Davidikus: David Ranc, Una Mirada Diferente

French photographer in exile in London. (Some may also know me for my work on football supporters in Europe, notably at Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, ).

Hace ya un tiempo que descubrí la obra de este fotógrafo, eminentemente urbana, y me dejó fascinado por su viveza y por la forma original en la que enfocaba los temas, en su obra el color se muestra lleno de vida y no obstante David Ranc no es de los que tira de photoshop ni excesos de retoques, intenta dejar que la imagen nos sugiera su auténtica realidad, en oposición al exceso de retoques en que la imagen fotográfica se ve inmersa hoy en día. El otro aspecto que me llamó poderosamente la atención fue la sencillez de sus planteamientos, objetos normales, objetos que forman parte de nuestro entorno ciudadano y a los que raramente prestamos atención, como el mobiliario urbano, la basura que nos envuelve y a veces cosas que de tan antiestéticas que son, cuando las vemos nos sorprenden, o vistas urbanas que se nos escapan por ir siempre mirando hacia abajo. Un mundo urbano en continuo cambio que va marcando la fisonomía a de nuestras ciudades y en cierta medida son un reflejo de sus habitantes y de su historia.

/Unsung design heroes/ - [boîte aux lettres] - graffiti

/Unsung design heroes/ [boîte aux lettres, cabine téléphonique, solfège de la couleur]

T[é]l[é]phone

London, phonebooths: the myth & the reality

[Je lutte des classes] - /Unsung design heroes/

/Unsung design heroes/ - [boîte aux lettres] - Amsterdam

Javier Arnott (pe-jota): David, there are several things that have caught my attention since the first time I saw your photos. The first is the importance of the colour in your work, their vivacity is impressive, more so in times dominated by certain darkness.

David Ranc: I am very interested that you like the colours in my work. I am not sure this is something I would have instinctively pinpointed. On the other hand, I like colours a lot & I believe that in photography today, colours are often wrong (flat, dull, too naturalistic OR on the contrary, overworked, and videogame like). I try to arrange the colours in my work in a way that reflects my perception of the place. The night time pictures you mention are a good example: I do not correct extensively the colour cast made by lamps. This is why many of my night pictures appear to be very red. This is simply because at night, in a closed environment, I see this red cast over everything I do see.

Javier Arnott: Second, the search for things that go unnoticed, those before us, we see them every day but we never look at them. You give them importance and suddenly appear as objects with great relevance.

David Ranc: I do indeed work on objects, elements, parts of reality that often go unnoticed but that tickle my interests. This largely stems from the fact that I live in a large city. There is a very common discourse at the moment, which is to say that people prefer “nature”, “woods”, “greenery”, “the countryside”. As much as I like these things, I am also very interested in the urban phenomenon. What do I take from living in a city that I do not take from living in the countryside? One of the obvious answers is: the people; another is the infrastructure, the architecture, the cultural provision of goods (opera, theatre etc.). All of this has largely been documented by photographers. One thing that has not been documented is the ‘designed’ environment: all of these equipment goods like lamp posts, trash cans, fire hydrants etc. that have been designed (even in an ‘industrial’ sense of the word design) & contribute to create beauty in cities. In a way, I document these things that go unnoticed because I marvel at them and, or, the way that they interact with the rest of the environment (most obviously, architecture).

Javier Arnott: And third, your own definition like a "Frenchman in exile", France and England are not far away, sometimes I think that Spain and France are much more remote, and both have the same cultural basis.

David Ranc: Why I say that I feels in exile? Because London, England is a very different place from everywhere else I have lived before (France, Singapore, Belgium…) or visited extensively (the USA, Italy, Brazil…): the UK is very insular and has developed an idiosyncratic, inward-looking culture that somehow revels in turning its back to the world. As Terence Conran pointed out, the UK does not have a strong tradition of visual culture. The subsequent relative lack of high quality architecture that has plagued London until the generation of the Lords Foster & Rogers has led me to focus on these designed objects that form part of the urban experience in series which I calls [systématiques fantasques] or /unsung design heroes/: urban furniture, like lamp posts or fire hydrants, urban services, like trash, buses; and on their interaction with the built environment.

City Lights: London

Pollockography Serie

City Lights: Bergamo

Pollockography Serie

City Lights: New York

Pollockography Serie

City Lights: Brasilia

Pollockography Serie

Davidikus una mirada inquisitiva hacia nuestro entorno, convirtiendo lo que en principio pudiera parecer sórdido en objeto de arte y contemplación, deteniendo el tiempo y captando para nosotros aquello que no vemos o no queremos ver.

Mi más sincero agradecimiento a David Ranc por su colaboración y su paciencia.


+Información:

http://davidikus.blogspot.com/
http://www.davidranc.com/