Self-portrait: Thomas Devaux

Thomas Devaux, born in 1980 in Marcq-en-Barœul (North), is an artistic photographer from France. He lives and works in Paris.

In 2011, he won the Bourse du Talent #46 (2011) competition, organized by Photographie.com, Nikon, Picto, Herez and Bibliothèque Nationale de France.[1] That same year he was nominated for the “Prix Arte/Cutlog Art contemporain”.

Biography

Devaux became interested in photography at a young age. He experimented simultaneously with several artistic expression media such as photography, experimental filmmaking, painting and collages while studying film. His current work lies somewhere between photography and paintings, allowing him to pursue his research on sacred themes, profanity and isolation.

In January 2012, filmmaker David Lynch exhibited Devaux's photos during the inauguration of his new Paris nightclub, Silencio.[2] For Le Figaro, "his portraits of women taken at fashion shows and art openings, which are then digitally reworked, have a timeless grace that denounces with elegance the ephemeral character of beauty. ... Madonnas damned for all eternity."[2]

His photographs were included in several collections including those at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) towards the end of 2012. In 2013 Devaux's work was also exhibited in South Korea, China, France, Belgium, Russia and Hong Kong. He was invited to present his work during the prestigious antiquity theatre soirées held during the last Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles 2013.

Hong Kong Exhibition 2013: Thomas Devaux
Hong Kong Exhibition 2013: Thomas Devaux

Artistic process

In the words of Anne Biroleau-Lemagny, General Curator for 21st Century Contemporary Art Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), "Thomas Devaux is the author of several ambitious and complex series in which so many fundamental values like evolution in photography come into play. The photography’s index value cannot be denied. It is indeed a direct shot but a shooting immediately considered as a fragment of a future reconstruction."[3] One of his ways of working involves taking simple photos of models at fashion shows in Paris or Milan, or indeed even pictures of regular visitors at the openings of contemporary art expositions, like at the FIAC and using them as raw materials. He transforms them thanks to digital editing software and making them barely recognizable.

According to French newspaper L'Express, he uses fashion and the art world to “recompose a universe filled with symbols”.[4]

For Yann Datessen, a photography & crafts professor at the Sorbonne, Devaux's characters are “ether beauties, flannel monstrosities, latescent Valkyries, patched-up ghosts that we sanctify and profane at the same time(...) Likes burned, worn-out, gone up in smoke, these new magnetic and electrified bodies have the boreal appearance of worrisome divinities. Hydras with furry tongues, spectral face, torsos with seven hands, female Cerberus, the bestial that Thomas evokes is filled with Dante-esque and Tararian metamorphoses..."[5]

Devaux's work plays on the textures, and articulates on the body’s erasing and reconstruction. This is a style that is his very own. It exists between the sacred and the profane.

