Jean-Marc Bustamante's Exhibition Catalogue

For the opening of the first retrospective exhibition of one of the leading contemporary French artists Jean-Marc Bustamante shown in the halls of the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation within the framework of the "Year of Russia and France, 2010", an illustrated catalogue in French and Russian has been issued.

Each work in the catalogue is accompanied by a brief comment by Bustamante explaining the background and motivation for his creation. This technique successfully matches the organizers' task of bringing the master's art closer to the public and making it more comprehensible not only for connoisseurs and critics, but also for a wide range of visitors and readers.

Bustamante's attempts at "making photos worth of paintings" and his reflections on the potential of photography, since 1977s, have led to the creation of "large-scale paintings", which brought the author the world’s fame.

In the period of 1977-1982 Bustamante created more than a hundred colour "Photographic paintings" of large size (103X130), printed in a single copy. Those artworks became the prototype of the "plastic photograph" objects that became a phenomenon at the end of the last century. A striking example of this trend in his art is "Cypress" series, presented at the exhibition on a large scale and reflected in the catalogue, showcasing the crown leaves curtains, that is completely filling the photographic space.

The "Photographic paintings" inspired Bustamante to create the first sculpture ensembles combining photography and sculpture. Those objects were seen as are a "continuation of photographic worlds" (of the works, included in the catalogue - "Eindhoven", 1992).

The recent works in the genre of landscape painting are represented by large photographic series taken in Switzerland and Japan in 2000s ("LP" series).

The latest directions of Bustamante's creative work include photographic prints and paintings on Plexiglas. From the catalogue the Reader will know that many prints on Plexiglas were created using original amateur photos from the Internet. Those photos were found in the stream of images, re- interpreted, ..., and turned into modern icons (the "Light" series, "Amanda and Lisa", 2008 and other works).

Paintings on Plexiglas are complicated by their conception and interpretation as well as by the techniques used. It is a complex creative experiment aimed at clarifying and demonstrating the possible combinations of colours in the picture, light reflection and the lightmodelling function of Plexiglas. (of the works, presented in the catalogue - "Okinawa", 2005 "Trophy" series, "Aquavita", 2007 and other artworks).

Following the exhibition building logic, proposed by the author himself, the catalogue sequentially shows and demonstrates various aspects and stages of development of his multidimensional art. It reflects Bustamante's creativity and experimentation in the field of photography, sculpture, and painting.