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Thomas Devaux, born in 1980 in Marcq-en-Barœul (North), is an artistic photographer from France. He lives and works in Paris.

n 2011, he won the «Bourse du Talent #46 (2011)» competition, which was organized by Photographie.com, Nikon, Picto, Herez and Bibliothèque Nationale de France, that same year he was nominated for the “Prix Arte/Cutlog Art contemporain”.

Biography
Thomas Devaux became interested in photography at a young age. He experimented simultaneously with several artistic expression mediums such as photography, experimental filmmaking and painting and collages while studying film. His current work lies somewhere between photography and paintings, which allows him to pursue his research on sacred themes, profanity and isolation.

In January 2012 filmmaker David Lynch exhibited his photos during the inauguration of his new Paris nightclub, Silencio. For Le Figaro, “his portraits of women taken at fashion shows and art openings, which are then digitally reworked, have a timeless grace that denounces with elegance the ephemeral character of beauty... Madonnas damned for all eternity. ».

At the end of 2012 some of his photographs were included in several collections including those at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF)

His work was then exhibited in numerous countries like South Korea, China and Hong Kong at the beginning of 2013.

He was invited to present his work during the prestigious antiquity theatre soirées held during the last Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles 2013.





Artistic Process
In the words of Anne Biroleau-Lemagny, General Curator for 21st Century Contemporary Art Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), "Thomas Devaux is the author of several ambitious and complex series in which so many fundamental values like evolution in photography come into play. The photography’s index value cannot be denied. It is indeed a direct shot but a shooting immediately considered as a fragment of a future reconstruction." . One of his ways of working involves taking simple photos of models at fashion shows in Paris, and Milan or even of regular visitors at the openings of contemporary art expositions like at the FIAC or at the Paris Photos. He uses them as raw materials by transforming them thanks to digital editing software and making them barely recognizable.

According to French newspaper L'Express, he uses fashion and the art world to “recompose a universe filled with symbols”.

For Yann Datessen, a photography & crafts professor at the Sorbonne, Devaux’s characters are “ether beauties, flannel monstrosities, latescent Valkyries, patched-up ghosts that we sanctity and profane at the same time(...) Likes burned, worn-out, gone up in smoke, these new magnetic and electrified bodies have the boreal appearance of worrisome divinities. Spectral face, visage spectral, torsos with seven hands, female Cerberus, the bestial that Thomas evokes is filled with Dante-esque and Tararian metamorphoses... His works plays on the textures and articulates on the body’s erasing and reconstruction. This is a style that is his very own. It exists between the sacred and the profane.

Works

 * Attrition (2011-2013)
 * Usures (2009-2011)
 * Collages (2005-2012)

Exhibitions

Expositions collectives
 * MOSCOW (Photo fair): September 2013
 * RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE 2013 (Arles France: Theatre Antique): July 3, 2013
 * LOS ANGELES "MOPLA" (Month of Photography Los Angeles): Pro'jekt L.A. (Projection: April 2013).
 * EXHIBITION " Le Christ dans la Photographie Contemporaine" (Strasbourg), April 2013.
 * LILLE ARTFAIR (Contemporary Art Fair in Lille France) from March 7th till 10th March 2013.
 * DALI INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION (CHINA): August 2012.
 * ULSAN INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL (KOREA) September 2012.
 * SLICK (Contemporary Art Fair in Paris, Off FIAC) from October 17th till 21th October 2012
 * SALON DE LA PHOTO (Paris): November 2012.
 * Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), Attrition 2012
 * LILLE ARTFAIR (Contemporary Art Fair in Lille France) 2012.
 * CUTLOG (Contemporary Art Fair in Paris, Off FIAC) Paris, série Usures & Attrition 2011
 * 24H Project (Paris Photo) "Photo Off Fair" (off de Paris Photo) 2011

Solo Exhibitions
 * HONG KONG ( January 2013).
 * Silencio (Club David Lynch), (Paris), Attrition 2012
 * Galerie Gabriel & Gabriel (Paris), Usures & Attrition 2011

Awards and Nominations

 * WINNER of the Bourse du Talent #46 (2011)
 * NOMINATED for the Prix Arte/Cutlog Art contemporain 2011
 * NOMINATED for the « Coup de Cœur Photo », L’Express Style 2011

External link

 * SITE DE THOMAS DEVAUX