Blackdust: OLIVIER VALSECCHI

14 September - 31 October 2022

  • Echo Fine Arts is proud to premiere Olivier Valsecchi's exclusive series entitled Blackdust.

    Blackdust is the closing chapter of the Dust saga.

  • Blackdust #1, 2022
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  • Olivier Valsecchi uses photography as a medium to incarnate the emotions of his psyché. Directing nude models like a conductor, he orchestrates perfect fantasmagorical images where bodies, outlined in dramatic chiaroscuro, are deprived of gender or identity to be merely used as elements of a narrative.

     

  • Olivier Valsecchi initially studied music as a teenager. As he began creating cover art for his record sleeves, he became...
    Olivier Valsecchi initially studied music as a teenager. As he began creating cover art for his record sleeves, he became passionate and engrossed by photography. He then spent the next ten years taking portraits for his own enjoyment and mastering his skills upon entering the ETPA photography school to perfect his technical skills. His work is dark and mysterious, oozing the magic of nature, and uniquely represents the peculiar cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. As a way to translate his emotions, Valsecchi doesn't magnify one's body but rather, uses it as an empty vessel to channel his own subconsciousness, therefore compose pictures that he qualifies as self-portraits, although he doesn’t necessarily physically appear on the photos. He finds his whole working system, from visualizing a certain image to capturing the moment, to be based on his personal instinct. With his striking black and white images and almost statuesque models, Valsecchi's work truly brings beauty and character to aspects of life that are rarely thought of as alluring.

  • THE DUST TRILOGY

    FULL CYCLE
  • DUST, PART 1 - 2009
    Dust VI, 2009

    DUST

    PART 1 - 2009

    “The series ‘Dust’ is a gallery of romantic ‘paintings’ that captures the moment of incarnation, the emptiness and the chaos precipitating the birth of the world as described in Greek mythology. Each image is a confined space in which one can observe the interplay of order and disorder, light and shadow, descent and ascent, fog and clarity. They are mirrors of an era in permanent quest for renewal and rebirth. The bodies are covered in ashes, an echo of Ash Wednesday and the myth of the Phoenix.”

    Olivier Valsecchi

  • TIME OF WAR, PART 2 (2013)

    Time of War 3, 2013

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    TIME OF WAR

    PART 2 (2013)

    Incarnation remains the main theme in Valsecchi's oeuvre. Therefore, he decided to dive into his 'Dust' series once again, whilst adding a parameter to it: a soul of their own. Deliberately choosing to set the second part of his 'I am dust' saga in a former arms factory, this autobiographic project is on the theme of incarnation and Samsara. Whereas the first part illustrated the photographer's cosmology, 'Time of War' liberates those chaos-spawned creatures. The title, inspired by the Prado Museum's 2008 Exhibition: 'Goya in Times of War', which commemorated the War of Independance, equally portrays this crying-out for emancipation. From then on, characters have a history and are out to conquer. Their bodies tense up, each mote of muscle tissue contracts itself, shoulders heave. The primeval ash, this very element which has transiently crossed through the cycles of life and death, seems to burst out in an explosion of effort, unless this be the final agonizing breath of these Ovidian heroes. This is about survival.

  • Time of War 16, 2013

    Time of War 16

    2013
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  • BLACKDUST

    FINAL PART (2022)
  • Blackdust #10, 2022

    Blackdust #10

    2022
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  • ‘Blackdust’ is a three year long project reinvestigating the theme of incarnation and life cycles, dear to Valsecchi. While highlighting the artist's photographic mastery through near-to monochromatic images, Blackdust is the final chapter to Valsecchi's ‘I am dust’ saga. 

    ‘Dust’ illustrated the birth of the photographer’s cosmology. ‘Time of War’ liberated these chaos-spawned creatures by infusing them with a soul and a purpose: a battle to fight. Replacing the primeval ash, this very element which has transiently crossed through the cycles of life and death, by charcoal powder, Valsecchi crafted an innovative and powerful series. Stained by the epic tales' darkness and violence, the bursting energy of his Ovidian heroes remains resilient until the final chapter.

     



  • Blackdust #01, 2022
     

    Blackdust #01

    2022
     
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    • Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #02, 2022
      Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #02, 2022
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    • Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #04, 2022
      Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #04, 2022
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    • Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #03, 2022
      Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #03, 2022
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    • Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #09, 2022
      Olivier Valsecchi, Blackdust #09, 2022
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  • Blackdust #07, 2022

    Blackdust #07

    2022
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  • “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”

    Friedrich Nietzsche
  • Blackdust #08, 2022

    Blackdust #08

    2022
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