvet : Mytho
September 30, 2023 – January 14, 2024
CRP/ Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-de-France
Place des Nations
59282 Douchy-les-Mines
www.crp.photo
