Photo Feature: Jean-François Lepage
Jean-François Lepage is a French photographer born in Paris in 1960. He began his photography career in the early eighties and since then, his unique work has been featured in world renowned publications such as GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Nylon.
His photographs present themselves as clips of somewhat disturbed dreams; plastic nightmares that are characterised by sharp stillness and tormented beauty. A feeling of solitude drives his images in a landscape of surreal desolation which merges effortlessly with the intensity of high fashion grandeur. He sets out to create representations of the visuals of his inner mind, each piece an attempt to reveal to the viewer who he is on the inside. Visually, the artist captures moments that seem impossible to put into words; portraying not scenes but feelings; the thin relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind.
Lepage creates his art with a mixture of photography, highly saturated colour and illustration. He cuts directly from the image negatives and fixes the pieces back together using staples. It is this mixed media approach to his art that sets him apart from other fashion photographers, injecting a sort of tangibility and ‘realness’ to such otherworldly concepts.
Lepage is currently exhibiting his work at COLOR; a group exhibition at the CWC Gallery in Berlin until December 1st, 2012 which includes over 100 images documenting artistic colour photography from prolific artists such as Nan Goldin, Jeff Koons, Helmut Newton and many more.
Words: Marissa Ogbeide
Photo Feature: Jean-François Lepage
Jean-François Lepage is a French photographer born in Paris in 1960. He began his photography career in the early eighties and since then, his unique work has been featured in world renowned publications such as GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Nylon.
His photographs present themselves as clips of somewhat disturbed dreams; plastic nightmares that are characterised by sharp stillness and tormented beauty. A feeling of solitude drives his images in a landscape of surreal desolation which merges effortlessly with the intensity of high fashion grandeur. He sets out to create representations of the visuals of his inner mind, each piece an attempt to reveal to the viewer who he is on the inside. Visually, the artist captures moments that seem impossible to put into words; portraying not scenes but feelings; the thin relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind.
Lepage creates his art with a mixture of photography, highly saturated colour and illustration. He cuts directly from the image negatives and fixes the pieces back together using staples. It is this mixed media approach to his art that sets him apart from other fashion photographers, injecting a sort of tangibility and ‘realness’ to such otherworldly concepts.
Lepage is currently exhibiting his work at COLOR; a group exhibition at the CWC Gallery in Berlin until December 1st, 2012 which includes over 100 images documenting artistic colour photography from prolific artists such as Nan Goldin, Jeff Koons, Helmut Newton and many more.
Words: Marissa Ogbeide
