Biography
Trained at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL), Jean-Vincent Simonet (1991) divides his time between Zurich, Bourgoin-Jallieu and Paris. Interestingly, his Paris studio is located next door to the Defrise agency, which specializes in set rentals. While the Defrise agency recreates reality, Jean-Vincent Simonet focuses on distorting it. His favorite subject? The “fake”, explored in all its forms and through the synthetic colors of the 60s, invented to attract the eye in advertising: garlands of lights in the shopping streets of Japan, fishing flies, decorative plastic flowers, and so on. Jean-Vincent Simonet employs an experimental technique to alter the colors and textures of his large-format photos, using the printing machines at his family's factory. He describes his process as an “inverted darkroom”: after printing, when the ink is still wet, he rinses and rubs it, adopting the gestures of a painter. He removes certain layers to transform the colors and obtain a kind of visual X-ray. The final, smooth surface contrasts with that of traditional paint, which thickens through superimposition. By drying slowly, sometimes even in the open air in the print shop parking lot, the print becomes waterproof. Through this experimental and unprecedented method, Jean-Vincent Simonet creates unique works that reinvent photography, distancing it from any attempt to represent reality or reproduce it.
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Selected exhibitions
2024 PARIS PHOTO (group show, main sector), galerie Intervalle (Paris, France)
2024 Heirloom, Foto Tallinn, curated by Isabella Van Marle
2024 Giardino di Acclimatazione, Museo Villa dei Cedri, Bellinzona, curated by Diana Pavlicek and Carole Haesnsler
2024 La rose est sans pourquoi, Centre Photographique (Rouen, France)
2024 Of Voices and herbs, Ensemble Books Marseille (Tallinn, Estonia)
2023 Lures, APRROCHE exhibition, Intervalle gallery (Paris, France)
2023 The Keys to The Factory - The Ravestijngallry (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
2023 Sapporo Lights, Messums (London, United Kingdom)
2022 Hirloom, PARIS PHOTO (Curiosa sector), Paris curated by Holly Roussel (Paris, France)
2022 Waterworks : book + exhibtion, COMMERCE, directed by Francesco Valtonina (Milan, Italy)
2022 HYBRIDS: Forging New Realities, Photo Espana, curated by Marina Paulenka (Mardid, Spain)
2022 Heirloom, Sentiment, curated by Philemon Otth & Olga Generalova (Zurich, Switzerland)
2022 Tableaux Suisse, Photo Phnom Penh, curated by Marie le Mounier & Beat Streuli (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
2021 Waterworks, Oddity & Paris Photo Fair, Paris curated by RVB BOOKS
2021 HYBRIDS: Forging New Realities, Melkweg, Amsterdam curated by Marina Paulenka
2021 Le Jardin Enchanté, Festival ALT+1000, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer (le Locle, Switzerland)
2021 Whirling Coils, Studiolo, curated by Julie Richoz & Charles Nègre (Paris, France)
2021 Mechanical Paintings, Gmunden PhotoFestival, Gmunden curated by Beda Achermanm
2020 Wild Thing, Museum für Gestaltung, curated by Karin Gimmi (Zurich, Switzerland)
2020 POV9, Artemis Fontana, curated by Pauline Beaudemont (Paris, France)
2019 SITUATIONS/ Mechanical Paintings, Fotomuseum, Winterthur curator: Doris Gassert
2019 Quand l'air devient électrique, CPG, Geneva curated by Marco Poloni
2019 Festival International de Mode et de Photographie curated by Raphaelle Stopin (Hyères, France)
2019 Fun&Fury, Performance Night, Cabaret Voltaire, curated by Philippe Cron (Zurich, Switzerland)
2018 Loading... Works from the collection, FOAM, curated by Mirjam Kooiman (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
2018 In Bloom, Webber Represent, curated by Bruno Ceschel (London, United Kingdom)
2018 In Bloom, book launch and installation, NYABF, curated by Bruno Ceschel (New York, USA)
2018 Inauguration, artist residence La Becque, La Tour-de-Peilz, directed by Luc Meier
2018 Swiss Design Awards (Basel, Switzerland)
2018 Fever Dreams, Webber Represent, curated by Jamie Shaw (London, United Kingdom)
2017 Dimitri, XBANKxFOAM, directed by Kim Knoppers (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
2017 Swiss Design Awards (Basel, Switzerland)
2017 Fuori catalogo, Fondazione Vico Magistretti curated by Anniina Koivu, Davide Fornari, Francesco Zanot (Milan, Italy)
2017 Trash can for heart-People have no soul, Fotofestiwal, Lodz curated by Augustin Rebetez
2016 Making Memeries, Offprint, Tate Modern, curated by Bruno Ceschel (London, United Kingdom)
2016 Maldoror Extended, Beaconsfield Gallery, curated by Mirjam Kooiman (London, UK)
2016 Skeuomorphic, Festival Circulations, Le 104, Paris Maldoror Extended, FOAM Talent, De Markten, curated by Mirjam Kooiman (Brussels, Belgium)
2015 Maldoror Extended, FOAM Talent, Atelier Néerlandais, curated by Mirjam Kooiman (Paris, France)
2015 Maldoror Extended, UNSEEN festival, curated by Mirjam Kooiman (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
2015 Maldoror, Foam 3H, curated by Kim Knoppers (Amsterdam)
2015 Foam Talents, Mercatorplein Parc, curated by Kim Knoppers (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
2015 Swiss Design Awards (Basel, Switzerland)
2015 Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum (Winterthur, Switzerland)
2014 L'art se livre, Musée des Beaux-Arts, under the direction of Nathalie Herschdorfer (Le Locle, Switzerland)
2014 ECAL Photography, Gallery Carla Sozzani, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer & Milo Keller (Milan, Italy)
2014 ECAL Photography, Corso Como Gallery, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer & Milo Keller (Shanghaï, China)
2013 ECAL Photography, ELAC, under the direction of Nathalie Herschdorfer & Milo Keller (Lausanne, Switzerland)
2013 ECAL Photography, Galerie Azzedine Alaïa, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer & Milo Keller (Paris, France)
2013 Sharks Eat Monkeys, Galerie Urgent Paradise, curated by Maya Rochat (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Awards
2019 Finalist for the Hyères Fashion and Photography Festival Prize (Hyères, France)
2018 Winner of the Swiss Design Award, awarded by Soutien relève photographique, Pro Helvetia
2017 Winner of the Swiss Design Award
2017 Nominated for the Paul Huf Prize
2017 Nominated for the Prix Voies Off (Arles, France)
2016 Nominated for the Prix Paul Huf
2015 Winner of the Swiss Design Award
2015 selected for the FOAM Talent
2015 selected for Pla(t)form, Fotomuseum (Winterthur, Switzerland)
Artist's books
2021 Waterworks, published by RVB Books, 80 pages, hard cover, 30 copies, inkjet print on plastic
2021 Whirling Coils, self-published, 56 pages, soft cover, 1000 copies, offset printing
2018 In Bloom, self-published by SPBH Editions, 132 pages, soft cover, 1000 copies, offset printing
2014 Maldoror, self-published, collection of 6 booklets, 200 copies, soft cover, offset printing
Collections
Swiss Post
Vontobel
Saphir Foundation
FOAM
Mirabeau Foundation
LUMA
Musée de l'Elysée
private collections
Education
2014 Bachelor's degree in photography at ECAL (Lausanne, Switzerland)