Stefano Bianchi (1964)

Interview between Catherine Pennec and Stefano Bianchi on September 30, 2024

 

Catherine Pennec:

Hello Stefano, thank you for granting us this interview. We are here for your exhibition *Follow My Gaze* which will take place at the Galerie Catherine Pennec from October 10 to November 16. To begin, could you tell us what led you to photography and about your journey?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Thank you, Catherine. It's a pleasure. My first encounter with photography happened when I was 12 years old. I found an old Kodak Instamatic in a drawer and immediately felt drawn to the idea of capturing moments. I learned my craft on the streets, fascinated by photojournalism. Later, I completely shifted directions and refined my technique while working on editorial image series in studios with Condé Nast Publications and Vogue group magazines. Over time, I gradually distanced myself from the confines of commercial assignments to pursue a more personal exploration.

 

 

Beginnings and Inspirations:

 

Catherine Pennec:

You just mentioned that you started photography at a young age with a Kodak Instamatic camera. What sparked your passion for this art at that time? Do you remember your first photos?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Yes, I remember my first photos were high-contrast black-and-white images! It was quite popular in the small amateur photo circle I belonged to at the time. Portraits, landscapes, street scenes. I spent my evenings locked in a tiny makeshift darkroom. Photography immediately seemed like the perfect way for a loner like me to observe the world, to capture the essence of things. Perhaps it was also a way to protect myself from that same world I didn’t fully understand, all while scrutinizing it closely through a lens.

 

Catherine Pennec:

Your work has evolved significantly over time. You’ve touched on several styles of photography, from photojournalism to fashion, and even advertising. What motivated you to move away from commercial photography to focus on a more artistic approach?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

I even did a lot of weddings! (laughs) Starting in the 2000s, digital photography radically changed the profession, and I felt the need to step away from commercial assignments. For me, the “photographic adventure”—the anticipated and controlled image that only revealed itself during development, the unknown, the surprise, the long wait—was vanishing, replaced by immediacy, a (false) ease, and increasingly absurd demands from clients. The photographer, once the sole master of their craft, became a sort of hyper-technological servant. I have always been fascinated by light and material, and that became the focus of my personal research. It was no longer just about producing beautiful images but revealing something invisible at first glance, the “hidden side” of objects in a way. My work explores this idea of transformation, where objects remain recognizable but take on a symbolic dimension.

 

 

Transition to Artistic Photography:

 

Catherine Pennec:

In the 2000s, you began a personal exploration centered around light and material. What are you trying to capture in your photos today that you couldn’t explore through commercial photography?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

As I said earlier, I aim to capture the very essence of objects, beyond their trivial appearance. In my work, I try to reveal a deeper, almost memorial dimension. I strip away the layers that make an object opaque, mundane, uninteresting, and the object reveals itself. There’s always this paradox in my photographs: I capture things “as they are,” but strangely, that very act transforms them. How? By what means? It’s a mystery... They become something else without denying their nature, and it’s this transformation that fascinates me. I know that light and shadow play a key role in this revelation, and our brain does the rest.

 

 

The "Suivez mon regard" Exhibition Series:

 

Catherine Pennec:

The *Follow My Gaze* exhibition features works created between 2009 and 2024. Can you tell us about the diversity of the series on display, like the “Woods,” “Boxes,” or “Books” series? What does each series represent for you?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Each series is a different exploration of the same theme: the coexistence of the object and its “double.” Each object, through its own characteristics, opens up a particular universe. For example, in the “Woods” series, natural elements become architectures, but of a particular kind, like remnants of a forgotten golden age. Sometimes they dance, creating fragile, unstable balances. In the “Boxes” series, I take these everyday objects—old, worn-out cardboard boxes—and assemble them. I have fun like a child playing with Legos. And then, in turn, they evoke something else. We know they’re boxes, but our brain isn’t quite sure; it wants to venture elsewhere. Into abstraction? The link between these two series lies in the dialogue, the tension between the various elements in each image, which, fused together, form a new entity. Finally, I see the “Books” series as a set of chromatic variations around time. Blank pages, or nearly so, that perhaps await to be written with our own thoughts, memories, or projections. Or to remain blank, like pure objects of meditation. The title *Spiritual Exercises* says it all.

