Europe

Pierre Gonnord

Bimba y Delfin

2000

Bimba y Delfin, 2002

Bimba y Delfin is part of a larger body of work by Pierre Gonnord focusing on the analysis and description of the lifestyles of urban youth in large Western cities. These images reflect on new canons of beauty, and the appearances and simulacra of fashion for a new generation. In particular, these works consider themes of androgyny, crossbreeding, and recycling. Part of a series titled Regards the large format image features faces and busts of two young people in the nude, isolated by a black background. The duo bear the signature traits of an urban millennial aesthetic, indicated by their unconventional hairstyles and eyebrows, tattoos, and piercings. Produced in Gonnord’s studio, the image acts as both documentation of the abstract and generic codes for contemporary beauty canons, while also offering a psychological portrait of the individuals. Gonnord notes that all of his subjects are carefully selected for their look, so that the work maintains a strong relationship with fashion and the world of appearances.

Pierre Gonnord is known for his large scale photographic portraits of people who inhabit the fringes of society. Drawing inspiration from masters of the portrait genre, Gonnord looks to marginalized, ostracized, and subversive communities as his subjects. A key aspect of Gonnord’s practice entails spending long periods of time with the people in such communities, among them coal miners, punks, immigrants, and gypsies, before distilling his experience into a portrait. Gonnord approaches his subject through a deeply compassionate lens, creates reverent images that elicit his sitters’ storied pasts. Similarly, Gonnord’s landscape work represents the desecrated, unearthly environments populated by outsiders, nomads, and those who exist off the grid. Gonnord’s work is a testament to the casualties—human and environmental—left behind by a quickly developing world.

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Pierre Gonnord Bimba y Delfin

Pierre Gonnord

Bimba y Delfin