THOMAS FONTAINE48 bd de la Vil lette 75019 Paris, France

+33 6 63 56 03 31 / co nt a c t @ t h o m a s fo nt a i n e. o rg

Invisible Photogram. Diasec c-print 50 x 60 cm, 2010

The work of artist Thomas Fontaine makes the supernatural trivial and conversely, what seems natural to us unusual and strange, even surreal. At the core is a belief in a likeness between natural and supernatural that transcends the day-to-day routine where he finds his inspiration. An attitude close to that of science, when it devotes itself to inventories and taxonomy, applying a rationalizating discourse and reasoned categorizing onto aberrations and monstrous details.

On the border between science and beliefs, Thomas Fontaine’s photographs question the interaction between social and political environments and visual conventions and representations. Also how setting up a representation of nature leads us to doubt our visual perception, of the relevance of photography.

Thomas Fontaine explores the relationship that man entertains with reality and its representation. He questions the documentary value of photography, handles the borders between reality and imaginary in order to extract plausible fictions from it.

RuinInstallation, silver prints on flint stones. Different sizes, 2014

In 1896, Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered that photographic plates placed next to uranium salts were printed without having been exposed to light : this material emits radiations who would a year later be named radioactivity by Marie Curie.

On the geological scale, archeology tells us that the use of uranium will probably be one of the most sustainable remains human activity in the twenty-first century will leave behind (along with a few stone monuments and bronze or ceramics items). The Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, as well as the problem of decommissioning nuclear power plants raises questions about the technological and ecological relics we leave to our descendants.

Based on these questions, the installation « Ruin » is the partial, fragmented footprint of a negative photography of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Each stone is a fragment of the photograph. The whole lapidary restores the image as a landslide or a deposit, a relocated imprint of the ruin of Fukushima.

Presentation at the art school « Beaux Arts de Paris Cergy. 2015

Cells12 photographs shoot in zoo of Berlin. Digital projection, variable dimensions. 20076 RA 4 prints 50 x 75 cm. 2010

Installation, 6 photos on aluminium 50 x 75 cm. 2010

Exhibition «Palais des glaces», &nbsp. Galerie du Bellay, Rouen 2007

Winter or flood.Inkjet prints 60 x 80 cm Diasec and frame , 2015

Cryonics and cryopreservation (often wrongly confused with cryogenics) is a method for preserving humans or animals whose survival can not be obtained through medical means using very low temperatures, in the hope of resurrecting them later. In the current state of medical knowledge, the process is not reversible. In Russia, the cryopreservation of the head or brain of a patient costs $ 10,000 and its whole body upwards of $ 30,000. In the United States, it can only be performed on individuals with a signed death certificate, on the condition that clinical death is recent. Cryonics is today still viewed with scepticism by most scientists and doctors. However, among its advocates are many researchers who hope for major advances in medicine, particularly in the use of nanotechnologies to help with the regeneration of tissues and organs at the molecular level.

Unlike humans, certain frog species withstand being partly frozen. They can survive being frozen for weeks with 65 % of their body water turned into ice. They can even survive after being cooled to -8 ° C. At this temperature, they no longer breathe, their heart stops and their legs become brittle like glass.

L’hiver ou le déluge, N° 10, 2015.

L’hiver ou le déluge, N° 9, 2015.

«Do you think flying in the sky is magic?» Or the direction of the fall. 2013Wood, viewer and Ektachrome 150 x 26 x 36 cm.

The viewer lights up a 6x6 slide representing Binzuru (Pindola Bharadvaja) from the Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan. Pindola was one of four Arahats placed by Buddha on the four cardinal points to propagate the Buddhist law. Binzuru is said to have excelled in the mastery of occult and psychic powers and these representations are deemed to have healing powers.The Binzuru phrase « Do you think flying in the sky is magic ? » comes from a tale that recounts how Binzuru was berated by Buddha after inappropriately using his powers to fly through the air to impress simple and ignorant people.The piece of wood is an undercut made by loggers in a tree to guide its fall.

Exhibition «climbing a mountain started in the living room.» PLOT HR Rouen. 2013

The RhinocerosC-print 135 x 180 cm, 2012

The installation consists of a small stage and an area enclosed by a large black curtain called «  cabinet des matérialisations » (« materialization dark room ») from which exits a naked and masked woman-medium. On the left is a ceramic sculpture of a brain shaped rhinoceros horn on a stand.Inspired by a painting by Pietro Longui, « Rhino », which shows the animal exhibited at the Venice Carnival in 1751. The animal, the first rhinoceros ever seen in Europe, was a female named Clara, whose horn its trainer had sawn off.

