Contemporary artist Marc-Antoine Garnier navigates the contours of imagery by manipulating photographs of nature and landscapes. His hands-on techniques such as rolling, crumpling, and folding paper initiate a conversation between content and form. This approach not only challenges the gaze but engages the viewer’s whole body in a space where photographs evolve beyond frames.
Garnier, coming from a fine arts background at Rouen, embraces a practice known as ‘amplified photography.’ This venture melds photography and sculpture, reiterating the iconic power of representation. His work values photography’s link to reality, yet aims to ‘deconstruct’ and ‘reconstruct’ it for a nuanced experience.
His early focus was on capturing the industrial and the discarded, but later his lens turned towards nature — sky, sea, rocks, and vegetation. This transition explores humanity’s position in the larger scheme through nature’s lens. The unconventional portrait format in his work hints at a human dimension amidst vast natural landscapes.
Garnier’s work, particularly his explorations of the sky, offers a poetic narrative of time and space through light and color. He employs digital tools for clarity, blending abstraction with realism in portraying ethereal moments post-sunset.
In his current practice, Marc-Antoine Garnier seldom leaves his photographs untouched. His interventions, whether through digital manipulation or physical alterations like cutting or punching, introduce layers of interpretation. His series Le Detail, for instance, showcases meticulous circular cutouts, while Chiaroscuro exhibits a cloud with parallel folds. Each trail blends the real with the abstract, challenging viewers to delve deeper.
Garnier’s practice holds a mirror to the beauty of existence while pushing the boundaries of what’s visible to the naked eye. Through each crumple, fold, and cut, Garnier’s work amplifies reality, urging a closer, reflective glance at our world.