Conceived by Micro-Folie as an invitation to the viewer to explore three emblematic sites in the city,
the exhibition Identités remarquables (Remarkable Identities) invites us to question, through our individuality, the identity that constitutes a territory, what makes it unique, and how it has changed with the passing of time.
The creative work draws on visuals from the Roffé collection (Aptésian photographic studio), most of which date from the first half of the 20th century, as well as contemporary portraits of today's population. This collection, thus adorned with these new elements, allows these creations to become deeply rooted in our shared living space. The ultimate aim here, however, is not to present portraits of yesterday or today, but to turn this mix of disparate elements into a palette of form, color and material.
Pieces that Robert Santero plays with to create new depths, transparencies and material effects, like the notes of a piece of music that takes shape in a new visual space. A journey into his very personal history of image-building, where technical mastery, gesture and chance interact. A story of balance and narrative, not so much as he imagined it, but rather as our eye can see it. Visual music that doesn't need to be analyzed, but rather allows you to escape into your own dream world. A journey to the center of a visual style that combines the mathematical precision of mastered digital tools with the poetry of a space open to the freedom of the gaze.
By reinterpreting the way in which images themselves are written, and confronting his practice as a photographer and graphic designer with the processing of images, partly abandoned to mathematical algorithms, he delivers a new phantasmagorical identity, the fruit of this blend of era and genre.
What identities will these recomposed portraits confront us with? Past, present, real or virtual, who will be hiding behind these portraits? A subtle way of questioning the omnipresence of images in a society dominated by the difficulty of distinguishing the real from the fake.
See less