Horn brain (detail)Ceramic saddle wood 120 x 30 x 30 cm, 2012

MediumPlaster casts, 20 x 25 x 8 cm 2011

The sculptures entitled « Medium » evoke the hands of a healer-magnetizer as a source of power. The hands, arranged on the table in a circle are meant to create a « well » in which the spirits are supposed to fall, whereas the magnetic hands, in contrast, appear as a « source » of power. Between healing power or hypnosis (authoritative movement, descending, physical) and call to the spirits (deferential movement, ascendant, spiritual), these two gestures symbolically define the existential and metaphysical tensions that pervade he spiritualist universe throughout.At the beginning of the 20th century, casts of human limbs of psychokinetic (the power of mind over matter) origin created by a medium were meant to provide « objective » and « irrefutable » evidence of the reality of the ectoplasm.

Orbs / Table 1 and 2, 2013.Multiple, pigment print on paper 80 x 100 cm.

To some, orbs are whitish circular spots that sometimes appear on photographs, caused by an optical phenomenon of reflections on the photographic lens. To others, orbs are « spirits » comparable with ghosts and angels.Since its emergence in the 90s, with the popularization of digital cameras, this belief still runs to this day, so much that websites were created to reference their shapes, dates and places of apparitions. (Edition « orbs »).

Exhibition « Spirits», espace Mezcla, Rouen 2013

ORBS Format 16 x 23 cm of 52 color pages, softcover. 2013

Orbs is a documentation. This edition is part of a group of graphic works from my various internet searches for an exhibition or a work (Brainbow, Ruin ...)

X- RaysAudio video 9 minutes, 2010With collaboration of Lyllie Rouviere choreographers.

In a time when body scanners are used in airports, when our civilisation of the eye is based on an ideology of transparency and the fully visible, Thomas Fontaine present with «X-Ray» an extraordinary invention, an ectoplasm machine. The system comprises a giant negatoscope powered by a shadow generator.Consisting of a sole sequence shot, X-Ray shows us the appearance and disappearance of an image. This representation draws its inspiration in the myth of the birth of art as described by Pline the Elder as well as a tradition that draws us closer to photography, physiognomist Gaspard Lavater’s silhouette machine.

Exhibition «Spirits», Espace Mezcla 2013.

SpiritsInstallation, 12 plaster casts and wooden table 75 x 90 x 90 cm. 2011

Research with Auras portraits «All power is in you», “ Bookcase of concrete answer” and a digital slideshow “Occults Documents”,. 2010

Exhibition «All power is in you». Florence Léoni gallery 2012

The truth of a soul.

Thomas Fontaine functions as an electromagnetic field. Just like these two photographic portraits (Portrait aura No. 3, 2010 & Thomas, 2011), one of which is empty and the other filled with the aura of the person captured using the technique of the AuraCam, it navigates the invisible and paradoxical area that connects a negative pole to the positive pole. Invisible and paradoxical, as if one puts them in tension, that is, compare the two portraits, one realizes that the so-called realistic portrait compels one to imagine what the person is, while the aura portrait shows what emanates from it. This gap between the invisible invested by the imaginary and the invisible « scientifically » unveiled is what is presently put into perspective, namely the unwavering and mad belief of photography in its ability to reveal the truth of a soul… Without taking sides for one or the other way to attain this goal. Make the spirit visible — is it a question of pose, framing, light, artistic instinct ? Or, if we follow the auric approach, a technological issue, whose results leave little room for interpretation — the analysis of the colours in the aura follows a very specific protocol — which can thus be expressed with a somewhat scientific meaning ? The question remains open. — Jonathan Chauveau

Installation «bookcase of concrete answer», 12 photographs 50 x 60 cm. 2010

Installation «All power is in you», 5 photographs 60 x 60 cm. 2010

Occults DocumentsSlideshow Auras Crossfade with digital voice mentioning the key dates and figures related to electromagnetism.

The green light 17 digital prints, 22.5 x 40 cm, 2009.

Script of a road-movie in New-York City consisting of signs of a phenomenon of pixillating degradation in green luminescence energies, culminating at the Yankee Stadium.On some of these images appears an object identified as a spaceship or a giant scalpel whose substance seems unaffected by the phenomenon, on the contrary… There seems to be a relation between cause and effect.

