Nicolas Wilmouth
1973, Clichy (France)
Still lifes
Portraits
Fables
Dogs
Birds
Education
1995 – Deug d’arts plastiques, Paris 1, Saint-Charles – Paris
1997 – Diplômé du CFT Gobelins, école des métiers de l’image – Paris
1997-2001 Assistant photographe
Latest exhibitions from 2008 onwards
2008 Maison d’ Art B. Anthonioz / L’entre prise, Nogent sur Marne. Expo collective
Nuit de la photographie contemporaine / L’entre prise, Paris. Expo collective
2009 Galerie Kennory Kim, “Wonderland” – Paris. Expo collective
2010 Nuit de la photographie contemporaine, Paris. Expo personnelle
Galerie van Kranendonk, La Haye, Pays Bas – Expo collective
Palais Lumière, “Le bestiaire imaginaire” – Evian. Expo collective
2011 “Vous avez dit Taxidermies ?” Muséum d’histoires naturelle d’Elbeuf Expo collective
2012 Still Life, Van Kranendonk Gallery, The Hague
UNSEEN, photo fair, Amsterdam
Work in collections
Utrecht University (NL) and private collections in France, Brasil, The Netherlands, Belgium.
Review
http://fourandsons.com/2012/01/17/into-the-light
Interview
http://www.landscapestories.net/interviews/nicolas-wilmouth?lang=en
Fables
Hare, tulip and heron. Sage and rosebush. You are cordially invited to a fairytale dinner.
Here’s the story of a flesh-eating tuberose and a willow tree that’s in love.
Forbidden fruit, vanity, the jealous fox.
Nicolas Wilmouth’s own fables are a mix of monkey dreams, Dutch steam ships and your
grandmother’s lace.
From Dada to La Fontaine via Desnos, the ‘Fables’ series is a photographic fairytale, like a
visual haiku.
Strange objects, exotic flowers, animals of stature. These dreamlike scenes question not
only our existence, but also our appetite for delight and our mind’s desire to be carried
away.
This project builds on my earlier work, a series of 30 still life photos (‘Still Life’) produced
between 2011 and 2015, exhibited in Paris, Brussels and The Hague.
The reference to historical artistic techniques is made by using plates of albumin silver
glass (which I made myself) and table arrangements reminiscent of Dutch still life
paintings in terms of their point of view, compositions and the symbolism of objects. Yet
the use of white background and the texturing of images adds a modern touch, and
creates a break with the 17th century.
You will also see influences from the19th and 20th centuries, in particular, in the historical
techniques used in early photography : daguerreotype, ferrotypes, collodions, etc. The
layering on the image and the effects created by the albumin silver textures evoke the
Pictorialists, but are purposefully woven with anachronisms and heterogeneous effects,
the pleasure derived through the telling, be it of a story, a fairytale or a fable.
Making and using these abuminated silver plates has been a pictorial experiment of sorts,
and required considerable research into the practice of earlier artistic techniques, in so
doing bridging the link between old and new. The randomness of the many chemical
reactions has been reworked digitally using photoshop style software, allowing the
photographer to reshape and polish what was produced naturally, to optimise the effect.
There is a nod to Dadaism in the way the often strange and incongruous objects are used,
as wel as the absurd scenes and compositions. There is also a kind of poetry to the visual
narration that teases the viewer, tempts them to build their own story from the photos.
