Jean Francois Rauzier – dreaming through photography

I was lucky enough to visit the  recent exhibition at Watermans & Dodd in London where Jean-Francois Rauzier had his first exhibition in the UK.

Needless to say, I had formed an initial opinion and generated a considerable interest prior to seeing his works, but what I saw went beyond my imagination and expectations. The intricate details and pursuance clearly definite in his works are beyond any expectations of photographic mastership and undoubtedly represent only the tip of the genius iceberg of this artist with what it seems an infinite imagination.  Complicated yet clean, multilayered yet defined, his works are encyclopaedia of his knowledge, passions and ability as an accomplished photographer. His over 30 years of experience on the advertising field have everything to do with the meticulous execution of his hyperphotos and luckily have not affected his vision in typically marketing direction of the immediate attention grabbing shot.

Quite the opposite.

Jean Francois Rauzier’s works looks almost natural until you manage to concentrate on a fragment and turn your pre-conceptions upside down. Pebbles on a long beach, oh no, these are actually clocks; beautiful tree with a lake (is that a little girl over there?), block of flats in an entangled honeycombed building; an immense ‘no beginning-no end’ library… So, now are you seeing it? I mean really SEEING IT?

Jean Francois demands attention.

Going beyond the pixels per frame attitude of the modern photographers he uses up to 3,500 images per photo, yes, there is no typo here. Some of the pictures he exhibits actually contain up to 3,500 images and hold on to it – have size of about 30-40GB! The monolith works could spread over 50 metres and one could not possibly imagine the patience and surgical brilliance of matching and adding, resizing and collating the images together until a truly exceptional pieces emerge. But besides the pure technological accomplishment lies his vision of a fine artist, a modern day Rafael, Da Vinci or Titian who uses his mouse as a brush and his Mac as a canvas.

Once should feel privileged to be able to see in person the brilliance extraordinaire of this man. Jean Francaois Rauzier set a very high marker for comparison and a standard in its own rights.

Art review by Elena Todorova-Stanev, Cerise Art Agency 2010