CARTEL and Co.

Christian Lacroix describes Grégoire Alexandre’s photography as being like ‘contemporary poetry’. Equal parts installation artist, illusionist, set designer and, in Lacroix’s eyes, poet. The Parisian is certainly more than just a photographer.

Exhibiting in the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie in 2003 (Villa Noailles, Hyères), Alexandre came to prominence, going on to shoot for publications such as Numero Berlin, The world of Hermés, GQ, Beaux Arts and advertising clients such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyake and Nike.

In each of Alexandre’s photographs, the composition is the key element and clearly the photographer’s forte. By playing with different scales, light and dark, emptiness and clutter, natural and artificial objects, he creates sets that are like full-scale art installations, painstakingly put together for the final image.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that he must employ a bevy of brilliant retouchers, given how minutely theatrical so many of his photographs are. Rather than digital enhancement, Alexandre uses traditional artifices to create his illusions and hence his photographs seem all the more poetic for their reality. A true artist.

Alexandre resides and works in Paris and New York.