Useful Lies – Eric Antoine

Useful Lies

Eric Antoine presents introspective photography culminating in many exhibitions, a first book Ensemble seul in 2015 and now this new opus Useful Lies.
For over 10 years, the artist has devoted himself to the collodion process, placing the tangibility of images at the very heart of his quest. In an approach nearing sculpture, Eric Antoine produces glistening, silvery photographs that also stand alone as objects. Without the slightest hint of nostalgia, his process is an emancipating discipline. By ensuring that he is fully in control of his process, the photographer operates an ideal merging between form and spirit, between artistic research and its most intimate history.

Antoine’s work as an artist cannot be dissociated from his life, whether in its most mundane aspects or its fundamental quests. He questions the fleeting nature of time, memory, the healing of scars – and hope, ever discreet and unwavering. Symbols and allegories trace the geography of the photographer’s spirit. The feeling of isolation, a central theme in his work, reveals the choice of life at one with nature, far from the clamors of the world. His solitude is as benevolent as it is fertile, serving as a kind of detachment that offers clairvoyant glimpses of the world as it goes adrift. The immobility and silence intrinsic to Eric Antoine’s photographs contrast with images of a world of competition and imposed rhythms. Imbued with hints and subtlety, his work represents is a firm stance against a pursuit of sensationalism.

From this reflection arises a quest for an ever greater paring down. The simplicity of his still lifes and purity of his landscapes reflect obsessive minimalism. As the eye is rid of disruptive outpourings, it can finally rest on the beauty of a patch of light, a delicate pile of forgotten papers, a bottle catching light, or a reflection upon skin…

With infinite patience, the artist devotes himself to revealing objective reality without ever straying from aesthetic sublimation. Upon seeing his precise representations of objects, it could be said that Eric Antoine is renewing the German movement of New Objectivity. Paradoxically, though, as he embraces the flaws, drips and vagaries of the collodion process, he inches closer to a more pictorialist approach.

Eric Antoine’s photographic practice is actually corollary: his work synthesizes two theoretically irreconcilable art history movements. In so doing, he questions the position of images in contemporary societies, condemning the torments of the world and savoring hidden beauties in their simplest forms.

About Eric Antoine

Eric Antoine was born in 1974.
He is a self taught photographer who has been exploring the possibilities of analog photography along many years of traveling around the world and documenting his adventures and encounters. 15 years and many magazine pages later, his life took a sudden turn and as most of it was spent in the chaos of cities and the overwhelmed life of a contemporary citizen, facing the complexity of the world, he decided to switch back to something slower and authentic. A life in the country side focusing on his new passion: Classic photography techniques and mostly Wet plate collodion photography. Returning to the origins in order to create a new future is a common process. In his case it meant to center on nature and simple occupations but also going back to the origins of photography itself by using one of the earliest and purest technique in his now very pictorial artwork.
During 5 years and for his latest book « ensemble seul », Eric Antoine created his work exclusively within his house limits, an exclusive continent of artistic investigations, and an island of restorative solitude.

His exhibitions reflect Eric Antoine’s favorite themes: the passage of time, along with his artistic and existential quest for simplicity. Objectified body fragments rest alongside insignificant everyday objects that are displayed as though they were the most precious gems.
Since 2016 he moved to a new universe of wooded mountains, Eric celebrates the immensity and the protective power of nature. His forests are metaphors for our most intimate foundations. Concealed within these nourishing meanders, frail silhouettes act as invitations to rediscover what is most essential. As his compositions broaden, the sky finds its place amongst dense landscapes; everywhere, light trickles like hope.

The materiality of images is at the heart of the artist’s investigations. Without any trace of nostalgia, his use of the collodion process serves as an emancipating discipline. In an approach nearing sculpture, Eric produces glistening, silvery photographs that also stand alone as genuine objects.

Eric Antoine’s work is exhibited in galeries and museums around France, USA and Europe.

Discover Eric Antoine’s work on his website.

The Book

Hardcover book

30 x 24.5 cm, landscape

192 pages

90 photographs

Reproductions of ambrotypes

Budget

Available Rewards

The book is available from the second reward, starting at 60€.
The price is discounted until the end of the crowdfunding. Final price will be 65€.

60€ Reward

You will receive the Useful Lies book (65 € ttc public price as soon as it is released) at your home + 2 postcards with different images from the book + Your name in the book.

100€ Reward

130€ Reward

500€ Reward

850€ Reward

2500€ Reward

3500€ Reward

Thank you Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Galerie Berthet Aittouares, Galerie Capazza, Lumina Gallery, Agence d’art contemporain SPRING.