French photographer Alain Delorme is a rising star, someone to watch closely. He’s just been selected for the prestigious 2012 West Collection, picked as one of only 7 international artists to be featured in an upcoming exhibition from an online competition that attracted 2,650 artists from 80 countries.
These images are from his Totem series about couriers in Shanghai, overloaded with stacks of goods that create a form of sculpture. An exhibit is just ending at Galerie Cédric Bacqueville. The photos are art, not documentary, Delorme says, and were retouched to “create a feeling of strangeness.” (See interview about the series here)
Alain Delorme’s website, here.
A new exhibit of Totem runs through June in Shanghai, see here.
-All images from alaindelorme.com
Wonderful!
I agree. I would so like to see the original photos, to see exactly how he manipulated them. Either way, though, they’re fabulous.
Wow: what thrilling, er, totems! And, never before in my life have I seen such a bevy of tiny pink pigs, so beautifully corralled and ready to fly:) Wish I was in Shanghai ….
Yes, funny that piles of goods can be romantic, isn’t it? I’d love to try Shanghai, but I don’t know when that would be!
I really must make the jump to Shanghai too. My father was born there, in 1908, when it was a British Protectorate … I’d love to see this pulsating, modern metropolis with my own eyes. Not in time for the exhibition though, but hopefully I’ll get a report back from one or other of my Shanghai-based readers!
Love, love, LOVE these images. What a way to start my day… Cheers GAJ
So so delighted they had that impact. Enjoy the rest of your day.
We see so many overloaded ‘rickshaws’ in India, I think this sort of artwork is wonderfully creative and important at the same time
Interesting comment, because if you are able to read more about this artist’s thinking behind the series, he also thinks it makes an important point about the cultural accumulation of all those goods, and about the rickshaws that have to carry them, in order to serve the West. (Although he puts it much more eloquently than I just did, obviously)
Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts.
Reblogged this on Quieter Elephant and commented:
These photos reminded me of my time in Taiwan. I once saw a guy on a PUSHBIKE with a full height fridge/freezer balanced precariously across the back.
So whimsical…I don’t get the social commentary so much but I’m glad I don’t need to because they are plain beautiful images. Cheers.
There are so many of these trike and bike riders in Shanghai and the riders themselves should in my opinion be given a award for doing this work each and every day
…The images and highly manipulated and the payloads are over exaggerated!…However, they are nicely done and a wonderful form of art work that should be enjoyed. Regards Mark
I think if you look at his reviews, a great many of them share your view of the over-exaggeration. Glad you enjoyed them.