CURRENTLY AVAILABLE PRINTS FROM XAVIER VANLAERE‘S PORTFOLIO
All prints on the GALLERY5X7 site are original, handcrafted, alternative process photographs available for purchase.
"Robe voilée" © Xavier Vanlaere. Approx. 5.9x8.3" (15x21 cm) handcrated alternative process photograph (silver gelatin print) developed in darkroom with a paintbrush on multigrafe FB photographic paper.
Click on the image to connect with the artist for additional print details and to inquire about purchasing this print.
"La lumière des fleurs 1" © Xavier Vanlaere. Approx. 5.3x7.1" (13.5x18cm) handcrated alternative process photograph (silver gelatin print) developed in darkroom with a paintbrush on multigrafe FB photographic paper.
Click on the image to connect with the artist for additional print details and to inquire about purchasing this print.
"Ce qu’il faut de lumière" © Xavier Vanlaere. Approx. 4.3x6.3" (11x16cm) handcrated alternative process photograph (silver gelatin print) developed in darkroom with a paintbrush on multigrafe FB photographic paper.
Click on the image to connect with the artist for additional print details and to inquire about purchasing this print.
"Avant l’automne" © Xavier Vanlaere. Approx. 2.8x3.5" (7x9cm) handcrated alternative process photograph (silver gelatin print) developed in darkroom with a paintbrush on multigrafe FB photographic paper.
Click on the image to connect with the artist for additional print details and to inquire about purchasing this print.
ARTIST BIO
Xavier Vanlaere’s passion for images came early in life when, as a child, he went to his father’s professional studio and witnessed in the glowing darkness the slow revelation of the film image. Xavier collected the black and white trial proofs from his father’s darkroom and colored them with markers, recomposing landscapes and drawing on portraits to make new creations.
In 1998, Xavier set up his own photography workshop and darkroom near Marseille, France. Since that time he has worked on long-term themes that he explores over several years: portraits, cities at dawn, etc. Each of his photographic subjects become a personal exploration allowing him to meet people, discover other universes – to learn, to grow. Sensitive to the beauty of things, to the fragility of the moment, Xavier fixes his visual impressions to keep and watch.
But for Xavier capturing the image is only the beginning, as the final print does not yet exist. It is in his studio that he slowly builds it and where it ultimately takes a final form. He attaches great importance to obtaining the final object – the one he has pre-visualized or the one that offers itself to him in sometimes surprising and unpredictable ways. And if the technique requires discipline, rigor and the application of a precise protocol, Xavier also leaves room for failures and experimentation because he knows that processing “errors” sometimes give rise to singular and unexpected beauty, opening up new avenues of creativity.
Xavier lives and works in the south of France, leading photography workshops in the city of Marseille.
