artist/ Aït Ouarab
France
Fashion photographer for the greatest designers of our generation; Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Yves Saint-Laurent, Dior, Chanel… Stéphane Aït Ouarab also photographs what he calls “sumptuous stones” for Cartier, Chaumet and Bvlgari. With his camera he immortalizes the swaying of the models in sumptuous outfits on spectacular and sometimes improbable scenographies. He travels the world for shoots in idyllic settings, offering a Baudelairean immersion in a mode “where everything is order and beauty, luxury, calm and voluptuousness. “. But beyond this glamorous world, Stéphane Aït Ouarab was able to offer his photographic gaze a dual plastic approach through the Eyes-up and Reflets series.
In the Eyes-up series, Stéphane Aït Ouarab plays with the scriptwriting of the photos. Its variable geometry position directs its gaze with a view to formal scenography. By finding this formal and chromatic balance, he opens our eyes to new perspectives and places us in weightlessness between sky and earth. We are caught up in the prospect of escape. A breath of oxygen fills our lungs and we experience the physical sensation of a metaphysical flight.
In the Reflets series, Stéphane Aït Ouarab plays on the effect of surprise. Our gaze gets lost in these reflections where clues serve as keys to interpretation. We put on our detective raincoat and our eyes become magnifying glasses. Between surprise effects and mirror games, these works make our heads spin by putting our visual and intellectual perspectives on a sensory ride. At first glance, the figurative aspect grabs us, but there is something in the photo that disturbs us. The insight of our gaze gives us a detail which reveals to us the surreal aspect of the photo. The work is revealed, reversed and takes on meaning…
An artist at heart, Stéphane Aït Ouarab’s gaze opens us to another world that is both poetic and aesthetic. Heir to Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton and Sarah Moon, Stéphane Aït Ouarab constructs photos where beauty emanates from both order and the fleeting. Looking at them gives us an absolute moment of grace!
