Interview with Denis Olivier

#1 Please introduce yourself:
My full name is Denis Olivier. Nothing less, nothing more, and I’m French. I’m currently living in Bordeaux, since 6 years ago; it is a new redesigned old city, with a lot of history that has been officially recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Besides that we have the famous Bordeaux wine and the sea is not so far away. It’s a beautiful and pleasant place to live. Everyone is welcome!

#2 How did you get interested in photography?
First with my parents. We have a permanent darkroom in the house (and it is still there) and when you are a young boy, all of this is fascinating and magical. Later I preferred drawing and painting. But I really needed to learn photography during Art School education. Here I discovered technical skills and practiced a lot, burning several rolls a week, during many years.

#3 Do you have an artistic/photographic background?
Artistic, yes. After biochemical studies, I went to an Art School to learn first painting, drawing, photography and sculpture, the basics. I finally chose Computer Arts, especially 3D generated pictures. While I was discovering advanced computer programming, I’ve started to develop my own 3D software and sold them worldwide. I also worked later in Architecture and hyperrealist renderings.

#4 I remember when I first saw your marvelous photograph, it was ‘The open space II’. The sky in this picture gives a feeling of a really rough scene, very much like in your other photographs. What other factors fascinate you and influence your works?
Most of the time a relation with the past, the history, wild places where life has disappeared. Isolation reassures me; all is quiet and peaceful without civilization – there are only elements around. We, human beings, are almost nothing when you compare us to the absolute Universe. Since the Big-Bang, our living experience time is exactly a tear drop in the sea. These running skies for example are one of the ways to perceive this relativity.

#5 Photographs with such long exposure make the world look really desolate and lonely. Why have you chosen to present your works in such a form?
Maybe because I feel lonely by default. Most of people around me seem aggressive, egocentric, thinking they rule the world even though they are nothing in Universe. Every day I need to exchange and fight for my own life and company, and I’ve found in long exposure and lost places moments where I can contemplate the World, take my time, and forget all the city stuff to feel the roots.

#6 In your latest series ‘Dreamspace’ you showed the viewers a completely surreal world. What inspired you to make this series?
It is an old project I have in my mind. I like the idea to compose exactly what I want, when I want it, and how I want it to be. I can set the mood, try, test, modify – well, very much like the act of drawing or painting somehow. In our family we have many old photographs from the two past centuries and I like to mix anachronistic elements together; it forces the brain to connect between things that normally can’t be linked together. Here the dream begins. Many people were surprised, even disappointed, because it’s far from long exposures, but it is part of my imagination too, and long exposure shots need to travel a lot with complex and heavy equipment, particularly when the weather is bad. This series has the advantage of mixing simple elements in complex scenes. I like the challenge, making them real but not really… Within the doubt, imagination starts.

#7 You are a creator of Art Limited, can you tell us more about this project?
Art Limited is a project derived from Preface where artists need to speak about their work. The rules weren’t really followed and the site has been mostly used to exhibit only. While browsing through many Art communities, I’ve never found something I like personally, so I’ve decided to develop mine and propose it to others. I’m happy with it at this time, trying to propose an elegant design with plenty of functionalities really needed by artists.