Par Lise Irlandes-Guilbault

Louis Cane, dans son atelier. En arrière-plan : Ève, Adam, Caïn et Abel sur la plage, huile sur toile, 1998, 190 x 180 cm.

-/ The story begins around a table under a pergola, with a writer, a printer and a photographer deciding to publish a book about local artists. Impressions d’ateliers (Studio Impressions) will be its title. Let’s meet that photographer, Jean-Michel Sordello.
-/ “This book has allowed meto express myself because it’s purely personal work,” states Jean-Michel Sordello. Although 25 years ago he abandoned his fine arts studies a Jew months before graduation, he has continued to frequent the art scenethrough his work for COTE. In fact it was in COTE that his first photos were published, thanks to Patrick Boussu who was one of his lecturers and also the printer of the magazine’s first issue. Sincethen his collaboration with COTE has brought him into contact with numerous people in the art world. Sordello himself has always sought to inject a “little grain” of artistry into his photos.

A tributeto art’s activists
It was during a friendly discussion with Patrick Boussu (the book’s coordinator) and writer Michel Franca that the idea of a book about artists germinated. So in the course of a year Sordello met and photographed 30 local artists, choosing to shoot them in relaxed, human poses since he did not want them to become “photographic subjects”, as is often the case with contemporary photography. Rejecting any specific graphic or aesthetic approach, he stroveto capture each studio’s atmosphere along with the artist working in it, so as to document as faithfully as possiblethe intense activity that goes on in these intimate places.

Light sensitive
The book Jeatures both the “old guard” of 70s artists and the new generation, so sketching a portrait of contemporary art in Nicetoday, with all its different trends and diverse aspects. Louis Cane, par example, appears as a rather a rustic character, his unstudied attitude and his figure bathed in the light shining on the painting exuding a definite strength. To Sordello this spontaneous photo symbolises “an artist touched by light”. And light is indeed a fundamental element in all the studios, marked by its presence or absence. A fundamental element too for a photographer who Jeels that “all these encounters have enriched me”.

Impressions d’ateliers, la création contemporaine sur la Côte d’Azur, Michel Franca (textes), JeanMichel Sordello (photographies) et Patrick Boussu (coordination). Édité et diffusé par l’association South Art. Imprimé avec le soutien financier de Gazelle Communication. 254 p., 40 € Une exposition regroupant les artistes présents dans l’ouvrage aura lieu du 22 septembre au 22 octobre 2012. Galerie Maud Barral, 16 quai des Docks, Nice. Rens. : 04 93 07 84 25 et www.galerie-maud-barral.com

www.cotemagazine.com - SEPTEMBRE 2012 | 29

© Jean-Michel Sordello