Tonight I viewed a video about French photographer Denis Darzacq on YouTube. Before reading about him and viewing the video, I thought that the falling people in his photographs were photoshopped in. Actually, they are street dancers. He catches them at the exact split second that they are headed towards the ground, yet they are not hurt at all. (Video courtesy of the artist, www.agencevu.com, and www.lensculture.com)
My favorite series of his was shot in grocery stores, where people seem to be sailing and falling through the aisles. It is called Hyper, for hypermarkets, which are similar to American supermarkets. Of course we don't normally levitate and sail in grocery stores, so this performance is highly entertaining. Although the setting and type of performance varies, Darzacq's work usually features major juxtapositions.
Lens Culture has a great slideshow of Hyper. The sixth slide shows a woman who appears to be flying down the shampoo aisle. Her surreal appearance actually sort of matches the surreal promise of all those products she is flying by that promise us eternal beauty and youth.
I wondered what Darzacq's background is because his work seems quite different than that of many photographers. After finishing art school, Darzacq began photographing rock scenes, and also worked as a press photographer. Additionally, he became a set photographer for many feature films. (Vu' l'agence)
Darzacq is represented by Laurence Miller Gallery in New York, U.S.A. and by Galerie VU' in Paris, France.
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