Untitled I (Montpellier), photographic print

Photographer Matthieu Venot captures views of an abstract paradise. The artist takes a minimalist approach to photography, seeking out the color and geometry of an architectural features and focusing in until the shapes take on new meaning.

Untitled III (BRUT), photographic print

I love Venot’s recent series of building portraits. In each of these photographs, a single apartment tower forms a monolithic central figure, bordered on either side by slices of blue sky, suggesting that the tower is the only object for miles around. The bare, stark simplicity of these photographs encourages the examination of fine details, like the small anomalies of personal objects seen through windows, or on balconies.

Venot’s sunny, almost tropical settings create an odd and intriguing tension between the almost desolate sparseness of his subjects and the cheerful implications of his palette. Many of the photos remind me of Like clean, sleek versions of Mark Broyer’s photos of uninhabited locations.

Untitled XIII (BRUT), photographic print