Works

Exhibitions

  • Solo Show, La Patinoire Royale , April- May, 2024, Brussels, Belgium
  • Duo Show, PhotoFair, from 25 till 28 April 2024, Shanghai, China
  • Group Show, Art Paris 2024, (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Solo Show, Art Central Hong Kong, 28 till 31 March, 2024
  • Group Show, BRAFA 2024, (La Patinoire Royale, Belgium), from January 28 to February 4,
  • Duo show, PARIS PHOTO 2023, (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas), 9 till 12 November, Grand Palais Ephémère.
  • Solo Show, OFFSCREEN, La Patinoire Royale, Paris, 18 till 22 October, 2023
  • Solo Show, KIAF Seoul (Off Frieze Seoul), 6 till 9 September, 2023, Seoul, Korea
  • Group Show, Art Taipei, 2023, Taiwan
  • Group Show, Luxembourg Art Week, La Patinoire Royale, 2023, Luxembourg
  • Group Show, june, Daegu, 2023, Korea
  • CENTRE POMPIDOU, Launch party and signing of the monograph "Cet Obscur Objet du Désir", April 15, 2023, Paris
  • Solo Show, PhotoFair, from 20 till 23 April, Shanghai, China
  • Group Show, from 30 march to till 2 April, Busan, 2023, Korea
  • Group Show, Art Paris 2023, (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, Art Rotterdam 2023, (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, BRAFA 2023, (La Patinoire Royale, Belgium), from January 29 to February 5
  • Group Show, Art 021, from 10 till 13 November 2022, Shanghai, China
  • Solo Show, Art Taipei, from 21 till 24 October 2022, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Solo Show, Louis Vuitton St- Germain-des-prés, Paris, Parcours St Germain + Photo days, off Paris + by Art Basel 2022 from 17 till 31 October, France (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, Genius Loci, from 15 till 23 October 2022, Paris (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Solo Show, Art Paris, 2022 from 7 till 10 April, France, Booth B01 (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, Art Rotterdam 2022, from 19 till 22 May, Holland, France (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, January, February 2022, New York, USA
  • Group Show, January 2022, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Group Show, Paradis Artificiels, from November till December 2021, Galerie Bacqueville
  • Group Show, December 2021, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Solo Show PhotoFair, from 3 till 6 November, Shanghai, China
  • Group Show, Galerie Bertrand Grimont , from October till November 2021, Paris.
  • Group Show, "Divines", December 2021, Macadam Gallery, Bruxelles.
  • Group Show, Luxembourg Art Week, November 2021, Macadam Gallery, Luxembourg
  • Group Show, September 2021, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Group Show, Nuit Blanche Mayenne, October 2021 (Le Kiosque, Centre D'art Contemporain)
  • Group Show, Unseen 2021 from 17 till 19 September, Amsterdam, France (Galerie Cedric Bacqueville Lille, Pays-Bas)
  • Group Show, Paris Design Week, from 9 till 18th September 2021, Galerie Bertrand Grimont , Paris.
  • Group Show, Art Paris, 2021 from 9 till 12 September, Grand Palais
  • Solo Show, Approche, from 26 till 30 May 2021, Galerie Bertrand Grimont , Paris.
  • Duo Show from 28 April till May 2021, Macadam Gallery, Brussels.
  • Solo Show, from 10 till 31 October 2020, Centre Photographique de Clermont Ferrand, France, Biennale de la Photo Nicephore.
  • "Faux Semblants" Galerie Bacqueville, du 1er octobre au 14 novembre 2020, Lille
  • Group Show, Art Paris, (Grand Palais, Paris) from 28th till 31 May 2020, Galerie Cedric Bacqueville, France.
  • Group Show, Paris Photo 2019 from 7th till 10th November, Galerie Bertrand Grimont, Grand Palais Paris, France.
  • Solo Show, July & August 2019, Musée Charles Péguy, Orléans, France.
  • Group Show, "Immaterialité" Espace Topographie de l'Art, Paris , from 7 September till 9 November 2019, Galerie Bertrand Grimont
  • Solo Show, from 14 June till 30 June 2019, Macadam Gallery, Brussels.
  • Group Show, Photo London, 2019 from 16th till 19th May, Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, Somerset House, London.
  • Solo Show, from 31 January till 10 March 2019, Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, Lille, France.
  • Group Show, Paris Photo, (Grand Palais, Paris) from 8th till 11 November 2018, Galerie Bertrand Grimont, France.
