Portable Portraits – 2010 Pascal Valu
Born in 1965 in Paris, studied Dramatic Art at Paris 8 University then, in 1985, continued his training at Brighton Polytechnic, Department of Art & Design (University of Brighton, Sussex, U.K.) Here he followed an Arts course which led him to discover photography. At first an artistic support, this rapidly became the very means of his artistic expression, as is revealed in his photographs of Central Europe (Berlin, Leningrad/St Petersbourg, Prague, Budapest…). His work on urban lanscapes was, moreover, recompensed in 1989 by the ‘Ilford Black & White Prize’ for his shot of the deserted interior of the former Greek embassy in Berlin.
After obtaining an Upper Second Class Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Expressive Arts, he addresses statuary and the male nude, on which his taste, lighting and setting skills bestow a singular dimension.
In 2001 his work radically changes direction. He uses colour, the 4x5inch chamber and makes large size prints (80x100cm). These photographs, reworked on computer, shift against a deliberately explicit setting.
In 2010 he decides to take yet another direction. It is here that is born the idea of a body of photography around the most emblematic object of our epoch: the mobile phone. He now explores new fields such as the statuary and the male nude, to which his taste and skill for lighting and staging bring a singular dimension.
Just as heterosexual photographers are inspired to capture the beauty they behold in women, so I shoot men. I claim this same inspiration of subject, even raise it as a banner. Should it be thought a virtue in one case and a vice in the other? If, as a viewer, I am moved by a photograph of a woman, why then
shouldn’t a heterosexual be moved by a picture of a man? Perhaps, if he is given the opportunity to see.. I practise ‘gay’ photography as others practise ‘heterosexual’ photography. To quote Andy Warhol’s famous words: “Yes, so what? ”
Such labels, if thought restrictive, simply
illustrate their users’ own narrow mind, don’t they? It is about time that remaining true to oneself and being clear about it, that barriers be brought down.
That is why I am keen on exposing my work in exhibition places for the general public.
“Having studied drama before photography, Pascal Valu works with his models as a director. He likes setting his models in a theatrical environment, titillating the viewer’s imagination, setting him free to play with each picture as he wishes.
Playing with humour as well as with computer processes, he places his nudes in allusive and suggestive artificial sets. Since 2000, he has used colour, exploring fiction, storybook and
modelling fantasy. He delights in fitting into and having the audience fit mentally into his compositions, whether of a real or virtual expression. His playful digressions do not oppose his appreciation of male anatomies which he has shot in B&W for quite some time or his landscapes of aging bodies celebrated by a concordant light. It is when he is inspired by the body that Pascal Valu gives his best, in close-ups, levitation, transparency or in reference
to a perpetual dream, as in Sex Libris.
His photographic body, once a standard celebration of masculinity without pretence, has developed into one of entertaiment or illusions.”
June 2007
Pierre Borhan, author “Hommes pour hommes”, a recent book on the Male nude 2nd Ed. Terres 2007
Portable Portraits
– Galerie Loic Vallée, Nantes, 2013
– Mediathèque Jacques Duclos, Pierrefitte, 2012
– Point Rouge Gallery, Paris, 2011
Portraits / Color
In the background
– Point Rouge Gallery, Paris, 2012
Male Nude / Color
Super-Positions
– Centre LGBT, Genève (Suisse), 2011
– La librairie Les Mots à la bouche, Paris, 2010
Male Nude / Color
Pathwork
– Le comptoir du Marais, Paris, 2006
Male Nude / Color
Spécial evening at Queen
– Le Queen, Club, Paris, 2002
Male Nude / B&W
CARRÉ
– Le Cargo, Angers, 2000
Male Nude / B&W
NUS
– Le Cid Café, Avignon, 1999
Male Nude / B&W
AUX AMOURS DÉçUS
– L’Opium Café, Paris, 1998
Male Nude / B&W
Errances d’Éros
– La Crique, Paris, 1997
Male Nude and Cityscape / B&W
NUANCES
– Le Club Quartier Latin, Paris, 1996
Male Nude / B&W
NUDE CLEAR
– The Globe Centre, Londres, 1996
Male Nude / B&W
TOMBÉS DES NUS
– Centre Gai et Lesbien, Paris, 1995
Male Nude and Statues / B&W
DOUBLE VUE
– Galerie Art´Médias, Lille, 1994
Male Nude and Cityscape / B&W
MIS A NUANCE
– Dialogai, Genève (CH), 1994
– Mann-O-Meter, Berlin (D), 1993
– Galerie “L´Autre”, Paris, 1993
Male Nude / B&W
Balcesti – Roumanie (Residency)
– Italian Cultural Isntitut, Bucarest, 2017
Male Nude / Color
Colection “Visible De Arte LGTBIQ”
– Festival MulaFest (IFEM), Madrid, 2017
Male Nude / Color
Hippopotame
– Point Rouge Gallery, Paris, 2012
Color image and installation
Plecare (Departure)
– Palatele Brancovenesti, Mogosoaia, Roumania, 2011
Skulls / Color – Curator Mihai Plamadeala
Fetiche
– Galerie Alonso Vidal, Barcelone, automne 2007
Male Nude / B&W – Curator Stéphane Breysse
C’est mon homme
– Schwules Museum, Berlin été 2002
Male Nude / Color – Passage à l’Acte
Dissimulation
– La petite Vertu, Paris 2001
Male Nude / B&W – Passage à l’Acte
Sex Libris
– Les Mots à la Bouche, Paris 2001
Male Nude / B&W – Passage à l’Acte
TÊtU TOUR 2000
– Opéra Bastille, Paris 2000
Male Nude / B&W – Passage à l’Acte
Oh LÀ LÀ !
– Schwules Museum, Berlin été 1998
Male Nude / B&W
Question de Genre 6
– Aéronef, Lille, Décembre 1997
Male Nude and GayPride / B&W et Couleur
NUS À L´AÉRONEF
– L´Aéronef, Lille, 1996
Male Nude / B&W
MOIS BIS DE LA PHOTO
– Galerie Nesle, Paris, 1995
Male Nude / B&W
FALLWALLFALL
– Institut Goethe, Paris, 1995
– Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (D), 1994
Cityscapes of Berlin / B&W
– Triangul’Aire 3, Paris 2002
– 4 post cards Édition Skowronski & Koch, Berlin, 1999-2001
– Trixx n°32 – Édition Groupe Illico, Paris, 1998
– MännerAkt 2 – Édtions Volker Janssen, Berlin, 1996
– Männer von hinten 2 – Édtions Volker Janssen, Berlin, 1995
– FallWallFall – Market In GmbH, Berlin 1994
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