François HalardFrance
François Halard (b. 1961, FR) is known for his photographs of interior spaces, architecture, and fashion, and his work is regularly featured in lifestyle magazines such as Vogue. Halard takes special interest in capturing elements of space and place in relation to the psychology of people. His so-called house portraits have been praised for their psychological intensity.
Breaking free from commercial framework, Halard’s recent works show photographs made with a Polaroid camera, cropped, enlarged, eventually reworked – some of them partially recoated by words or lines, drops or patterns of wax, inks or oil paints. Remaining true to his photographic understanding that discloses a poetic sensibility and a personal history, Halard captures intricate details of statues, objects, furniture, the interplay of light and shadow that set the mood of a room, or an artist’s blunt gaze. Through an appropriation of some of the historically most iconic imagery of painting – still life and, most recently, the depiction of flowers laden with symbolism – Halard creates a homage to the act of painting in and through photography.
He demonstrates what photography is capable of: it provides an x-ray of a universe in which the relationships of objects form a perfect synthesis between refined beauty and everyday life. Halard’s photographic story is both an intimate, personal exploration and a reminiscence. His lens lends a sacred aura to the places it focuses on during his journey. In this way he relates to the world, a world in which beauty is both a necessity and a virtue; it finds its highest expression in his – almost anthropological – explorations of our way of life.