Laurent Chéhère, Cirque, 2012

Laurent Chéhère | Flying Houses

Laurent Chéhère is a photographer who likes architecture, films, concepts and travelling. This Parisian by birth is a former award-winning advertising for his campaign “Road Safety. Audi or Nike”. One day he decides to leave the advertising to go around the world. From Shanghai to Valparaiso, from Srinagar to Ushuaia, from La Paz to Lhasa, from Bamako to Bogota he feed his imagination and give us his view of the world and others. He loves exploring the cities, suburbs, country, as he likes to explore all fields of photography from reportage to conceptual image.

Laurent Chéhère, Linge qui sèche, 2012

Its particular interest in architecture and offset ideas brought to life the series of Flying Houses – a whimsical collection of homes, tents, trailers, and cottages that are seemingly suspended in mid-air. Real house? Imaginary house? He tries to show us their hidden beauty pulling them out of their anonymity and perhaps invites us to leave. Employing traditional photography and digital manipulation, his surreal series elevates architecture to a new level. The artist takes a variety of residential structures out of their defining neighbourhood backdrops. Released from their choked streets, the houses float amidst the clouds, like kites. The collection of work is a tribute to the old Paris and the movies including “The Red Balloon” and directors such as Hayao Miyazaki, Wim Wenders and Federico Fellini.

Laurent Chéhère, Cinema, 2012

Laurent Chéhère’s Flying Houses are a real invitation to travel and a metaphor of the fleetingness of the world that allow us to plunge into a dreamlike and moving world full of cheerfulness and humour. Laurent Chéhère exposed the series at Dock en Seine City of Fashion and Design in June 2012 where he won the Prix Special. The collection will be shown at the Biesenbach Gallery in Cologne beginning Feb. 21, 2013, and at the Lume Photo Gallery in São Paulo from May 14 to June 21, 2013.

more. www.laurentchehere.com