Exhibition «Winter or the Deluge» .Nathalie Obadia gallery, Paris. 2011

Phantoms of Paradise

These images are exact representations of constellations in which planets have been replaced by genetically-engineered flies. These « vinegar flies » or Drosophila are intended for laboratory experiments in genetics, namely the study of mutations consecutive to DNA alteration. The genetic simplicity of these flies, their ease with which they multiply make them an ideal material for experimentation. These homeotic (bearing altered genes) Drosophila were bought as larvae. Once they hatched, the flies were put to sleep with ether, and arranged in the shape of a constellation on a glass plate. At the border between science and belief, it’s a cosmological reading of the hopes in medical genetics and the science-fiction fantasy of the mutants from outer space.

Constellation of Unicorn / Gallery g-module, ParisDigital print on canvas 3 x 2,5 m. 2007.

Constellation of Ram / Exhibition Free plan in Villa Perrotte. DIEP Festival, Modernism. DieppeLambda print 90 x 120 cm. 2011

Beauty and the BeastDigital prints, 50 x 60 cm. 2007

Stereoscopic images using anaglyph glasses. the Beauty is « la Part-Dieu », a Swiss reliquary in silver, and the Beast is a flayed figure (injected human head) by Honoré Fragonard, French anatomist. They represent the dualism between science and religion, the relation between body and mind, pivotal question in the philosophy of mind, in the mind-body problem.

Natural History8 RA 4 print 80 x120cm and slideshow make of 96 photographs taken in different museums in Europe.

This slide show is a fiction at the border between science and belief, inspired by phylogenesis (family tree of the evolution of the living organisms).Research on visual and ideological codes scientific institutions (museums, zoos ...) on the feelings that the collective imaginary relationship with knowledge - experience of nature.Representations in the museums of natural history have shown socio-political links between man and nature. Since the XIX century, museums of natural history, in an attempt to get across their message to the greatest number of people have developed gravitational installations to display their science: dioramas, settings where taxiderm animals are presented in their natural habitat made from papier maché against painted trompe-oeil backgrounds. It represents museum’s graphic translation of what we are used to referring to as the “setting in context “of collections but especially the evolution of its own representation, of its vision of the living world.

Exhibition «A for Anatomy». Duchamp gallery, Yvetot. 2003

VivariumInstallation,18 c-prints 20 x 30 cm 2004

Exibition «Naturalia» Arthothèque of St Priest, 2013

Dégâts des Eaux / Flood damage 3 c-prints 10 x 15 cm. Edition landscape format 21 x 25 cm of 68 pages. 2011.

Photographs insurance after a flood June 16, 1997 in Saint Martin de Boscherville(76) France. This document is a geographic narrative built on successive camera shots. The first taken inside my parent’s house, followed by those shot at a farm and the surrounding fields, finishing with images of a forest. An investigation made from the inside out, against the current, to reach the source.

THOMAS FONTAINE Born in 1970 in Rouen, France.Lives and works in Paris.

www.thomasfontaine.org / contact@thomasfontaine.org

Individual exhibitions

2013 Spirits. Space Mezcla, Rouen.2012 All power is in you. Florence Léoni gallery, Paris.2009 See nothing coming, Gallery ma collection. Paris.2005 Quality which is densely. &nbsp, The General. Paris.2001 Low Tech Policy. Corentin Hamel Gallery, Paris.

Collective exhibitions (extrait)

