PHOTOFAIRS SHANGHAI

21 September - 23 September 2018
Booth D21
Shanghai Exhibition Center

Galerie DUMONTEIL is pleased to announce its 5th consecutive participation of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai featuring works by Belgian artist Henk van Rensbergen and French artist Eric Pillot. Marking the 5th anniversary of the fair, it is worth pointing out that Henk Van Rensbergen’s works are shown in China for the very first time, while new works by Eric Pillot will also be the highlight of the exhibition.

Henk van Rensbergen (Brussels, 1968) is a Boeing 787 airplane pilot and a photographer. He takes pleasure to explore the empty buildings of our times. His “Abandoned Places” series depicts the silent beauty and the macabre decay of these places, while sometimes revealing their secrets. Many consider Van Rensbergen as one of the founding fathers of the “urban exploration” movement. In his latest project “No Man’s Land”, Van Rensbergen creates an imaginary anthropomorphic world where mankind has disappeared and only animals inhabit, showing undeniably human behavior...

Similar to the question regarding the fate of humanity raised by French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour in his book Where to land? (Où atterrir?), Van Rensbergen’s work empathises the pain of human survival through the perspective of animals when confronted with the ongoing “sixth extinction” of the planet.

His work and his devotion to photography have been widely covered by various medias around the globe, including broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, web pages. His works are featured in various museum exhibitions, including the MIAT Museum, Ghent, Belgium (2007); the Museum of photography, Aalst, Belgium (2009); the M Museum in Leuven, Belgium (2013); Musée de la Poste, Paris, France (2013); the Concert Hall Bruges, Bruges, Belgium (2017), etc. The Belgian Publishing House Lannoo has published six catalogues for his two series, “Abandoned Land” and “No Man's Land”. Limited signed copies of both catalogues are released in China for the first time during PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai.

Born in 1968, Eric Pillot is a French contemporary photographer acknowledged by several prominent photography awards. In 2012, the aritst won the prestigious HSBC Photography Awards supported by the French Ministry of Culture for his “In Situ” series, which are based on animal, architecture and poetry. In 2014, he was awarded the best photographer Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, who also funded the completion of the “In Situ” series in the US. In 2016, the artist’s works won the Jury Prize of the Salon National des Beaux Arts and the Jean Larivière Award, which were later exhibited at the Carrousel du Louvre. His work has been widely reported by media both in France and abroad. Since 2008, his work has been exhibited in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.

“In Situ”, his first catalogue was published by Actes Sud in 2012, and prefaced by Serge Tisseron. In 2015, La Pionnière published his second catalogue, “In Situ II”, prefaced by Dominique Janvier. In May 2017, La Pionnière published Eric Pillot's new series, “Horizons”, accompanied by an article from the famous French writer Amina Danton. A limited edition of the catalogue “Horizons”, signed and numbered, are also available during the fair.
PRESS