CEDRIC DELSAUX

Cédric Delsaux has explored the increasingly tenuous borders between fiction and reality throughout his career. His Series, Dark Lens visualises urban “non-places” inhabited by heroes from the Star Wars saga, a global success since 2004. His subjects have ranged from industrial excesses, delusions of grandeur to uncertain realities, he mixes reality with fiction. Inspired by Cinema and literature, Delsaux’s practice seeks to uncover the extraordinary in the banal every day. His Monographs include: Zone De Repli, Dark Lens, Here To Stay, and Paysages Français.

  • All
  • Dark Lens
  • Welcome to the Dark Corporation
  • Zone De Repli

Cédric Delsaux is a photographer, visual designer, and author. Throughout his career he has explored the increasingly tenuous borders between fiction and reality. Initially best known for his advertising campaigns, Delsaux later became recognised for his long-term personal projects. Whether his focus is on industrial excesses, delusions of grandeur, or uncertain dreams, with each production he strives to elaborate the methods of our madness through his unique concepts that combine false reality and true fiction.

His first series, Nous Resterons Sur Terre [Here to Stay], published initially in 2008 presented a subjective tour of the symbolic sites of our post-modern world: places that are beautiful and ugly, banal and crazy all at once.

His second series, Dark Lens, published in 2011 by Éditions Xavier Barral with a preface written by George Lucas. Dark Lens introduces the characters from the Star Wars saga into real world urban settings of Parisian suburbs, the cities of Lille, and Dubai; revealing to what extent our perception of the city passes through the filter of fiction.  He is presently working on a sequel titled, Welcome to the Dark Corporation.  

In the series 1784, Delsaux kept 17 actors inside a castle for 7 days, making them live as though it was the 18th century. In Echelle1 [Life-size], he asked random passers-by to climb on to a white wooden pedestal, instantly trans-forming them into life-sized figurines. Zone de Repli follows the traces of the man from Gex: The true story of a man, who for over a decade, pretended to be a doctor and researcher with an international career. This series was published by Éditions Xavier Barral in 2014.

Cedric Delsaux’s photographs are included in many international public and private collections, including the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in the United States.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)

2018
Galarie Patrick Gutknecht, Paris, FR

2017
Dark Celebration, Wild Project Gallery, Luxembourg, LU

2016
Baker & Hesseldenz Fine Art Gallery, Tucson Arizona, USA

2015
Galarie Patrick Gutknecht, Geneva, CH

2014
Retrospective exhibition, Centre d’Art Campredon, Isle sur la Sorgue, FR
Festival Portrait(s), Résidence d’artiste pour Echelle1, Catalogue d’exposition aux éditions
Filigranes, Vichy, FR

2013
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Athens Photo Festival, Technopolis Museum, Athens, GR
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Q.P.N. Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise, Passage Sainte-Croix, Nantes, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Festival Nordik-Impakt, ESAM, Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Caen, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Nous resterons sur terre, Dali International Photo Festival, Dali, China
‘Dark Lens’, Belfast Photo Festival, Naughton Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
‘Dark Lens’, Festival Art-Rock, Maison de L’agglo, Saint Brieuc, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Musée Vesuna, Perigueux, FR

2012
‘Dark Lens’, M.E.P. Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Festival Etonnants Voyageurs, Saint-Malo, FR
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Festival Peuple et Nature, La Gacilly, FR
‘Dark Lens’, FNAC des Halles (Paris, FR) puis FNAC Nantes, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice
‘Dark Lens’, Bordeaux, Nice , FR

2011
‘Dark Lens’, FotoGrafia. Festival Internazionale di Roma, Rome, IT
‘Dark Lens’, MK2 Bibliothèque, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Air Gallery, London, UK

2010
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York,NY, USA
‘Dark Lens’, CELEBRATION V, Orlando, Florida, USA
‘Dark Lens’, Acte2 Galerie, Paris, FR

2009
‘Dark Lens’, Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai,UAE

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2018
Back to the Stars, Paris Photo, Presented by East Wing, Grand Palais Paris (With Cortis &
Sonderegger), November 2018

2017
‘Dark Lens’ (Special Edition Light Boxes), Art Dubai presented by East Wing / Dubai, Dubai UAE

2015
‘Zone De Replis’ «The Perfect Crime», Paris Photo, East Wing / Dubai, Paris, FR
‘Disparition(s)’, Arsenal de Metz – European Month of Photography, Curator Jean Luc Soret, Metz,
FR

2014
‘Zone de Replis’ Festival des Transphotographiques, Tripostal, FTL (France Territoire Liquide),
Lille, FR
Festival Instantané 3ème Edition (La Teste de Buch)
Festival Rock en Seine

2013
‘Nous Resterons Sur terre, Acte2galerie, « Nature, Contre-Culture », Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’ Café-Crème exhibition (European Month of Photography), Cercle Cité, Luxembourg, LU
‘Dark Lens’, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, (librairie), « Les jouets Star Wars », Paris, FR

2012
‘Dark Lens’, Eyes on European Month of Photography, Vienna, AT.
‘Dark Lens’, Central European House of Photography (European Month of Photography, Bratislava, SK
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre, « Neon », MACRO Musée d’Art Contemporain Rome, Rome, IT
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, « Neon », Maison Rouge, Paris, FR

2011
‘Nous Resterons sur Terre (Slide show)’ Bursa Photo Festival, Bursa, Turkey
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, « Metropolis, life in the Urban Age » Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubaï, UAE
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, « Tracks Earth » Greek Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Paris Photo, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Paris Photo, Empty Quarter Gallery, Paris, FR.

2009
‘Dark Lens’, Paris Photo, Empty Quarter Gallery, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Art Paris, Acte2 Galerie, Paris, FR
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, World SONY Awards, Cannes, FR
‘1784’, Show off, Acte2 Galerie, Paris, FR

2008
‘Dark Lens’, « French and international création », La collection Transphotographique, Poznan,PL
‘Nous Resterons Sur Terre’, Art Paris, Acte2 Galerie, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Art Paris Abu Dhabi, Acte2 Galerie, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2007
‘Dark Lens’, Art Paris Abu Dhabi, Acte2 Galerie, Abu Dhabi, UAE
‘Nous resterons Sur Terre’, Art Paris, Galerie Philippe Chaume, Paris, FR
‘Dark Lens’, Art Basel, Project4 Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
‘Dark Lens’, « Les lauréats de la bourse du talent », Lianzhou International Festival, Lianzhou, China
‘Dark Lens’, L’art au centre, Luoyang, China
‘Dark Lens’, Festival Les Transphotographiques, Tripostal, Lille, FR