Jacques Olivar

John Foster, South of France

1991

Jacques Olivar, where the mise-en-scène often subtly references literature and film. Olivar originally trained as an airline pilot, before spending years as a nomadic advertising photographer, gradually winning recognition and awards including the Grand Prix Strategies in 1984. This profile led to collaborations with fashion houses and international publications, working for Céline, Vogue, Giorgio Armani, Comme des Garçons and many more over the years. His Fine Art photography, which has been shot entirely on film, has also appeared in exhibitions across the world, including Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2001). Yet the images all demonstrate how Olivar’s approach moves beyond fashion and into the sphere of fine art, through his combination of beauty, glamour and sensuality with a perpetual fascination for narrative. He notes, “I always try to match two different stories together. There is the location of the story – the atmosphere, the light, the colors and the story of the woman – her eyes, her feelings, her attitude and her clothes. I like to choose for my pictures the least unexpected environment: a junkyard or a trashy diner, a lone street in a deserted ghost town or the poetry of a gas station. Then, I drive it into the ground to get the glamour of the situation.”