Philippe Mazaud: stage light
December 8 - January 21
Press Release
Foley Gallery is pleased to announce Stage Light, an exhibition of new photographs by Nevada artist Philippe Mazaud. These delicately printed black and white photographs highlight the relationship between inferred fiction and straight documentary.
Mazaud uses traditional means of available light, found situations and an 8 x 10” view camera to capture what appear to be staged realities, signs of an event just before it occurs or traces of evidence found after the fact.
Shot in rural towns in Idaho and Nevada under the night sky, we begin to experience a feeling of absence and mystery at play. Who lives in this town and what are they up to? In Photographer, 1999, commissioned portraits sit in a glowing glass storefront window case with no one to see them. Picture frame samples are perfectly aligned in vertical formation inside and a family portrait lurks in the shadows.
From the observer, there can be anticipation of foreshadowing details or dénouement, but Mazaud leaves the viewer with little more than a stage set to construct a narrative from. His photographs are still, but challenge our imagination to bring stories to his scenes.
Philippe Mazaud received his arts education in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and from the New York Studio School in Manhattan. He later went on to receive an advance degree in Mathematics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received the Aide a la premiere exposition grant from the French Ministry in 2004 and the Nevada Arts Council Fellowship in 2005. This will be his first solo exhibition in New York. He currently resides in Reno, Nevada.
Foley Gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm. For more information or for images, please contact the gallery by phone or e-mail.
Gallery Hours:Tuesday - Saturday, 11 - 6