etienne clement
Aging toys, made redundant by the modern world, are resurrected in Etienne Clément's photographs. Dilapidated buildings become arenas where sinister narratives are born and the toys' roles going beyond the childlike, to darker, mischievous and melancholic places.
Clément's photographs displace the viewer, disrupting their perception of 'real' or 'unreal', 'staged' or 'un-staged'. His theatres become a place for him to freely construct a site for play and an area of experimentation. Manipulated and constructed images provide selective reference points to the real world, making it increasingly difficult for viewers to understand their position within that world and thus creating a displaced sense of certainty.
Clément has entered many collections including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, The Geffrye Museum, Vivendi Universal, BnF (Bibliotèque Nationale de France), Bouygues Immobilier and The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
His photographs have also been exhibited in the Jerwood Space, Bloomberg's Art Futures, the Architectural Association, the RIBA Gallery, the Geffrye Museum and recently at Forster Gallery in London. In addition, he has had shows in Paris at Magda Danysz Gallery and in Madrid, with Galeria Fruela.
Clément was born in Paris and lives and works in London.
