Francois Gillet Photographer - Beyond Mystery-Bay

I heard sometime that when an Aboriginal got tired of everything, he would disappear into the bush to regenerate.

After 30 years in my studio, I felt an urge for space, a need to discover, rediscover. So I chose, in my turn, the Australian bush. I had felt a huge fascination for this massive, genuine country on my first trip there in 1995. In this virgin nature, one no longer seeks for subjects. They are here, invading, unavoidable. Nature is watching you.
I had initially in mind, at the most, a book of studies and this thirst to 'see'. Tempted at times to call these pictures 'scannings', they are in fact well chosen details. Eyes looking from the rock, the amazing art-work of the sea-slug meandering across the rock-pool or a brush-stroke from the stone which I love and recognise. I am back at the very source of inspiration and creation through all ages, from Aboriginal Dreamtime to Pollock.

This work contrasts with my previous work. But if the the actual 'shooting' is essentially spontaneous, 'weaving' these mosaics is not unlike composing my large-format pictures.The choice of 9 pictures is the first number providing me with a center.
And when assembling my details, my chosen atoms, I feel like a god repainting the world, not quite knowing where all this is leading...

George Barr in "Why Photographs Work" - Published by rockynook 2011

Comp 16 / 07

GEORGE’S ANALYSIS- I knew of Charlie Cramer. He recommended the work of Hans Strand of Sweden they are both in the book. In turn, Hans recommended I check the work of Francois Gillet. Despite the French sounding name, he too resides in Sweden. I went to his website and was astounded by the composite images I found there.

A 41" × 51" panel of nine photographs, these triptych photographs are beautiful. The individual images have been combined in such a way that the total image has subtlety in the soft light, and delicate tones and hues, while beautifully composed through the extreme care in which Francois has made, selected, and combined the individual images.

The concept of tiling a series of images is not especially new, but it is remarkably effective here. What really intrigues me, however, is that as I look at the image, the tiling seems to come and go. I can look at the image objectively and the joints are obvious—the photographer is making no pretence at hiding them—yet as I look at the image as a whole, the lines drop out for me and I see a continuous image of wonderful shapes and colours, and in patterns which form the composition for the final image.

The individual pieces do have intriguing shapes within, but it is when they come together that the photograph becomes powerful. The light, rectangular rock in the upper-right corner balances the light rock of the lower left. The upper-left and lower-right tiles both have vertical shapes to them. Only three tiles contain the soft pink hue—upper left, middle, and lower right—again forming an organized pattern. Almost all the boundaries in the individual pieces have significantly different tones from others, so the concept of tiling is clear. Yellow rocks present in only some of the panels form relationships that bind the whole.

One of the most intriguing things about the image is the almost glowing light. While the light tones are present in the individual pieces, it is when placed together that the glow is really revealed. The various shapes seem to float on the background rock, almost as if the rock forms were some sort of amoebae floating on pond water, alive, shifting, gone in the blink of the eye—a remarkable sensation for a series of pictures of rocks.

It is common for good photographers to treat subject matter as being the raw material with which to make an image rather than being the image itself. An abstraction can take place through unusual viewpoints—such as moving in very close or getting underneath—or in editing the image, or as in this case, through combining the parts into a cohesive whole, each part entirely without alteration.

Each time I look at the image, my eye seems to find a path through the various rock forms, but it is a different path each time, my mind making the connections, the routes, the turns and straightaways within the photograph.