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FABIEN DETTORI
The Nicolas Auvray Gallery is excited to present a live performance of Fabien Dettori’s creative process, transported from his studio in Paris to the Art on Paper Fair in New York.
PERFORMANCE TIMES:
Thursday, September 5 - 7 :00pm
Friday, September 6 - 5:00pm
Saturday, September 7 - 1:00pm & 5:00pm
Sunday, September 8 - 1:00pm & 3:30pm
Fabien Dettori’s artworks are the result of a delicate undertaking. Beginning with a photoshoot, Dettori finds it important to connect emotionally with the models. Before he photographs them, Dettori asks them to “live [in] the moment and to dig as deep as possible into their own feelings.” He says “For most of them it is an overwhelming experience. I am looking for the true poetry of emotions, sometimes you have to go into the dark sides to find it.”
What happens after the session is a form of editing: Dettori chooses the strongest image and the others are destroyed. Then his practice shifts from photography to painting, as he prepares the final resting place of the unique polaroid. This is the part we will be lucky enough to witness as a live performance. Dettori might alter the images physically through chemical intervention, affecting the polaroid’s colors. Gold leaf and paint is then applied to a wooden cardboard support to create an effect that will alter the emulsion. Dettori might oxidize the gold to symbolize his own oxidized memory, the gold representing the preciousness of time.
Finally, as Dettori explains, “there is this dangerous, fragile step where the emulsion lifts [off the polaroid].” As he lays the emulsion on his support, Dettori reconstructs the memory; he says, “I make it precious.” This moment of the process is driven by the legacy of classical painters. The photograph turns into an interpretation of reality, capturing that which is invisible. Nudity is Dettori’s chosen route to approach authenticity. About more than just sensuality, all of the emotions are interesting for the artist to capture: “I document life. And I think it’s an important point because it makes it universal.”
The live performance will follow Fabien Dettori’s usual process, starting with the images he favors. We will watch his painting, altering materials of the base and image, and finally placing the polaroid emulsion. We expect the artist to perform his practice twice a day, each session lasting roughly 30-45 minutes. Dettori will have a desk and chair, as in his Parisian studio, giving the audience a front row view of his methodology.
The Nicolas Auvray Gallery is excited to present a live performance of Fabien Dettori’s creative process, transported from his studio in Paris to the Art on Paper Fair in New York.
PERFORMANCE TIMES:
Thursday, September 5 - 7 :00pm
Friday, September 6 - 5:00pm
Saturday, September 7 - 1:00pm & 5:00pm
Sunday, September 8 - 1:00pm & 3:30pm
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Fabien Dettori is a painter and a photographer, a rare combination in an artist which he merges seamlessly. Born in Versailles in 1971, Dettori’s mother was a painter and his father a photographer. Dettori was naturally drawn to the integration of the two mediums. As a photographer, he is profoundly aware of the emotional and narrative power of images. By aiming to transmit emotions and beauty at first glance, rather than stopping at the surface, he integrates the nature of painting in his method.
Dettori first sold his photographs when he was only 15 years old, to foreign agencies and magazines at the Cannes Film Festival. He worked in several renowned studios, spent time working in fashion photography, and took assignments from international magazines and advertising campaigns. However, he yearned for more than just capturing fleeting moments; he desired to work with his own light, create scenes, and become the director of his own vision.
Today, Dettori creates crossover artworks in a unique style all his own. Influenced by portraitist Lucian Freud and rooted in study of the history of Western classical painters (like Courbet, Rodin, and Delacroix), Dettori takes thematic inspiration from mythology. His work is in miniature format, which speaks technically to his process but also serves as a tool which forces the audience to come closer, creating an intimate experience. One must physically shift to see how light plays with the art, to look closely at the women’s likeness, and to feel an emotional connection, Dettori’s foremost goal.