Stephan is represented by instituteartist.com. Please contact Matt Shonfeld | +44780 9678830
And for fine art by Olivier Castaing, owner of the SCHOOL GALLERY, in Paris and ARTCO GALLERY in Germany,Cape Town and Joshua Tree.
« Faire face aux autres, sans m’imposer à eux, questionner leur histoire et leur identité avec humanisme, c’est sans doute pourquoi j’aime tant, aujourd’hui, le portrait-miroir qui saisit le sujet dans sa frontalité la plus brute, comme un référentiel anthropologique de base. » – Stephan Gladieu
Stephan Gladieu est né en 1969, il vit et travaille à Paris. Autodidacte, il débute sa carrière de photographe en 1989, en documentant les conflits et les sujets de société qui agitent le monde. Durant ces années, il se forge un style personnel basé principalement sur le portrait, alliant recherche esthétique et travail documentaire rigoureux.
Aujourd’hui, il se concentre sur la réalisation de séries personnelles qui interrogent le rapport entre identité et apparence.
Et notamment sur la standardisation d’idéaux collectifs qui « font société » mais révèle le caractère paradoxal à la fois unique et multiple de l’identité individuelle.
En effet, chacun des personnages et des décors qu’il associe avec rigueur questionne la notion d’identité.
La sérialité de « Corée du Nord » révélait la répétition d’une « unité », de l’individu qui disparait pour n’être qu’un composant invisible du collectif, d’une pluralité.
Dans « Herero » en Namibie, il interroge la renaissance identitaire des Herero à travers le port ostentatoire et collectif des uniformes de leur génocidaire allemand au dépend de l’histoire individuelle.
Il aborde actuellement en l’identité française par le prisme des vacances qui révèle selon lui l’attachement farouche et paradoxal des français à un modèle social collectiviste qu’ils en cessent de critiquer pour affirmer un individualisme identitaire prétendument libre et autonome…mais bordé d’une protection sociale standardisée et immuable.
Stephan crée des représentations iconiques, lumineuses et décalées, brouillant les frontières entre fiction et réalité.
L’utilisation des couleurs, sur-énergisées ou sur-vieillies selon la nécessité du récit, est au cœur de son écriture photographique.
La sérialité du portrait lui permet de créer une fable sans décorum superflu, dans un temps figé pour restituer un concentré de réalités.
Son travail est régulièrement exposé et publié en France et à l’étranger.
Published books:
« Homo Détritus », Editions Actes Sud, 2022
« North Korea », Actes Sud, 2020.
Women: The futur of Africa published by the World Bank 2018.
The Central African Republic: Hope and resilience published by the World Bank 2017.
Hip Hop culture published by Somogy editions d’art 2011.
Fenêtre sur Courts (Windows on Court – Roland Garros), published by Intervalles in 2007.
Destins de Harkis (Harakie Destiny), published by Autrement in 2003.
Femmes Afghanes (Afghan Women), published by Hoëbeke in 2001.
Afghans, published by Autrement in 2001.
Exhibitions:
– « North Korea », Meitar Award foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel, November 2023
– « Homo Detritus », Baden -La Gacilly Photo Festival, Germany June 2023
– Cape Town Art Fair, February 2023, South Africa
– « Homo Detritus » for Photo Climat at the MAC of Créteil, January 2023
– “From mystic to plastic” Funf Kontinente Museum, Munich, Germany 2023
– “North Korea”, Charleroi Photography Museum, Charleroi 2023
– “Solo Show” at Joshua Tree Gallery of Contempory Art, California 2022.
– “Homo Detritus”, La Gacilly Photo Festival, France 2021
– “Homo Detritus”, AKAA, Paris 2021
– “North Koreans, Alte Münze, Berlin 2021
– “Homo Détritus”, School Gallery, Paris, 2021
– “North Koreans”, Rencontres d’Arles 2021
– “Land of Mixity”, Stade de France 2020
– “North Koreans”,Herero, Maï-Maï.Paris Photo 2018.
– “Herero, Maï Maï and Surma, London Photo, London, 2018
– “Herero”, School Gallery, Paris 2018
– “Central Africa” World Bank, USA, Washington 2017
– “Central Africa”, Musée Branly, Paris 2016
– “French Handcraft”, LVMH Fondation, Paris 2016
– « African woman’s empowerment », The World Bank. Paris 2016
– “Destins de Harkis” Caen War Memorial, France 2012
– “Land of creation” North Station Paris, France 2011
– “Land of creation” Plaine Commune, Stade de France, Paris 2010
– “Various portraits”, Galerie Artcurial, Paris, 2008
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), Museum of the Army, Paris 2003
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), at the Municipal Archives, Marseille, 2004
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), at the Sucy Cultural Center, 2004
– “The life under Talibans” in Afghanistan, at the Bayeux Festival, 2001
Awards and grants:
2022 Grant from the Ministry of Culture and the National Library of France
2022 Meitar Award of photography, Israël
2021 Finalist Elysée Prize Switzerland
2018 Finalist Nannen Price, Germany
2018 Tokyo International Photo Award
2014 International Photography Award Portrait, USA
2001 Grand Prix at the Festival du Scoop d’Angers, France
Stephan is represented by instituteartist.com. Please contact Matt Shonfeld | +44780 9678830
And for fine art by Olivier Castaing, owner of the SCHOOL GALLERY, in Paris and ARTCO GALLERY in Germany,Cape Town and Joshua Tree.
