ABOUT

Originally from Oise, Stefan Bodar now lives in the sum in France. His academic career led him to take an interest and study in particular the artistic process among people on the margins of society who have no artistic training but, for whom, art is a means of being in contact despite everything with the world, society and above all a way of existing. He began his artistic practice with abstract painting, already with the idea of pictorially transposing emotions into a direct style. Painting will introduce him to the composition of the image, then he will turn to photography which will allow him a more interactive work in the encounter with the other. He will put his eyes, his curiosity and his emotions to work. Several recurring themes then appear: the relationship to the other (human), to society, elsewhere and the trace of identity.

Through these themes, his style is anchored mainly by frontal views thus marking the confrontation of his gaze with reality. The wide-angle framing reflects the need to open up the space to reflection and to the impression of emptiness and strangeness that sometimes results from this. His shots also highlight a perspective, a horizon that invites the notion of the unknown. The use of fixed focal lengths and staging testifies to the importance given to the composition of the image. Like a canvas, the frame delimits an aesthetic and a specific emotion that reflects the artist's gaze. The refined compositions work on symmetry and arrange the different subjects in the environment or in relation to the environment, thus reinforcing the idea of a dialectic between the photographer, the subject, the other and the space.

Pure photographs, putting at a distance, indicate mistrust as well as curiosity and observation and therefore the need for contact. This is the whole purpose of his reflection on the place of each, neither too far nor too close. His shots are no less on a human scale, always at equal height with the subjects photographed, away from any judgment, the motivation is more the understanding and capture of humans and their environment.

His work was built and evolved from the memory of film photography. This development process where time brings value to the final result, conveys the memory of a reality that crosses time. Time stands still and each photo can be imbued with a certain poetry. This is what guides the artist, he claims that a photograph can be thought of, be constructed over time, be inhabited by emotion, be kept, be looked at.