Philippe Calandre (born 1964) is a French artist who combines photography, painting, and video.

Early life

Calandre was born in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, France in 1964. At 16, Calandre worked for two years as a shipman. He realized he was meant to be an artist while completing a portrait shoot.

Professional career

Over several years, he split his time between personal research, travelling from

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and his work as a press photographer. After an exhibition in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, a Parisian gallery,

Zabriskie Zabriskie is a surname, anglicized from Polish Zaborowski or Zabrzyski. Notable people with the surname include: People *Albert Zabriskie, originally Albrycht Zaborowski (1638–1711), American colonial settler * Andrew C. Zabriskie (1853–1916), ...

, decided to include his work alongside those of

Weegee Ascher (Usher) Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968), known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City. Weegee worked in Manhattan's Lower Eas ...

and

Leonard Freed Leonard Freed (October 23, 1929 – November 29, 2006) was an American documentary photojournalist and longtime Magnum Photos member.Amanda Hopkinson,Leonard Freed, The Guardian, 6 December 2006. Accessed 2 February 2018. Career Freed had wanted t ...

as part of its « Une nuit, un voleur » series in 1996. A few years later, the National Fund for Contemporary Art acquired ‘Ghost Stations’, a series depicting abandoned gas stations that Calande discovered during his highway rambling. Calandre is particularly interested in architectural photography and still life. In all his photographic series, what he views as 'reality' serves as the foundation from which he creates his worlds where an ambiguity exists between the real and the imagined settles in. His studies often were used as a springboard to highlight everyday architectural aspects, pulled from their daily lifelessness and given life. Gas stations, then his ‘silos’, which were presented at FIAC in 2001 by Anne Barrault, the Parisian gallery, with whom the artist collaborated from 1999 to 2007, were lifted to the realm of the supernatural. For ‘Insomnia’ (2006), which depicts strange nocturnal apparitions, Calandre explored the world of the fantastic with pure and spooky scenes. From 1996, his various series have been displayed in galleries, museums, and contemporary art shows in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and abroad from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and back to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calandre, Philippe Living people 1964 births 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 21st-century French painters 21st-century French male artists French photographers French video artists Artists from Avignon