Lovers of Paris, cradle of his family, Thierry Dourdet stroll to rediscover its beauty and secrets throughout his walks, to convey the soul specific photographs taken by show of hands.
Far from any references, rules learned his black and white photographs very personal frame in which light enhances the shadows, are the vectors of his discoveries, his admiration. Photo: A passion that since the age of fourteen, she incites him to empty his booklet Savings Bank to acquire the equipment he dreams. Since then he has continued to ride around Paris and other places, sometimes distant, he reveals the character of the great works often in color.
For this artist, creating is not manufactured but select, fit, meet a site being inhabited by the desire to secure the film in the manner of a witness. Thierry Dourdet has that unique look that captures the atmosphere, the sustainability of existing buildings or the fleeting moments. The area of the Palais Royal with a rich history whose traces remain here rendered in its grandeur and intimacy. The photographer has driven the streets, galleries, gardens looking for the angle that sublimate the order of columns and elegant streetlights, opulence trees abundant foliage, daily life in clichés where dialogue contrasts.
Close-ups or broad perspectives, revealing unexpected framing of sense of place, Thierry Dourdet varies angles, favors strict architecture, which often serves as a backdrop; he does not hesitate to make a tight frame to reveal the details of a decoration, a doorway of wrought iron. We are seduced by the set sometimes theatrical scene, the play of reflections through the brightness of windows. An exploration of the experience of this district and of contemporary life.
The quest for light proves permanent, it animates the scene in works sometimes very graphic and sometimes poetic. This photographer urban discover what we do not see: the few surviving shops of the past workshops bootmaker, luthier, books that have retained their charm, atmosphere with their overloaded shopping. Through his keen eye and gentle artist gives life to these witnesses of another life and always present. Sometimes its creation is similar to that of a painter, so this shoe shop designed as a still life; blur background projects light in the foreground appear where shoe brushes, boxes.
Thierry Dourdet accompanying his walks are shared admiration and astonishment. His eyes alert also retains the small moments, sometimes fleeting, he seized on the moment: silhouettes of passers walking or drinking from a terrace here, an old Parisian reads his newspaper, a longstanding practice, times quickly seized Sightings. He is attracted to the interiors of cafés: the splendid volumes of the Café Marly’s stamp or bistros where sometimes survive old posters.
Remember the past, the link to this, beyond the picture book Thierry Dourdet his thoughts on life, the passage of time, the presence and absence symbolized by a meeting of chairs, an empty bench in the garden, in waiting. Never conventional, art by this designer comes from a free and sensitive eye.
Nicole Lamothe
Art Critic
Paris, September 2014
« Paris, Côté Palais Royal » : a limited edition book, on sale exclusively at the hotel.
Designed and built by Chemin Lisant, communications agency by book.
Available from December 1, 2014
96 pages – 240 x 320 mm – € 40 inc VAT
