Cyril Galmiche (born in 1981 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France) has first studied at the Superior Art School of Reuil-Malmaison and then at the School of Decorative Arts of Strasbourg. Thus far he has already created a large body of artworks, including photographs, videos, installations, and interactive animations among others, which mainly examine the theme of the city. In Ubiquitous Portraits, he portrays several artists he has met around the world. Such either fortuitous or close encounters are depicted through a complex photomontage that mingles different places and moments.
Time and space perceptions are then utterly transformed: they are superimposed, simultaneous, incoherent but unified. Only a multi-layered reading and a close attention enable us to decipher the profoundness of these photographs. These personalities of the art world stand proudly, frontally, as if they were living sculptures. Cyril questions the essence of portrait, especially the portrait of the artist. How one should represent an artist? Is it merely a question of physical resemblance? To what extend one’s environment might be representative of one’s personality or artistic practice? Ubiquitous Portraits suggests that the artist – thanks to his practice – is much more than a mere corporeal body, instead the artist has the capability of being present everywhere at anytime. Ubiquitous Portraits is still ongoing; the above photographs are a selection of the portraits he shot in China. An experimental and intuitive approach to art that deserves attention.
