From 2015, Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil (who was born in Paris in 1968, and lives and works between Paris and Rome), has started to dedicate himself to the realisation of portraits of Italian collectors, taking on the project which originated in France, which aims to honour their active, decisive role supporting contemporary creation.
Starting with the “Les Collectionneurs” series, shot in France in 2012, which assembles fifty photographic portaits of some of the more important French collectors, among whom Gilles Fuchs (president of the Association for the International Diffusion of French Art and the Marcel Duchamp Prize), Marie-Reine Taittinger, Sandra Muliez (president of the SAM art project), Antoine de Galbert (founder and president of Antoine de Galbert foundation-maison rouge), Daniel and Florence Guerlain (Guerlain foundation) and Francis Briest (president of Arcurial) who already made an exposition at the Café Flore in Paris, and at the Ricard Foundation of Contemporary Art, Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil wants to carry out a new series of portraits of Italian collectors who have always been, and will always remain, prominent figures in the contemporary art world.
In the Italian series, those wishing to adhere to the project will be able to choose from two typologies of portraits: either photographic, or on paper, based on the birth chart of the client. In the first case the collector will be photographed with his collection in the background.
The portraits will be made on commission, yet only the collector will decide when and where he wants to be portrayed. In order to realise his creation, Auguste-Dormeuil will go to the place chosen by the collector, and once the photograph is taken, he will give the customer a choice between two different shots. Every collector will be able to decide the size of the print and the frame type of the portrait.
The second typology of portraits will on the other hand be the fruit of a process going into another direction: it will portray the collector travelling in time. Going back to the day they were born and re-createing the astrological chart corresponding to their singularity as human beings: one sky, one life, one portrait. Through the birth date and place of the collector, the artist will re-construct on black paper the map of the stars, by piercing the back of the silver-papered base close to each star.
That is how the artist narrates this novelty of his project. The series “Star System” intends to show the astro-chart corresponding to the birthplace of the person. These portraits are an invitation to contemplate the serene beauty of stars, through which men try to guess a whole series of inscrutable omens.
The starry skies of these series ensemble show the singularity of the birth of a person, becoming “mirror skies” that narrate life without revealing it, in that unique instant in which destiny seizes the day.
For any other information or clarification, please contact me at the following e-mail address: egiovagnoni.arteealtro@gmail.com