You may have been paying attention to where you’re stepping recently, as you avoid crateresque potholes springing up in the streets. But no-one has kept an eye on the ground quite like young photographer Francis Kerdevez, currently on show at galerie sas.

I had noticed Kerdevez’s work earlier in the year, during galerie sas’ small format art show. Now, however, Francis’ photographs are displayed in their original large format, and it is in this dimension that his work really comes into its own. At first glance the photographs look like minimalist abstracts – large areas of grey or dusty red are dissected by random lines or patches of colour. But step closer and you’ll discover that what you’re really looking at is a parking lot, a school playground, or a soccer field. The random patches of colour are actually tire marks, footprints, or chalk marks. By photographing the ground we stand on, Francis captures the imprints of human society. His work documents daily life much like an archeologist would, and his process is equally pain-staking.
Francis takes high-res photographs of the ground from about 1 meter up (hence the show’s title 3’3″), slowly moving across the surface. Later the images are stitched together digitally, creating his large-format works. The effect is impressive. I’ve never been so absorbed by looking at a parking lot. Francis Kerdevez shows us that even asphalt has a certain poetry.

galerie sas
space 416
Francis Kerdevez
3’3″
exhibition dates: April 10 – Mai 10, 2008
www.galeriesas.com