Olivier Lacour
The charm of ruins
"More beautiful than a beautiful thing is the ruin of a beautiful thing", Auguste Rodin once said. His compatriot, Olivier Lacour, born in Paris in 1972, would unreservedly agree.
For many years Lacour, the "urban explorer", has been searching for motifs of decay, whereby his particular interest lies in decaying buildings. These can be closed schools, empty factories, abandoned hotels or cinemas.
The first challenge is usually gaining access to the buildings, which is in many cases officially forbidden. But if Lacour succeeds, he creates picture compositions that help the old walls to new splendour. The pictures gain their charm precisely from the fact that their image shows not only the object itself but also the history inscribed in it. They can be described as "narrative" pictures that get their precision and maximum colour effect through the elaborate print on Alu-Dibond.
Once Lacour's work is finished, he leaves a photographed building to its deep sleep again. "Take only photographs and leave nothing but footprints" is the basic rule of the "urban explorer". Leave everything as you found it to future explorers.
