Matthieu Lavanchy, Jonas Marguet

Awarded

Matthieu Lavanchy / Jonas Marguet

'Neuf veltes remplissent un quartaut', photographic edition

Photography

Jury report

Disturbing Still Lifes
What do contemporary still lifes look like? The two Lausanne-based photographers Matthieu Lavanchy and Jonas Marguet reinterpret this long-standing issue. They have been asked to create a photo cycle based on associations from the stage play 'Obèse' (Obese). However, they thought that obesity was a sensitive issue; they certainly did not want to poke fun at the obese. For this reason, they decided to tackle the subject in the form of still lifes. The two designers envisaged a fictitious person whom they portray by arranging foodstuffs and other household items. The photographer duo, who completed their studies at the ECAL in Lausanne in 2008, has now realised nine idiosyncratically composed pictures. The first photo from 'Neuf veltes remplissent un quartaut' shows a table with a white tablecloth, two large loaves of bread, and a gourd vase with a rose. Thick smoked sausages hang into the picture suspended from a string, and onions, garlic and a burning candle can be seen. A classic still life then? Only at the first glance. For certain strange elements interfere: an oversized barbecue fork is stuck in one of the bread loaves, and a whitish, foamy substance reminiscent of fat is coming out of the other one. Other pictures show food even in unexpected places: crayfish, mussels and caviar on a dressing table, for example, which creates a very disconcerting effect. Finally, an image with hoses and funnels and a pumpkin-shaped glass jar from which a yellowish liquid is dripping. The association with the digestive process immediately suggests itself. The approach of Lavanchy and Marguet is a variation on the still life of old Dutch masters: whereas the old painters mainly showed fine foods in abundance, the heaped piles or liquids can no longer be unambiguously identified as food. Matthieu Lavanchy and Jonas Marguet cleverly present the unsavoury and confuse us with alienation effects.
Peter Stohler

Biography

Jonas Marguet
Born in
1982
Education
Photographer

Web

also in

Matthieu Lavanchy
Born in
1986
Education
Photographer

Web

also in