« Facing others, without imposing myself on them, questioning their history and their identity with humanism, this is probably why I love so much, today, the mirror portrait that captures the subject in its most raw frontality, as a basic anthropological reference. » – Stephan Gladieu
Stephan Gladieu was born in 1969, he lives and works in Paris. Self-taught, he began his career as a photographer in 1989, documenting the conflicts and social issues that agitate the world. During these years, he forged a personal style based mainly on the portrait, combining aesthetic research and rigorous documentary work.
Today, he focuses on the realization of personal series that question the relationship between identity and appearance.
And in particular on the standardization of collective ideals that « make society » but reveal the paradoxical character at the same time unique and multiple of the individual identity.
Indeed, each of the characters and settings that he rigorously associates questions the notion of identity.
The seriality of « North Korea » revealed the repetition of a « unity », of the individual who disappears to be only an invisible component of the collective, of a plurality.
In « Herero » in Namibia, he questions the rebirth of the Herero identity through the ostentatious and collective wearing of the uniforms of their German genocidaire at the expense of individual history.
He is currently approaching French identity through the prism of vacations, which, according to him, reveals the fierce and paradoxical attachment of the French to a collectivist social model that they cease to criticize in order to assert an identity-based individualism that is supposedly free and autonomous… but bordered by a standardized and unchanging social protection system.
Stephan creates iconic, luminous and offbeat representations, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.
The use of colors, over-energized or over-aged according to the necessity of the story, is at the heart of his photographic writing.
The seriality of the portrait allows him to create a fable without superfluous decorum, in a time frozen to restore a concentrate of realities.
His work is regularly exhibited and published in France and abroad.
Published books:
-« Homo Détritus », Editions Actes Sud, 2022
– « North Korea », Actes Sud, 2020.
-Women: The futur of Africa published by the World Bank 2018.
-The Central African Republic: Hope and resilience published by the World Bank 2017.
-Hip Hop culture published by Somogy editions d’art 2011.
-Fenêtre sur Courts (Windows on Court – Roland Garros), published by Intervalles in 2007.
-Destins de Harkis (Harakie Destiny), published by Autrement in 2003.
-Femmes Afghanes (Afghan Women), published by Hoëbeke in 2001.
-Afghans, published by Autrement in 2001.
Exhibitions:
– « North Korea », Meitar Award foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel, November 2023
– « Homo Detritus », Baden -La Gacilly Photo Festival, Germany June 2023
– Cape Town Art Fair, February 2023, South Africa
– « Homo Detritus » for Photo Climat at the MAC of Créteil, January 2023
– “From mystic to plastic” Funf Kontinente Museum, Munich, Germany 2023
– “North Korea”, Charleroi Photography Museum, Charleroi 2023
– “Solo Show” at Joshua Tree Gallery of Contempory Art, California 2022.
– “Homo Detritus”, La Gacilly Photo Festival, France 2021
– “Homo Detritus”, AKAA, Paris 2021
– “North Koreans, Alte Münze, Berlin 2021
– “Homo Détritus”, School Gallery, Paris, 2021
– “North Koreans”, Rencontres d’Arles 2021
– “Land of Mixity”, Stade de France 2020
– “North Koreans”,Herero, Maï-Maï.Paris Photo 2018.
– “Herero, Maï Maï and Surma, London Photo, London, 2018
– “Herero”, School Gallery, Paris 2018
– “Central Africa” World Bank, USA, Washington 2017
– “Central Africa”, Musée Branly, Paris 2016
– “French Handcraft”, LVMH Fondation, Paris 2016
– « African woman’s empowerment », The World Bank. Paris 2016
– “Destins de Harkis” Caen War Memorial, France 2012
– “Land of creation” North Station Paris, France 2011
– “Land of creation” Plaine Commune, Stade de France, Paris 2010
– “Various portraits”, Galerie Artcurial, Paris, 2008
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), Museum of the Army, Paris 2003
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), at the Municipal Archives, Marseille, 2004
– “Destins de Harkis” (Algerian War), at the Sucy Cultural Center, 2004
– “The life under Talibans” in Afghanistan, at the Bayeux Festival, 2001
Awards and grants:
2022 Grant from the Ministry of Culture and the National Library of France
2022 Meitar Award of photography, Israël
2021 Finalist Elysée Prize Switzerland
2018 Finalist Nannen Price, Germany
2018 Tokyo International Photo Award
2014 International Photography Award Portrait, USA
2001 Grand Prix at the Festival du Scoop d’Angers, France