Auguste-Dormeuil
Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil
Les Ambitieux #01, 2008
Edition of 6 ex + 1 AP
© Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil - ADAGP
Galerie In Situ - fabienne leclerc, Paris
Les ambitieux [the ambitious] is a photographic series using official portraits of men of state and figures of power from recent history.
These portraits of 'great men' were cut in two and the sides drawn inwards, removing their faces and even their ego. This substraction leaves only the shell of the function and the trappings of power.
The conquest of power is a laborious process and never happens by chance. It also reveals an oversized ego. In the tradition of the memento mori ('remember that you will die') murmured by the slave to the Roman general in his triumphant purple and wreath of laurel, Les Ambitieux radically effaces the expression of that ego.
Catalogue Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil : "Include me Out", MAC/VAL Museum Edition