  • Group Show, International Interior Design Exhibition, November 2018, Macadam Gallery, Brussels Belgium.
  • Group Show, ("YIA" Paris), from 18th till 21th October 2018, Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, France.
  • Group Show, from November to December 2018 "Biennale de l'Image Tangible" (Paris)
  • Solo Show, from 10 May till 16 June 2017, Galerie Bertrand Grimont, Paris France.
  • Group Show, Art Paris, (Grand Palais, Paris) from 5th till 8 April 2018, Galerie Cedric Bacqueville, France.
  • Group Show, Lille Art Up, (Grand Palais, Lille), from 15th till 18th February 2018, Galerie Bacqueville, France.
  • Group Show, from December 2017 to February 2018, Macadam Gallery, Brussels Belgium.
  • Group Show, ("YIA" Paris), from 19th till 22th October 2017, Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, France.
  • Group Show, from June to September 2017, Macadam Gallery, Brussels Belgium.
  • Conference Skema Lille, September 2017 France.
  • Solo Show, from 23 February to April 2017, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille France.
  • Group Show, Divine Décadence au Musée Van Gaasbeek d'avril à juillet 2016 (Belgique) (exposition avec Jan Fabre, Joel Peter Witkin, De Bruyckere Berlinde, Gustave Moreau, Kees Von Dongen, Erwin Olaf...)
  • Group Show, YIA (Young international Artists ArtFair) au Carreau du Temple Paris du 23 au 25 octobre 2015 (Galerie Rivière Faiveley)
  • Maison européenne de la photographie (MEP) Paris 15 avril, projection et débat autour du documentaire Work in Progress: The Shoppers réalisé par Cinq26
  • Group Show, Art Paris au Grand Palais du 26 au 29 mars (Galerie Rivière Faiveley)
  • Conférence lors des "Grandes Conférences" en novembre 2015 : Salon de la photo de Paris, France
  • Piasa Paris "Art is Hope", du 3 au 7 décembre 2014, France
  • Mois de la photographie off Atelier Tozf Paris du 7 au 23 novembre 2014
  • Biennale de photographie de Liège (Musée des Beaux Arts de Liège : BAL) du 15 mars au 25 mai 2014
  • Conférence (Attrition II) le 4 avril 2014 : Musée des beaux-arts d'Angoulême (France).
  • The Off (Foire d’art contemporain off "d'Art Brussels"), Galerie Macadam du 25 au 28 avril 2014
  • Group Show, Lille Arttup (Foire d’art contemporain, Lille), Galerie Bacqueville 2014
  • Exposition Galerie Bacqueville (Lille), septembre, octobre, novembre, 2014
  • Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie 2013 (Arles France: Théâtre Antique) [archive]
  • Los Angeles MOPLA (Mois de la photographie Los Angeles) : Pro'jekt L.A. (Projection: avril 2013).
  • Exposition Le Christ dans la photographie contemporaine, Strasbourg 2013
  • Group Show, Lille Artfair (Foire d’art contemporain, Lille), Galerie Bacqueville 2013
  • Solo Show, Ulsan International Photography Festival (KOREA) 2012
  • Group Show, Slick (Foire d’art contemporain, off de la Fiac) Paris, série Attrition 2012
  • Solo Show, Salon de la photo de Paris 2012, série Usures 2012
  • Solo Show, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), série Attrition 2012
  • Group Show, Lille Artfair (Foire d’art contemporain, Lille), Galerie Bacqueville 2012
  • Galerie Bacqueville (Lille), Thomas Devaux/Sabine Pigalle, série Attrition 2012
  • Group Show, Cutlog (Foire d’art contemporain, off de la Fiac) Paris, séries Attrition I & Attrition II 2011
  • Projet 24H (Paris Photo) projeté au "Photo Off Fair" (off de Paris Photo) 2011

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

  • Thomas Devaux, Cet Obcsur Objet du Desir Editions Cédric Bacqueville ISBN 978-2-9585736-0-7
  • Attrition by Thomas Devaux ISBN 978-2-7466-3721-4

References

  1. ↑ Roxana Traista. "Thomas Devaux". photographie.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 Haloche, Laurence (13 January 2012). "Beauté criante, charme muet". Le Figaro.
  3. ↑ ATTRITION Archived 2013-06-13 at the Wayback Machine par Anne Biroleau-Lemagny (Conservatrice Générale chargée de la photographie contemporaine du 21 siècle à la BNF)
  4. ↑ Vignal, Marion (15 November 2011). "Thomas Devaux, serial photographer". L'Express.
  5. ↑ Contre-Feux et Sutures par Yann Datessen Archived 2013-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
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