Fontana Bruno (France)

Bruno Fontana is a French photographer born in 1977 and currently lives and works in Paris.

His resolutely plastic work is built in the field of urban representation and landscape environments. By straddling these two elements he induces a reflection on the forms of territory’s appropriation.

His art is based on observation and experimentation, and seeks to question our own interpretation of landscape. Through molding and shaping the image to the limits of reality, he gives access to a new understanding of the relationship that binds us to our environment. By releasing some buildings and structures out of their context, he invites us to a meticulous observation of these elements that our habitual gaze no longer sees. Composing series of structures built in repetition, he draws our attention to the notion of identity and singular attempts of appropriation. Thanks to the transformation process he uses for his photographic images and especially by molding volumes, Bruno Fontana jostles our perception and asks the question of reality and unreality. This reflection on the photographic act is omnipresent in Bruno Fontana’s works, and that’s why he always tries to push the image representation to its very limits. He definitely likes to play with the photographic potential to reveal their materiality.

Yet, Bruno Fontana doesn’t feel prisoner from his medium. He built a singular and radical speech, exploring the potentialities of the photographic image in its propensity to be a part of the contemporary history. He turns his eyes on our present or our recent past and places himself as a witness ready to save the scheduled obsolescence of things in a memorial and patrimonial approach.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018

"Faces 4", 55Bellechasse Gallery (Paris, France)

Art Photo Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)

Art Market San Francisco (San Francisco, USA)

"S'approprier le réel", ACB Gallery (Lille, France)

2017

"Les Rencontres d'Arles" (Arles, France)

"Extrait" Résidence 87 (Paris, France)

2016

"L'objet photographique" IMMIX Gallery (Paris, France)

"L'échelle de la représentation" IMMIX Gallery (Paris, France)

Shenyang Festival of Industrial Photography (Shenyang, China)

"UNSEEN SEASCAPES" Petits Carreaux Gallery (Paris / St Briac, France)

Solo Show, Macadam Gallery (Brussels, Belgium)

2015

YIA Art Fair (Paris, France)

"TYPOLOGIES", Rivière Faiveley Gallery (Paris, France)

"HOME", Maison Européenne de la photographie (Lille, France)

"Constructions", Petits Carreaux Gallery (Paris / St Briac, France)

Off Course ART FAIR (Brussels, France)

"Urbanité, ou la trace de l'Homme", Macadam Gallery (Brussels, France)

ART PARIS ART FAIR, Grand Palais (Paris, France)

2014

SLICK ATTITUDE ART FAIR (Paris, France)

"The Colours of Architecture", La Chambre Gallery (Strasbourg, France)

"(Re)Shaping Landscapes", Rivière Faiveley Gallery (Paris, France)

"Urban WallPapers", Rivière Faiveley Gallery (Paris, France)

2013

La Nuit de l'année, Rencontres d'Arles, Salin de Giraud (Arles, Paris)

"Urban WallPapers", Saint Sauveur de Lille Train station (Lille, France)

2010

"Vestiges à Loyers modérés",  INMYROOM Gallery (Paris, France)

AWARDS

2017

Photo Prize, Cédric Bacqueville Gallery (Lille, France)

2016

Festival MAP Prize (Toulouse, France)

2015

Moscow International Foto Awards, for "Typologies" (Moscow, Russia)

2014

Séléction ARPIA (Paris, France)

Lens'art Photographic Prize (Lens, France)

"The Colors of Architecture" ARCHIFOTO Selection (Strasbourg, France)

2013

SFR Jeunes Talents Prize (Arles, France)

PUBLICATION & PRESS

2018

Apologie magazine, Portfolio

2017

Les Rencontres Arles Photographie, Actes sud

2016

Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology 2016, Future Now

2015

Archistorm magazine, Portfolio

2013

Les Rencontres Arles Photographie, Actes sud

Shot magazine, Portfolio SFR Jeunes Talents, Arles 2013

Images magazine, Portfolio « Urban WallPapers »

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