André França

About the series

• [Leia os textos em português] Vanishing (2010) "The series by André França revisits a specific type of still life: vanitas, an allegoric variety of still life in which the objects represented evoke the transitory aspect of human life and material things. This denomination refers to the famous Latin verse of the Ecclesiastes, “vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas”, translated as “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”. Usually, vanitas presents watches, books, jewelry, coins and other objects that refer to the transitory values of mankind. Traditionally, the presence of a skull explicitly alludes to the idea of death or memento mori (“remember you shall die”), reinforcing the finitude of our existence before any worldly concerns." - Alejandra Hernández Muñoz Please read the full text of the curator about this series. "Quintal" (2009) In our culture, where basements and attics are almost non-existent in the houses, the backyard ("quintal") is given a good deal of the uses reserved to those spaces. One of such important uses is as a deposit for objects we do not want anymore, we are no longer interested in. Abandoned in the backyard, they start to lead a suspended existence, as if in a sort of limbo. No longer used, they are neither destroyed nor disposed of definitively. They simply remain there, accumulating time strata. And, some day, they may be rediscovered, retrieved from oblivion, and have their utility reinvented or otherwise be discarded forever. The photographs comprising this series were taken this year (2009), at the backyard of the house where I was raised and lived until I was 14. Besides being a place where I could observe the type of existence led by these objects, as a child this backyard was to me a space full with mysteries, discoveries, wonder, and contact with nature. This was also the place where I took my first pictures. Now, 25 years later, I return to shoot this backyard. It is probably the most intimate, personal space I will ever photograph.

art world (2009) All photographs from this series were made at the art gallery district of Chelsea, New York City. This work investigates the architectural configurations of such galleries - and the poetic effects they produce -, the artistic character of objects and images found in these streets, as well as some elements that seem to irrupt into the structure of the self-contained discourse of the art world.

Chorus of an old song (2009) Using the found-object approach, natural and man-made objects were photographed on a beach. In both cases, my main focus was on the fate that Time reserved for these objects, which were subjected to physical decay and spatial arrangements and rearrangements up to the moment they were found. They may surprise us with their shapes, the delicate aesthetic equilibrium they have reached, their frailty which reminds us of the “time of things” and the human condition itself.

Sight for sore eyes (2009) A reminder of the powerful experience of looking carefully at very delicate and transient things.

Call me, love (2008-2010) This series, a work in progress, investigates the imprints of sexuality in urban landscapes. At this point, it includes photographs taken in São Paulo, New York and Salvador.

Nightswimming (2008) The composition of triptychs in this series intensifies one of the most notable characteristics of the ocean: movement, change, continuous transformation. The formalist approach applied to photographs taken on an empty beach in new moon nights, in the complete absence of light except for the flash of the camera, works with several elements: Continuity and discontinuity relationships between the shapes in the images, which may constitute detachments or approximations in relation to realistic representations of the subject; the dynamics of the motion of the sea, enhanced by the frozen images and by the flash; the contrast between the presence of volumes and emptiness; the contrast between tonal relationships in grayscale, ranging from the luminous white of the sea foam to the deep black of new moon nights; the configurations of abstractions; the subversion of the horizon as a reference, so important in pictures of the ocean; the construction of the time-sequence or serial dimension by means of the triptychs, thereby creating small narratives; and texture configurations, varying from the calm water surface to the foam and to the movement and breaking of the waves.

Dr. Freud's Vacation (2008) Please read the interview published in the catalogue for exhibition ABRE ALAS 5, held at the gallery A Gentil Carioca (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Places to be alone (2006) These photographs are a sort of invitation, or a proposal, to those who appreciate the good states of mind provided by solitude. Seclusion, contemplation, reflection, quietness are atmospheres fostered in this series.

Houses and Time (2004) "Using a term made famous by Barthes, I would say that the punctum in these photographs lies in their peculiar use of the human figure. This statement may sound awkward - after all, obviously no one is portrayed in these pictures. They all document empty spaces, old houses, abandoned places. But it is also obvious that right there, where there is no one to be seen, there has been someone: someone walked through a door, exhausted after a working day; someone leaned over a window, casually observing passers-by; someone sat on a couch and waited anxiously into the night. He who smiled, he who feared, she who desired, she who felt warm, they who celebrated, those who lied and those who kept secrets - they are all here, in these photographs, displaying what will be left of us in the future: a few erratic traces, semi-legible words in a chaotic palimpsest, and sketches of incomplete narratives." - Antonio Marcos Pereira

The Last Stop (2004/2009) Through these photographs taken in the cemetery in my home town, more than exploring the subject of death I am interested in dealing with categories involving the “visible effect of the passage of time”, “transformation”, and “disappearance”, here applied to the scale of human life and to a memory preservation project. Built on sea sand, this cemetery increases the sense of mobility and disaggregation. The polyptych “Perpétuo” (#21) was created in 2009 from four of the original photographs taken in 2004.