Exhibitions

Born in 1966 in Brussels.
Lives and works in Brussels.
Artist website : www.intothefight.com

Patrick Carpentier (Brussels, 1966) first initiated a stage career after studying at the Kleine Academy, where he was trained according to the method pioneered by Jacques Lecoq. After numerous theatre projects, as both director and actor, he began to make films in 2000. With a Super 8 or DV camera, Patrick Carpentier favours lightweight materials that allow him to film life – his own or that of others. It is a poetic diary, where fiction and reality intertwine with great delicacy and where the question of love and desire is central; Carpentier’s research quickly becomes a series of festivals where his images combining formal research and introversion are noticeable. For several years, Patrick Carpentier has been exploring other means, notably photography and the installation of words and texts, to further his quest and continue travelling into the great enigma of the self and the other.

"In 2006 I started using a SX-70 and set myself a rule for a certain period of time to only take pictures of random guys, always keeping if possible, the same focus and angle. I remember that I started in Liverpool at the beginning of the spring, the Sun was shining, it was very cold and the sky was bright blue. As I didn't know how to use this camera I began to play around with it just to get myself used to it. I accidentally pushed the shutter and my first polaroid picture came out with an unexpected noise. It was blue.
I understood at this very moment that I would not do only portraits. My second photo was of a boy in Hope street. The first guy I stopped. He agreed without hesitation, he posed and I told him not to do anything else. It is possibly one of my favorite pictures. Not because it is the first one but because something happened that was out of my control. He made the photo. I was just there at the right moment.
I am not someone who takes many pictures even if I always have a SX-70 ready in my bag. I often tell myself that I should take a picture but the moment has already passed. In the end, the real difficulty is to be present and catch the changing light and passing guys. These photographs are the results of such instants."

AFL, according to a text by the artist