When did your passion for photography started?
Jérôme Revon: When I was a teenager! I started to take photographs at 15 years old. At that time, I used to cut my black and white photos into strips so as to reconstruct them afterwards, one strip next to another. When I became a Canal+ producer, I somehow forgot about this aspect of photography.
Yet there is a hint of the beginnings of your photographic style on the
small screen?
JR: Indeed, I used this strips process for the credits of Anne Sinclair’s program, "7 sur 7" (TF1). At that time, I created my firsts "Splits" works, so named in reference to the television sector. In broadcasting, the term "split" refers to a screen divided into multiple images. The advent of digital technology was a revolution. When this digital technology could apply to photography, I naturally came back to it.
How would you define the return to photography?
JR: It’s a bit of a homecoming. On television, the images run, pass and are forgotten almost instantaneously. Whether for sports, news or entertainment, the next morning, another game,
another information or another variety chases away the previous images. Then, all these images quickly fall in the hands of the INA (French National Broadcasting Institute).
What is the difference between your photographer’s work and your
producer’s work?
JR: With photography, work is more artistic, more thoughtful and more personal. Traces remain. However, a TV producer is subject to orders, to people’s wishes, to charters... With photography, I have more freedom. I can build my own universe.
What inspires you?
JR: I’m often inspired by the urban side. I love architecture, I love streets, cities, town planning, New York or Barcelona. I appreciate modernism as much as the old things. I’m fascinated by the works of all the great masters and architects...
It looks simple to blend two photos…
JR: It’s quite the contrary, it is very complicated. Two images do not always go together, and two images do not always "make" a third one. Sometimes, I enjoy putting together 3 or 4 photos in one Split. In this way, I create completely different worlds that do not exist. These urban universes belong to me.
How do you proceed?
JR: There are no rules. I can photograph places for hours, I can go through a city from 8 am to midnight. I take thousands of pictures. Then I watch them on my computer, I print them, mix them, stick them… Sometimes, I have one picture in mind, and then I try to find another one which will match because its color. I realized that every city had a color. For me, New York is blue and yellow. London is red and black. Paris is a warm and amber city. One should first determine the color of the city before mixing the photos. That is the reason why I do not often mix cities together, except Paris and New York!
Did you think you would move so many people?
JR: My pictures touch a generation who also loves architecture and cities. It makes sense for many people. It’s probably the reason why it works. In the apartments, I offer a touch of color that brings joy of life.
Your photos do not put people forward?
JR: There is only one picture in which my wife and my son appear. Otherwise, when people appear, they are really small. It’s deliberate. That explains the fact that the small characters of my sculptures are stylized, deformed. My artistic work is now evolving towards sculptures and tiny characters.
Where do you draw your inspiration from to create your "Pop"
sculptures?
JR: I draw my inspiration from my pictures. While observing my sculptures, the public can rediscover the cutting up principle. These works are also the result of different strips mixed together...
How do you do?
JR: I start by painting ink lines on a Canson paper. Then I cut them out of brass. This desire to cut materials always remains: plexiglass and diasec for photos, brass and iron for "Pop" statuettes.
Is this the same artistic approach?
JR: This work is slightly different and has to be done in the workshop. The sculptures require more meticulousness, more work on materials, particularly because they are very small. We use saws, blowtorches, welders. Each statuette is like a little "gem". One can notice it thanks to the details. At the workshop, we usually say that brass statuettes are "Vendôme" inspired. The "Pop" statuettes are designed as collections, numbered from 1 to 5, of different sizes and colors: blue, black, purple... The result is not the opposite of the photographs’ result, but still it is very different.
Jérôme Revon: When I was a teenager! I started to take photographs at 15 years old. At that time, I used to cut my black and white photos into strips so as to reconstruct them afterwards, one strip next to another. When I became a Canal+ producer, I somehow forgot about this aspect of photography.
Yet there is a hint of the beginnings of your photographic style on the
small screen?
JR: Indeed, I used this strips process for the credits of Anne Sinclair’s program, "7 sur 7" (TF1). At that time, I created my firsts "Splits" works, so named in reference to the television sector. In broadcasting, the term "split" refers to a screen divided into multiple images. The advent of digital technology was a revolution. When this digital technology could apply to photography, I naturally came back to it.
How would you define the return to photography?
JR: It’s a bit of a homecoming. On television, the images run, pass and are forgotten almost instantaneously. Whether for sports, news or entertainment, the next morning, another game,
another information or another variety chases away the previous images. Then, all these images quickly fall in the hands of the INA (French National Broadcasting Institute).
What is the difference between your photographer’s work and your
producer’s work?
JR: With photography, work is more artistic, more thoughtful and more personal. Traces remain. However, a TV producer is subject to orders, to people’s wishes, to charters... With photography, I have more freedom. I can build my own universe.
What inspires you?
JR: I’m often inspired by the urban side. I love architecture, I love streets, cities, town planning, New York or Barcelona. I appreciate modernism as much as the old things. I’m fascinated by the works of all the great masters and architects...
It looks simple to blend two photos…
JR: It’s quite the contrary, it is very complicated. Two images do not always go together, and two images do not always "make" a third one. Sometimes, I enjoy putting together 3 or 4 photos in one Split. In this way, I create completely different worlds that do not exist. These urban universes belong to me.
How do you proceed?
JR: There are no rules. I can photograph places for hours, I can go through a city from 8 am to midnight. I take thousands of pictures. Then I watch them on my computer, I print them, mix them, stick them… Sometimes, I have one picture in mind, and then I try to find another one which will match because its color. I realized that every city had a color. For me, New York is blue and yellow. London is red and black. Paris is a warm and amber city. One should first determine the color of the city before mixing the photos. That is the reason why I do not often mix cities together, except Paris and New York!
Did you think you would move so many people?
JR: My pictures touch a generation who also loves architecture and cities. It makes sense for many people. It’s probably the reason why it works. In the apartments, I offer a touch of color that brings joy of life.
Your photos do not put people forward?
JR: There is only one picture in which my wife and my son appear. Otherwise, when people appear, they are really small. It’s deliberate. That explains the fact that the small characters of my sculptures are stylized, deformed. My artistic work is now evolving towards sculptures and tiny characters.
Where do you draw your inspiration from to create your "Pop"
sculptures?
JR: I draw my inspiration from my pictures. While observing my sculptures, the public can rediscover the cutting up principle. These works are also the result of different strips mixed together...
How do you do?
JR: I start by painting ink lines on a Canson paper. Then I cut them out of brass. This desire to cut materials always remains: plexiglass and diasec for photos, brass and iron for "Pop" statuettes.
Is this the same artistic approach?
JR: This work is slightly different and has to be done in the workshop. The sculptures require more meticulousness, more work on materials, particularly because they are very small. We use saws, blowtorches, welders. Each statuette is like a little "gem". One can notice it thanks to the details. At the workshop, we usually say that brass statuettes are "Vendôme" inspired. The "Pop" statuettes are designed as collections, numbered from 1 to 5, of different sizes and colors: blue, black, purple... The result is not the opposite of the photographs’ result, but still it is very different.
