Capturing Stories Through the Lens
Every frame is a moment, every image a memory — explore the world through Bastien Pons’ evocative and timeless photography.
Born April 12, 1968
in Versailles, France
Lives and works
in Lyon., France
Inspired by his earlier forays into electro-acoustic musical composition, Bastien Pons' work navigates between un-musical music and un-photographic photos.
His approach to both of these creative disciplines could be described as a process of distilling what he hears and sees down to the basic elements and rearranging the pieces in a way that challenges the listener's/viewer's perception of what seems, at first, to be familiar territory.
The resulting composition, be it acousmatic or pictorial, plunges us into a denatured world where the raw ingredients are juxtaposed, reconfigured and remixed to create a subliminal feeling of disquiet. In this selection of his works, we find scenes which appear for the most part recognizable, comprehensible, in sum, a work of photography.
The eye is drawn to a salient feature, then pans wide to take in the whole. It is then that we begin to perceive that the subject is not the subject, the background – opaque and flattened – has moved to the fore, and the pieces of the picture do not seem to fit. Finally, we notice the veneer, the overlays of textures and shapes that somehow bind it all together.
But rather than enveloping or enshrouding the scene, the veneer seems to eat away at the subject, which is left scarred, cracked and flaking. Where the photo begins and ends, and what forces lurk below that tortured surface can only be surmised.
Becky Reynaud
Studies: Electro-acoustic Composition (National School of Music in Lyon)
SHOWS AND PUBLICATIONS
1999:
Sound composition at the Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art for
the “Musiques en Scène” Festival
2000:
Photo exhibit “Urban landscapes” in Grenoble, France
2004:
Photo exhibit “New Emperors” in Osaka, Japan, Flaunders Center Gallery Photo exhibit and sound composition at the Maison d’Art Gallery in Osaka AADN group photo exhibit at the RVI “Artists’ Factory” in Lyon
2005:
Photo report on Japan published in “Pictorial Post” magazine, issue no. 5 Photo exhibit inTokyo,“Horizontal landscapes”
Series of 10 photos published in “HEAD” magazine
2006:
Photo exhibit at the Original & Co. Gallery in Paris
Photo exhibit and sound composition at the Maison d’Art Gallery in Paris Official selection of the “The Mois de la Photo-OFF” in Paris
2007:
Photo exhibit “Lyon” at the L’Oeil Ecoute Gallery in Lyon
Photo exhibit “New York” at the De Caritat Gallery in Brussels
2008:
Series of photos published by the Chinese cultural center in
Paris
2009:
Series of 10 photos published in “Bunker”, Editions du Grenier
Photo exhibit “Black-Out” in Saint Laurent de Mure, France
Sound composition for videos and an art exhibition by David Roncada
Inploration
PHOTO-GRAPHICS
"Inploration: a design involving the use of images, words and materials, through operations such as juxtaposition, modification, etc., impacted by memory and sense experiences that interplay with the purpose of creating a new synthesis." (M P Ranjan)
Exploration
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
"exploration is the act of searching or traveling a terrain for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown people and places". Wikipedia
