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Totem 4.299
2023
Thomas Devaux
Photography
170 x 10
The “Totems” series continues Thomas Devaux's research by mobilizing mirroring surfaces and specular devices that directly engage the viewer. Heirs to the daguerreotype, conceived as a “mirror that remembers,” these works blur the boundaries between photographic image and reflection, between individual identity and illusion, revealing a contemporary form of visual and symbolic narcosis. The material itself becomes a vector of stupefaction: it attracts, ensnares, and absorbs the gaze, unveiling a hypnotic experience of the image that is symptomatic of our current relationship to visibility, identity, and desire.
A visual artist and photographer trained at the intersection of fixed image, painting, and experimental cinema, Thomas Devaux develops a body of work that interrogates contemporary forms of belief, desire, and sacredness. Through staging, retouching, and the fragmentation of the photographic image, he composes ambiguous figures that oscillate between appearance and disappearance. His series, often conceived as ritualized ensembles, transform the glossy surfaces of the commercial and media-driven world into spaces for critical meditation. Balancing abstraction and figuration, his work unfolds a troubled iconography in which the gaze is simultaneously drawn in, held captive, and kept at a distance, revealing the tensions between fascination, transcendence, and the profane in contemporary societies. Laureate of the Bourse du Talent in 2011, Thomas Devaux established himself as an important figure in contemporary fine-art photography, combining formal rigor with a critical perspective on the images of our time.
Artwork of
Thomas Devaux
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