Renowned French photographer Charles Pétillon is in Shanghai, displaying his art in China for the first time.
The white balloons of French photographer Charles Pétillon are floating into Shanghai for “Invasions,” the artist’s debut exhibition in China, opening May 14 at Gallery Magda Danysz.
For the show, Pétillon has created elaborate assemblies of his iconic white balloons, which he places in empty or abandoned spaces and then photographs. The results are stark tableaux of these ivory globules, which evoke soap bubbles frozen in space and time.
Some of the images are set in landscapes, others in empty manmade environments. In “Mutations 2,” a twisted horizontal braid of balloons floats in the forest; in “Playstation,” balloons of different sizes are arrayed around a children’s jungle gym in a desolate park.
Featuring up to 100,000 balloons in a single installation, Pétillon and his team have created works in a variety of fascinating locations, with Pétillon capturing the intriguing essence of the pieces through both inventive and exceptional photographic skill.
Pétillon says that his personal work aims primarily to ask questions, encouraging the audience to draw their own conclusions about his comments on society, nature and the world around us. He explains more in light of his current exhibition, Invasions, at Magda Danysz Gallery
On audience interaction
‘I really want people to feel like they are able to interact with my photography in the same way as they would with the installations themselves. The audience can interact with the buildings and spaces – when they step inside they can feel the installation, they can walk around it, walk underneath it, and understand the depth of feeling I am trying to express. However, I’m a photographer; I create every installation with the photograph in mind. I create the installations in order to provide a point of view, so I often use a front facing and central framing in order to ensure the audience can’t escape from what I am trying to show.’
On location
‘All my works start with an idea I want to express, and from there I move on to try and find the best location to express that idea. In this way, the location works as an indirect dialogue. It can take me up to three years to find the right place, and my work is very time specific - it all has to be shot between May and September, preferably on days when the wind is lower and the natural lighting is brighter. The right idea in combination with the right location is the most important aspect in all of my works.’
