Jean-Vincent Simonet

n his Osaka series, Jean-Vincent Simonet creates a fragmented, electric portrait of a city caught between futuristic dreams and a chaotic present. Flickering neon lights, saturated alleyways, synthetic textures—Osaka becomes a mental landscape shaped by visual overload and global consumer culture. Inspired by Japanese street photography, Simonet doesn’t document; he drifts, captures, and transforms. This diptych is the first unique artwork from the series, which led to a publication in Louis Vuitton’s Fashion Eye collection and an exhibition in Osaka in 2025.

Simonet’s approach goes beyond traditional photography. Influenced by Chromatic Algorithms by Carolyn L. Kane, he manipulates the image as material. Using printing machines from his family’s factory, he produces large-format prints, then intervenes manually on the still-wet ink—rinsing, scrubbing, erasing. He calls this process a “reverse darkroom,” where color is altered and chance reintroduced. Each piece becomes a one-of-a-kind hybrid image, unstable and vibrant, where the artificial competes with the living.