Despite appearances, the act is photographic. The protocol is precise, the technique is simple: 2 photographs superimposed one on the other, without any other artifice.
As an architectural photographer, I shoot volumes, perspectives, spaces, materials… as an art photographer, an auteur, I strive to manipulate these elements, transform them into the ingredients of a new creation.
Volumes recomposed, perspectives combined, materials superimposed. The result is a strange representation of space, a deconstruction of real. The eye attempts to reconstruct the two original images, in vain…it gets lost, hangs onto a detail, a clue to reality, before getting lost again. The onlooker finally accepts the fact that it is impossible to distinguish between the two images, the two spaces, simply observing the recomposed space. “entre-deux” evokes suspended time, the moment where place no longer has a function. It is no longer and is not yet. Furnishings and objects that could have provided an indication of what the place was used for have disappeared. The bright colors of the lights of the work area portends an imminent change, but remains insignificant in determining the future of the place.
Vincent Fillon
His work is rooted in what could be qualified as documentary (…) and superimposing techniques that are as simple as they are time-tested (…), Vincent Fillon invites us on a trip in time and space.
The present, the one seen when the shutter slams shut, is the keyhole through which we explore the past. The curing work reveals, in depth, the different layers of color appearing between the strips of paint and the cracks, which lay bare the history of the space. The future is outlined in fluorescent paint with mysterious signs including Boolean codes indicating where something has been removed (a cross) or added (the line outlines the new wall). The architectural project is part of something that has come before, the future is physically part of the past.
A plunge into the spatial abyss adds to the time warp. The device becomes a kaleidoscope and the photographer a magician because, by superimposing two realities, a dream is born: the surfaces and the materials that the crystal clear image makes so tangible lead us into a succession of dreamy spaces, that the photography renders so real. Rather than a sort of in between, we see emerge before our eyes an otherworldly atmosphere. A very beautiful page added to the collective spatial imagination that artists, filmmakers and writers have built over time outside of the constructed space.
Mathurin Hardel, architect
Vincent Fillon: Entre-Deux
From May 15th to June 15th, 2013
Little Big Galerie
45 rue Lepic
75018 Paris
France
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 52 81 25
