Jean-Christophe Béchet

Country: France
Birth: 1964

Born in 1964 in Marseille, Jean-Christophe B�chet lives and works in Paris since 1990.

Mixing B&W and color, silver and digital prints, 24x36 and medium format, polaroids and photographic 'accidents', Jean-Christophe B�chet seeks the "right tool" for each project, the one that will allow him to obtain a meaningful dialogue between an interpretation of reality and the photographic material.

Inheritor of "street photography", whether it be American, French or Japanese, he likes to refer to his photographs as INHABITED LANDSCAPES. His glance on the world is constructed book by book, the area provided by the printed page being his "natural" field of expression.

His photographs belong to several private and public collections and they have been showcased in more than sixty exhibitions since 1999, including at the Rencontres d'Arles in 2006 ("Urban Policies" series) and in 2012 ("Accidents" series) and the 'Mois de la Photo' (Month of Photography) in Paris, in 2006, 2008 and 2017.

He is also the author of more than 20 books.

FRENCHTOWN
Project created for the Festival L'Oeil Urbain at Corbeil Essonnes

Wedged between several highways and the National Road 7, the City of Corbeil-Essonnes is located 40 km south of Paris. It is the last city in the Paris' belt. As soon as you cross its limits, you are in the middle of nature. Too far from Paris to benefit from its proximity, it's neither in the provinces. This "in-between" gives rise to a feeling of strangeness and uneasiness. In this city, I felt I was in a typical and genuine French city and at the same time in a detective film. I had the impression of being a foreign visitor, an investigator, who was exploring a "French Town" to solve a minor incident.

My photos are the result of a year of observation. I worked as a visual writer. Far from hot topics and for a long period of time, I captured the small details of everyday life and built an authentic story. Without forgetting that photography never shows reality, or truth, but an idea of reality. And it's already a lot... JCB

Gallery

Les Douches la Galerie

Website

www.jcbechet.com

Selected Books

Eureka USA

Jean-Christophe B�chet

American Animals

Jean-Christophe Béchet

Petits Paysages Americains

Jean-Christophe Béchet

Influences : Un jeu photographique

Jean-Christophe Béchet

Inspiring Portfolios

Michael Light

Hiroshi Watanabe

JB Russell

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Giuseppe Cardoni

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Brett Weston

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Alexey Titarenko

Russia/United States
1962

Alexey Titarenko is a Russian American artist. He began taking photographs at the beginning of the 1970s, and in 1978 became a member of the well-known Leningrad photographic club Zerkalo, where he had his first solo exhibition (1978). Titarenko graduated from the Department of Cinematic and Photographic Art at Leningrad's Institute of Culture in 1983. Since this was creative activity that had no connection with the official Soviet propaganda, the opportunity to declare himself publicly as an artist came only at the peak of Perestroika in 1989 with his "Nomenclature of Signs" exhibition and the creation of Ligovka 99, a photographers' exhibition space that was independent of the Communist ideology. Titarenko has received numerous awards from institutions such as the Musee de l'Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Soros Center for Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg; and the Mosaique program of the Luxemburg National Audiovisual Centre. He has participated in many international festivals, biennales, and projects and has had more than 30 personal exhibitions, both in Europe and the United States. His works are in the collections of major European and American museums, including The State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg); the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art; George Eastman House (Rochester, N.Y.); the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston); the Museum of Fine Arts (Columbus, Ohio); the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston); the Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego); the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College (Mass.); the European House of Photography (Paris); the Southeast Museum of Photography (Daytona Beach, Fla.); the Santa Barbara Museum of Fine Arts (Cal.); the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University (N.J.); the Reattu Museum of Fine Arts (Arles); and the Musee de l�Elysee Museum for Photography (Lausanne). Major photo series include "City of Shadows" (1992-1994), "Black and White Magic of St. Petersburg" (1995-1997), and "Time Standing Still" (1998-1999). In those series Titarenko paints a bitter picture of a Russia (seen through the lens of St. Petersburg), where people live in a world of unrealized hopes and where time seems to have stopped. Titarenko's photographic series from the 1990s won him worldwide recognition. In 2002 the International Photography Festival at Arles, France, presented all three series at the Reattu Museum of Fine Arts in the exhibition "Les quatres mouvements de St.Petersbourg" curated by Gabriel Bauret. (Source: www.nailyaalexandergallery.com)

Agata Vera Schiller

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1980

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Ireland
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Jason McGroarty is a multi-award winning, self-taught photographic artist who is best known for his conceptual work exploring the relationship between man and nature. The characters of which are depicted in almost tarot-card-like mystical figures. Also known for his minimalist approach to photography, McGroarty creates his masterpieces with only entry-level equipment, often building his own lighting, studio�s and props from unwanted materials. This motto has secured sponsors with international top dogs such as Nikon in their 'Learn & Explore' project promoting the quality of work that can be achieved with a masterful understanding of light & composition. Jason McGroarty won third place at All About Photo Awards 2018 for his work "Totem Raccoon". About Totem Raccoon: Through Totem I wanted to capture the heart-stopping moment when the wild breaches the barriers of the city and reminds us that the line between humans and wildlife is not as clear-cut as we would like to believe in, and that in the animal kingdom, the only thing we can count on is unpredictability, that the unexpected should be expected.

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