Jean-François Fourtou is both author and
                                                     character in his own work, he often touches on
                                                     autobiography while at the same time surpassing
                                                     it.
                                                     If childhood is the discreet thread running
                                                     through most of his works, Fourtou is not out to
                                                     develop the metaphor of the artist as overgrown
                                                     child, nor is he trying to entice viewers into some
                                                     kind of regression. In its use of simplicity and
                                                     recollection, his work seeks, rather, to perturb our
                                                     present.
His photographs go back and forth between miniature worlds for giant people and tiny people
living in giant worlds. We are like intruders in room where everything is out of proportion.
Originally conceived for an exhibition at La Verrière-Hermès in Brussels (end 2003), this ensemble
comprising table, chairs and bed creates a little black hole in our adult consciousness. Contrasting
scales, incongruities and imbalances, collapsing time-frames – we find here all his work's
recurrent motifs, starting with the child's cabin, a shelter where we can re-experience forgotten
games.

Quotes, frames and surreal pictures.

  • 6.
    Jean-François Fourtou isboth author and character in his own work, he often touches on autobiography while at the same time surpassing it. If childhood is the discreet thread running through most of his works, Fourtou is not out to develop the metaphor of the artist as overgrown child, nor is he trying to entice viewers into some kind of regression. In its use of simplicity and recollection, his work seeks, rather, to perturb our present. His photographs go back and forth between miniature worlds for giant people and tiny people living in giant worlds. We are like intruders in room where everything is out of proportion. Originally conceived for an exhibition at La Verrière-Hermès in Brussels (end 2003), this ensemble comprising table, chairs and bed creates a little black hole in our adult consciousness. Contrasting scales, incongruities and imbalances, collapsing time-frames – we find here all his work's recurrent motifs, starting with the child's cabin, a shelter where we can re-experience forgotten games.