Dogs sit admiring a sunset. Two cats are being held by people wearing shirts with wolves on them. Cat slippers lie on a red carpet. These photographs might seem incredible, quirky and completely outlandish. But these are the three images that greet visitors to the Musée Nicéphore Niépce to see the work of the Résidence BMW winners Mazaccio & Drowilal. The rest of their work will remain under wraps until the Rencontres d’Arles seven months from now. That’s a long time to wait…
We went down to Chalon-sur-Saône to meet the two photographers-in-residence who are… unconventional, to say the least!
100% Comic, 1% Artist
With furrowed brows and pens to their notepads, a roomful of journalists at the Musée Nicéphore Niépce caught a first glimpse of the work of Elise Mazac and Robert Drowilal. Soon the room was filled with laughter and smiles, the same room where these two artists have worked for the past three months. We discovered an eccentric duo whose personalities are a singular mix of neurosis, obsession, humor and humility.
With their Southwestern French accents, Mazaccio & Drowilal unveiled their series on a screen: Paparazzis, Nunuche, Babies, Sculpture Park, Le Déclencheur, Phone Call and Ça gicle. Their most recent series, Wild Style, completed while in residence, serves as an anthropological, iconographic and photographic study of animals and their contemporary cultural representations.
Each series allows us to better understand the duo and their work. Taking inspiration by what surrounds and fascinates them, they use vernacular imagery gleaned from the internet and media as raw material, reinventing contemporary kitsch.
As we wait for the finished exhibition at Arles and a book published by Éditions Trocadéro, we wanted to present you with a sample of the work of the scathing duo Mazaccio & Drowilal.
Applications for the Résidence BMW / Musée Nicéphore Niépce 2014 will be available starting January 10, 2014. The application deadline will be March 17.
http://www.welivehere.eu
http://www.museeniepce.com
http://www.bmw.fr/artetculture
