Arnaud Montagard, a French photographer who has been living in the United States for over ten years, is a pure product of the street photographyWith numerous awards to his credit, including the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts Award in 2020, he approaches the country's geographical landscape as a vast playground and investigation, collecting and working with American clichés through the lens of an expatriate.
In the contemporary imagination, the United States and the Hollywood universe seem synonymous. In Arnaud Montagard's images, however, we (re)discover another facet of the country, tinged with the melancholic and adventurous spirit of a Jack Kerouac. The Road Not Taken, or the culture of the Western and its poetic cowboys in There is a silenceIn his series Slice of light, The city, as if drawn on a sheet of paper, takes shape and illuminates its passersby. The contrasts of color are striking. The scenes draw us into the poetry of everyday life. In recent years, however, Arnaud Montagard has adopted an increasingly documentary approach, but without losing the precision of his framing or his fascination with cinematic atmospheres. To his respect for his subjects and the people he photographs is added a stronger sense of individuality in those he illuminates. The slowness that emanates from his images conveys a feeling of gentleness in the relationships he cultivates with the places and their inhabitants. The deliberate pace of the exchange and the gentleness of the listening thus transport us to a timeless universe, where reality meets cinematic myth.
Ana Bordenave
United States – New York