Jean-Marc Bustamante

'It's crap, but in the right way'

One of France's most celebrated contemporary artists,

he has been working intermittently on a series of photographic projects since 1977. The series includes more than 120 individual landscapes, photographs that are fragments but aspire to a whole, banal subjects which are classically composed but also reminiscent of commercial advertising.

Beyond its technical aspects, photography is a privileged means for looking at the world, for going into the world and confronting landscapes, cities and so on. Photography has always had this 'pre-logical' status, prior to reflexive thought, from which he can move on to other things. He considers it as a primary artform in his work. Photography is a way of going back to his roots through a confrontation with the world. It enables him to make a stand in the world. It is therefore important to think of all of his work as related to the initial process of photography, even in its three-dimensional form. Even when it looks very abstract, work is always related to the world, to an experience of the world, an experience that is physical and emotional.

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