2016 Quelle énergie mettons-nous à transformer les choses, Latrap, Paris. France2015 Couleur(s) d’automne. Festival Land Art & Art environnemental, Annemasse. France2014 Les jardins réinventés. Maison des arts de Brompton, Canada. 70 combats pour la Liberté. Galerie Le Radar, Bayeux. France. Puzzles & co. Galerie Störk. Rouen. France.2013 Naturalia. Artothèque of Saint Priest. Lyon.2012 Our need for consolation is impossible to satisfy. Florence Léoni gallery, Paris. Top chrono. rrouen, Rouen.France. Blue. Florence Léoni gallery, Paris. France. The ascent of the mountain began in the living room. PLOT HR, Rouen. France. Brainbow II. Bertrand Grimont gallery, Paris. Brainbow I. La Chalet, Paris.2011 Mezcla. Espace d’art contemporain. Rouen Free plan . Villa Perrotte . DIEP Festival , Modernism . Dieppe. France . Winter or deluge . Nathalie Obadia gallery , Paris . France .2010 Artificialia Naturalia , Exotica , Scientifica . La Mire gallery, Orleans. France . Video Salon. Nuit Blanche 2010. Point Ephemere , Paris . France . Zero -crossing , in the General Manufacture, Sèvres . France . Invisible ? Biennale Art of Belleville. Workshop Sambre et Meuse . Paris , France .2009 You can not see it coming , my collection Gallery. Paris . France . Group show , MT Project Room , Slick Art Fair 09 . 104 , Paris . France . We are all women, my collection Gallery. Paris . France . January 69 A2, Commissioner Eric Stephany and Xavier Mazzarol ‘ d. Paris . France . Video Lounge 4 Duplex/10m2 . Sarajevo, Bosnia -Herzegovina.2008 One + One. General in Manufacture, Sèvres . France . Silkcut , &nbsp. Stand Gallery, Lyon. France . Second Life , &nbsp. General in Manufacture, Sèvres . France .2007 Armageddon . &nbsp, General in Manufacture, Sèvres . France . Ice palace, &nbsp . Du Bellay Gallery, Mont St Aignan . France . Import / Export, &nbsp. Art Biennale of Dieppe / Migration . Dieppe. France . Natura Morte / Still Life. Pole Image Gallery, Rouen. France . The iceberg . Palais de Tokyo, Paris . France .2006 Fortress. &nbsp, The General . Paris . France . Mobile Studios at Sofia for Public Art Lab Berlin. Bulgaria. Under construction . &nbsp, The General . Paris . France .

2005 Quality which is dense . &nbsp, The General . Paris . France . Tertiary area . &nbsp, The General . Paris . France .2004 Pictures -architecture and urbanism . Visual Arts Festival. Catches, Royan. France .2003 The cabinet of curiosities. André Malraux Center, Rouen, France . A as Anatomy . Gallery Duchamp, Yvetot . France .2001 Anywhere collectif politique. Galerie Corentin Hamel, Paris. France .2000 Kunstkreuz, Frankfurter Allee, Berlin, Germany. Anywhere collectif politique. Corentin Hamel Gallery, Paris. France . Taxidermé kitsch . Of Image Arts Festival month in Dieppe. France .

Collections

- Awarded Grant by DRAC (Regional Contemporary Arts Management) Haute-Normandie, France.- FRAC of Haute-Normandie. France (Regional Contemporary Arts Fund)- Permanent Showroom, Duchamp Gallery, Yvetot. France.- Artothèque of Saint Priest France.- Represented in various private collections.

Bibliographies (extrait)

2015 “MA” photographic book large square format 30 x 30 cm 68 pages.2014 « Brainbow». Edition. Format 15 x 23 cm de 54 pages couleur, couverture souple. 2013 « Orbs». Edition. Format 15 x 23 cm de 52 pages couleur, couverture souple. 2012 The side galleries. Beaux Arts magazine nº 331, janvier 2012.2011 « Dégâts des eaux». Book of photographies, Blurb publication. 68 pages, 21 x 25 cm. 2010 First cover and portfolio in Photos Nouvelles nº 61. France.2009 Article of Jean-Louis Poitevin/ Lacritique.org «Representation with a scalpel.»2007 Exhibition catalogue Biennale Art Architectury and landscape, Dieppe. 2007. Armageddon, Claire Moulène, Les Inrockuptibles N°629, december 2007.2006 60-Grants of Creation Basse and Haute-Normandie.. Edition DRAC Basse and Haute-Normandie. The culture of the alternative, Mathilde Villeneuve and David Sanson, Mouvement N°39. Exclusive! &nbsp will take part in the Mobile Studios Sofia, Aboba N°1 april 2006. Galleries rotate around of Le Plateau, Henri-François Debailleux, Libération Thursday, March 23.2005 Contemporary art at every turn, Le nouvel observateur N°2130.2003 A comme Anatomie 1 and 2, exhibition catalogues, Gallery Duchamp Publishers.2001 Article of Camille St-Jacques in Post “the market and critical function “. Nova magazine, special file: “chacun son underground “ n°83.2000 Le Kitsch, exhibition catalogue. Arts Festival of Image month in Dieppe. France

Projects

Organization of exhibitions with Rada Boukova and Shanta Rao. 2010/2012Co-founder of &nbsp, group and space of contemporary art./ La Générale. Paris 2005/2008

Education

2015 Master of art with honor (Diplôme national Supérieur d’Expression Plastique, option Art). 1995-1992 French National School of Technical Studies of Paris (EFET), Bachelor with Distinction.