 

Catherine Pennec:

Your work seems to play between what is real and what is perceived, like an “object and its double.” How do you capture this duality, this coexistence between visible reality and a more symbolic dimension?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

I’m not really sure, it just happens naturally. What I do know is that it’s a meticulous process of staging and lighting, of emptiness and fullness. The object is always there, perfectly recognizable, but the way I light and frame it transforms it. In a sense, it frees it from its factual reality, freeing the viewer as well, who can then interpret it in their own way. Ultimately, the subject no longer matters. That’s why everyone will see something different. And that’s the beauty of it.

 

 

Creative Process:

 

Catherine Pennec:

How does your creative process unfold? Do you work spontaneously, or do you meticulously plan your series?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

There’s a big part of spontaneity in choosing objects, which are often chance encounters. I do have a preference for simple, almost insignificant objects because they give me the most freedom, like raw materials. But once the object is chosen, there’s a very precise work on light, shadow, and composition. Not to forget the space around the subject as well—very important!

 

Catherine Pennec:

Does music play a role in your creative process? If so, what do you listen to while working on your photos?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Not really. I often work in silence.

 

 

Inspirations and Influences:

 

Catherine Pennec:

Which photographers have most inspired you throughout your career?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Strangely, it’s those who seem to have no connection with what I do. When I was young, I was obsessed with people like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, or Eugene Smith. They taught me a lot. I’ve also always loved, and still do, photographers like Mario Giacomelli, Ralph Gibson, or, in a different vein, Karl Blossfeldt or August Sander. In short, photographers who work exclusively in black and white, while I work almost entirely in color... Funny, isn’t it?

 

Catherine Pennec:

Beyond photography, are there other art forms or artists that influence the way you see the world?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

Yes, painting and painting! The great masters, of course, but also more contemporary artists who are doing remarkable things. Looking at their works makes me want to create, to keep going, and at the same time, reminds me of my humble place as just a photographer. Sometimes, that’s a good thing.

 

Catherine Pennec:

Finally, what do you hope the public takes away from the *Follow My Gaze* exhibition? What emotion or reflection would you like to inspire in visitors?

 

Stefano Bianchi:

I hope visitors leave this exhibition surprised, pleased, and “inspired.” I want my photographs to be seen not just as beautiful images but as doors to inner worlds, windows open to unknown landscapes. I hope each person finds their own resonance, that each image evokes an emotion, a memory, or a reflection. *Follow My Gaze* is an invitation to see beyond appearances, to be surprised by the unexpected.

 

Catherine Pennec:

Thank you very much, Stefano, for this fascinating conversation. We look forward to discovering the exhibition and following your gaze through these works. The opening will take place on October 10 from 6 p.m. in your presence, and the exhibition will run until November 16 at the Galerie Catherine Pennec.

 

What has been said about his work:

 

"...and indeed, the creators presented here, among the greatest of the 20th century, from Méliés to Josef Sudek or Dora Maar, to their most contemporary descendants (Valérie Belin or Stefano Bianchi, among others) all have in common the fact that they have, as common consciousness puts it, 'shifted the boundaries.' They have refused pre-established boundaries to venture ever further, without fear, towards otherness and the unknown..." (Laurent Devèze, about the exhibition "Grandes Ouvertes," 2017)

 

"With his cleverly composed photographs of rags, Stefano Bianchi (1964) represents, with much humor, the world in all its futility. A world where appearance and exaggerated self-esteem become primary through the purchase of luxury clothing. Rags and waste become symbols of a life too short and the passage of time. With these representations of the vanity of the modern world, the artist questions the value of material things and beautiful images." (Press release for the exhibition "Art & Me," MUDAM Luxembourg)

 

"Stefano Bianchi's work does not testify to any event other than the artist's gaze; like a painter, Stefano Bianchi explores the material of his medium. The approach is minimalist and the work is of dazzling pictorial richness." (Raphaëlle Stopin, 2019)

 

"Not all rise to the level of Jan Fabre at the Louvre, alas! but some masterfully meet the challenge. Suspended between looms, carders, and other imposing machines, Stefano Bianchi's large-format photographs appear perfectly at home in the spaces of this textile factory; at home yet subtly out of place, like specters of what was once the essence of this place. On each photograph, old mops, rectangles of degraded, labor-worn fabric, as beautiful as old, wrinkled faces." (Colin Cyvoct, "L’œil," March 2019. About the exhibition "La Ronde")

 

 

"Here, a few books become the subject of his photographic meditations on the passage of time and its erasure, on the time yet to be written, around a few (almost) empty pages. In constant balance between reality and abstraction, these open pages are a simple invitation to go beyond the subject to access a mental space where the object is no longer an object but pure perception." (Raphaëlle Stopin, press release "Le parti pris des Choses," 2024).