4th PLACE WINNER :: Rodolphe Simeon / Canada

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Artist Statement :: Rodolphe Simeon is born in France and is now living between Paris and Vancouver, Canada. He has been doing photography for the past 3 years and has been published worldwide ever since. His inspiration comes from classical painting and surrealism. "I’m really influenced by classical paintings (from Renaissance to the 19th century) and all what I’m doing is connected to that. That’s my real inspiration. My favourite painters are Da Vinci, Jacques-Louis David, Wermer, Rembrandt, Carabaggio, etc. In classical painting, the light is really the BIG thing. And I try to give that type of ambiance in my pictures. I know how to draw in the classical style and it helps me when i try to understand light or manipulating it. I like the way classical paintings deal with reality. Most people think that classical paintings are “realistic” but that is definitely not true. Classical painting pretends to reproduce reality. Can we believe that the portrait of the French King Louis XIV (by Hyacinthe Rigaud) shows the King in his “reality”? No, It merely shows the idea of the King. The decorations, symbols, and personality depicted in the painting is a pretend game. As a conclusion, the “realistic” portrait is a major twist of reality. And I really do the same thing with photography. What I also like is that sometimes, as people of the 21st century, we cannot really understand all the true meanings of these paintings because the messages are connected to the culture of that time. But we can still feel the heaviness of symbolism. I absolutely love that mystery. I love to feel things when I don’t really understand them." > Visit artist's website