THIERRY URBAIN

Thierry Urbain's photographs are focused on architecture, archaeology and landscape. They never show a present which spreads out nor a past filled with exoticism but offers archetypes that the spectator will be able to invest according to his own desires.

The simple and archetypal forms allow us to rebuild time and space in the dimensions of our imagination, to superpose to the photographic reality the equivalence of an inner map. Architecture is not the object of a study, but it brings to light through space the lines and geometry. Poetry is in the sobriety of the place as in that of the images, in their profoundly sacred nature, within the peace and calm of an atmosphere heavy with the lifeless presence of a vast theater of memory. To lose oneself in these hieratic, timeless and sometimes labyrinthine places, leaves the intoxicating and disturbing taste of eternity.

 

SELECTED ARTWORKS

PUBLICATION

SOLO SHOWS

1999 Babylone, Gallery Palais Walderdorff, Trier, Germany
1997 Architektur III, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria
1996 Qsar El Saràb, Gallery Pons, Paris, France
1994 Tarazona Foto, Festival International de Saragosse, Spain
1993 Hypogée, galerie Hérold, Brussels, Belgium
1992 “Babylone”, Mois de la Photo, Gallery Pons, Paris, France
1991 House of photography, Festival du Ciel et de l'Espace, Lectoure, France
1991 Gallery Imago Lucis, Porto, Portugal 
1991 “Archéologies du désert”, Gallery Pons, Paris, France
1989 Gallery Pons, Paris, France

GROUP SHOWS (selection)

2023 Paris Photo, International Photography Fair, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2023 “A Black & White Journey”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2023 Vestiges imaginaires, monuments chimériques, In Extremis, Strasbourg
2023 “Chair de Temps”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2022 Patio, Gallery Sinople, Paris. Des arbres et des hommes, Ateliers Ouverts, Strasbourg, France
2021 16th Meetings of the Book and Photography, Gallery Nadar, Tourcoing, France
2021 Achronos, Gallery Sinople, Paris, France
2021 Biennale of Tangible Image, Flagship Exhibition, Paris, France
2020 “United”, Bigaignon. Paris, France
2018 “Memories”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2016 Rien ou si peu, tellement tout, Space of Plastic Arts, Saint-Dié, France

  • 2001 “La part du rêve”, galerie Stepanska, Prague, Czech Republic
    2001 Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groningen. Netherlands. 
    2001 Journées photographiques de Bienne, Bienne, Switzerland 
    2001 De Natura Rerum, galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
    1999 Souvenir Utopie, Stadthaus Ulm, Germany 
    1999 Art Frankfurt 99, Germany
    1999 Aipad. Galerie Baudoin Lebon, New York, USA
    1998 Kunst Zürich 98, Galerie Markus Richter, Zurich, Switzerland
    1998 Internationale Séoul Photo-Triennale, C.A.I.S. gallery, Seoul
    1998 Space, Time and Architecture, galerie Markus Richter, Potsdam, Germany
    1998 Choix privé, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, France
    1997 Chroniques Nomades, Les Greniers à Sel, Honfleur, France
    1996 La photographie contemporaine, dix ans d’acquisitions, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
    1996 Escale du regard, Mois de la Photo, Espace Electra, Paris
    1996 Photographie et Mémoire, Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
    1995 Prix Européen de la Photographie, Kulturzentrum Englische Kirche, Bad Homburg, Germany
    1995 Foire d'Art Contemporain, galerie Pons, Knokke, Belgium
    1995 1re Biennale Internationale de Tokyo, Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
    1994 “Escale du regard”, Villa Médicis, Rome, Italy
    1994 “Quest for the Moon”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
    1994 Paysages de l'apparence, Mai de la Photographie, Ancien Collège des Jésuites, Reims, France
    1993 “Villa(s) 4”, exposition présentée à la Villa Médicis, Rome, puis à la Villa Lemot, Clisson
    1993 La photographie française : nouvelles tendances, exposition itinérante, USA et Canada
    1993 Acquisitions du Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
    1993 Photo Santa Fe, Sweeney Convention Center, Santa Fe, USA
    1993 Découvertes, collection de la Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Grand Palais, Paris, France
    1993 Small is beautiful à la Galerie Paul Kopeikin, Los Angeles, USA
    1991 Prix Européen de la Photographie, Künstlerwerkstatt, Berlin, Germany
    1991 Sélénographie, Observatoire Astronomique, Strasbourg, France
    1991 Panorama des panoramas, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
    1990 Fixé pour l'éternité, Espace Van Gogh, Rencontres Internationales d'Arles
    1989 Moins Trente, 4e Biennale de la Jeune Photographie en France, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
    1988 3e Moi de la Photographie, Strasbourg, France
    1987 Vom landschaftsbild zur spurensicherung, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
    1985 Image par image, La Serre, Saint-Étienne, France

DISTINCTIONS

1995 First Prize of the 1st Tokyo International Photo-Biennale
1992-1993 Laureate of the French Academy in Rome, Villa Medici
1990 KODAK Award

COLLECTIONS

FNAC, Paris.
MEP, Paris, France
Artotheque of Arles, France.
Artotheque of Grenoble, France.
Deposits and Consignments Fund, Paris
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.
Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo.
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Tokyo.
International Center of Photography, New York.