PUJADE-LAURAINE, Gregoire - The Significant Savages

Background information

"In this age in which what we call 'social networking' has probably become the main vehicle for photography, 'The Significant Savages' presents a foray into the way the 'profile image' is used to sum up one’s personality, particularly when it avoids showing one’s face or body. The photo volume 'The Significant Savages' exploits an arbitrary selection of fb profile images in which alternative artefacts are represented instead of the person: seascapes, forests ; dogs and horses and cats ; cars, bikes or fancy boats; cities, socks and shells, galaxies." (© RVB, 2011)

Content, book review

"Like many contemporary artists, such as Erik KESSELS, Peter PILLER, Penelope UMBRICO and others, who are equal parts editor and artist, Gregoire PUJADE-LAURAINE has used the vast riches of online imagery to create a body of work and that says something about the world and how we use images. Like the best work in this genre of internet image appropriation, the work transcends its immediate kitsch quality and subject matter through Gregoire PUJADE-LAURAINE's incisive edit and the deeper questions the work asks. Although it might be easy to make fun of the images enclosed, we all use images to communicate something about ourselves. We are all bound, even in complete opposition, to the clichés and tropes of self-representation. The hopes and desires invested into our online selves reflect not only our own dreams, but also the aspirations we are taught to represent by the culture we live in, the media we consume, the friends we have and the images we consume and disseminate both online and off. While this book, 'The Significant Savages', is not for everyone, fans of similar work and admirers of smart, but funny, conceptual work will enjoy this well-designed book." (© Adam Bell, in: photo-eye)

About the French phootgrapher, Gregoire PUJADE-LAURAINE

Photo books by Gregoire PUJADE-LAURAINE