DAHMANE, PHOTOMONTAGES, 2003-2016.

From 18 May to 22 July 2016 - Galerie Claude Lemand

  • Dahmane, Circé, Chassériau.

    Circé, Théodore Chassériau, 2015. Original photomontage, printed on baryta paper, signed and numbered by the artist, 42 x 59,4 cm. Edition of 7 + 2 AP. © Dahmane. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

  • Dahmane, Yasmine, Eugène Fromentin.

    Yasmine, Eugène Fromentin, 2016. Original photomontage, printed by the artist on baryta paper, 42 x 59,4 cm. Signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 7 + 2 AP. © Dahmane. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

  • Dahmane, Capucine, Fernand Léger.

    Capucine, Fernand Léger, 2016. Original Photomontage, printed on baryta paper, 60 x 90 cm. Signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 7. © Dahmane. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

DAHMANE, PHOTOMONTAGES, 2003-2016.

Claude Lemand.
During 2015-2016, the Galerie Claude Lemand opened its doors to the world of con­tem­po­rary pho­tog­raphy for the first time and com­mitted to pro­moting four Parisian artists, including the French pho­tog­ra­pher DAHMANE, born in 1959, who fuses a great cre­ativity with a vast pic­to­rial cul­ture and who pro­duced from 2001 onwards some striking pho­tomon­tages from his own pho­tographs.

Jean-Louis Poitevin.
The dig­ital tech­nology of the 21st cen­tury opened a new door for Dahmane and enabled him to play with other images whilst at the same time, attributing a new force to his rash love for per­fec­tion of detail. The long hours spent on the bodies and decors allow him to con­front more his second pas­sion, that of com­po­si­tion. Each of his pho­tographs are truly and abso­lutely com­posed. What does this mean ? That the game he plays at, the provo­ca­tion of love he pro­duces, the shock between longing and desiring that he pro­vokes, are all sub­ject to his abso­lute taste for a strict bal­ance, the same that has obsessed painters for cen­turies. For him, taking pho­tographs is there­fore being loyal the great clas­sical cul­ture that his par­ents had exposed him to and that he ven­er­ates.

It was also expected that he paid tribute and amused him­self in con­fronting the great mas­ters, by inte­grating his own char­ac­ters. In his most recent body of work, in which he quotes Old Master paint­ings, he does not pla­gia­rize as he reveals the part of the unac­com­plished dream emerging from these mas­ter­pieces. The female body is often cel­e­brated in these works. By intro­ducing young women from today’s world, he voids the passing of time and opens a gateway for us towards an eternal pre­sent. Each of these pieces pays homage to beauty. Each of Dahmane’s works is not only a tribute to art and its his­tory, but also a cel­e­bra­tion of a new union, that brightens us up every time the threads of time con­verge in us with a braid of clean lines, forming a com­plete statue in which our visions and dreams are inter­woven.

Translated from French by Valérie Didier Hess

Copyright © Galerie Claude Lemand 2012.

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