Jacques Pugin

Jacques Pugin
Jacques Pugin at the EW Galerie in Paris ...
Website	www.jacquespugin.ch

Jacques Pugin (born May 20, 1954 in Riaz, Switzerland) is an artist-photographer. He is one of the precursors of the Light Painting technique, which consists in capturing luminous traces during the photographic process, either via direct exposure of the sensor to the light source, or else to a lit subject. Jacques constructs his images by intervening either in the actual capturing process (incamera) or in post-production, using various techniques, such as drawing, painting or digital tools. If the subject of his early work was the Body, since then he primarily photographs Nature. A feature of Jacques Pugin's work is his particular focus on traces or signs, that indicate the presence of human or natural elements in the landscape. His photographs are a reflection on time, space and the complex relation between man and nature.

At 18, against his father's will, Jacques Pugin moves to Zurich to become a photographer. Suzanne Abelin, who runs Gallery 38, one of the first galleries in Switzerland dedicated to photography, curates his first solo exhibition in 1977. In 1978, he moves to his first studio in Geneva, where he meets many artists. He then travels to Greece, where he produces a photographic work for which he obtains in 1979 the Federal Grant of Applied Arts (Switzerland). He goes on to make the series titled Grafted Graffiti, using light painting. This series has been widely exhibited and published on an international level. Three years in a row he obtains the Federal Grant of Fine Arts (Switzerland) in 1980, 1981 and 1982.

In 1983, he keeps working with Red Graffiti investigating colour technique. In 1984 he produces a series Toys. This series is in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and in the private collection of Mr. and Mrs Auer, who will publish the stills in the book "A History of Photography" in 2003.

In 1985, at the triennial of Fribourg in Switzerland, Polaroid makes available a 50 x 60 cm camera with which Jacques creates the series The Polaroids, a series which now forms part of the eponymous collection. The same year, J. Pugin was entered into " the International Encyclopaedia of photographers from 1939 to today ", published by Camera Obscura.

In the 1990s, Jacques Pugin becomes interested in the still images as they are taken from a video source, giving rise to a series of photographs entitled Blue Mountain and a book of the same name, with text by Jean-Michel Olivier, published by Idees et Calendes. His investigations then develop into a few series on the theme of vegetation.