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Bastien Pons, photographe

Born April 12, 1968

in Versailles, France

Lives and works

in Lyon., France

Studies: Electro-acoustic Composition (National School of Music in Lyon)

Inspired by his earlier forays into electro-acoustic musical composition, Bastien Pon's work navigates between un-musical music and un-photographic photos.

 

His approach to both of these creative disciplines could be described as a process of distilling what he hears and sees down to the basic elements and rearranging the pieces in a way that challenges the listener's/viewer's perception of what seems, at first, to be familiar territory.

 

The resulting composition, be it acousmatic or pictorial, plunges us into a denatured world where the raw ingredients are juxtaposed, reconfigured and remixed to create a subliminal feeling of disquiet. In this selection of his works, we find scenes which appear for the most part recognizable, comprehensible, in sum, a work of photography.

The eye is drawn to a salient feature, then pans wide to take in the whole. It is then that we begin to perceive that the subject is not the subject, the background – opaque and flattened – has moved to the fore, and the pieces of the picture do not seem to fit. Finally, we notice the veneer, the overlays of textures and shapes that somehow bind it all together.

 

But rather than enveloping or enshrouding the scene, the veneer seems to eat away at the subject, which is left scarred, cracked and flaking. Where the photo begins and ends, and what forces lurk below that tortured surface can only be surmised.

 

Becky Reynaud

SHOWS AND PUBLICATIONS

1999:  

Sound composition at the Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art for

the “Musiques en Scène” Festival

 

2000:  

Photo exhibit “Urban landscapes” in Grenoble, France

 

2004:  

Photo exhibit “New Emperors” in Osaka, Japan, Flaunders Center Gallery

Photo exhibit and sound composition at the Maison d’Art Gallery in Osaka

AADN group photo exhibit at the RVI “Artists’ Factory” in Lyon

 

2005:  

Photo report on Japan published in “Pictorial Post” magazine, issue no. 5

Photo exhibit inTokyo,“Horizontal landscapes”

Series of 10 photos published in “HEAD” magazine

 

2006:  

Photo exhibit at the Original & Co. Gallery in Paris

Photo exhibit and sound composition at the Maison d’Art Gallery in Paris

Official selection of the “The Mois de la Photo-OFF” in Paris

 

2007:  

Photo exhibit “Lyon” at the L’Oeil Ecoute Gallery in Lyon

Photo exhibit “New York” at the De Caritat Gallery in Brussels

 

2008:  

Series of photos published by the Chinese cultural center in Paris

 

2009:  

Series of 10 photos published in “Bunker”, Editions du Grenier

Photo exhibit “Black-Out” in Saint Laurent de Mure, France

2017:

Sound composition for videos and an art exhibition by David Roncada

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