Bustamante, Jean-Marc

French, b. 1952 Toulouse

BiographyJean-Marc Bustamante is a painter, photographer, and sculptor who places architectural space and natural landscape in conversation through careful considerations of light, color, and symmetry. His most famous photography series, Tableaux, (1978-1982) captured the Barcelona suburbs in what became his signature style of largescale, high-contrast works that he calls “photographic paintings.” In No.38, (1980) in the Museum of Contemporary photography collection, Bustamante depicts the before-and-after of a building’s construction. The pile of untended dirt is centered between completed buildings, evoking the potential for and expectation of transformation. This print is part of the Renaissance Society Photographic Portfolio, which was produced in 2013 as a compilation of twelve prints by renowned photographers who held solo exhibitions at the art space within the University of Chicago.
Jean-Marc Bustamante was an assistant to American photographer William Klein in the mid-1970s. His collaboration BazileBustamante with sculptor Bernard Bazile began in 1983 and marked a stylistic shift into multimedia, where he created hybrid works exploring the boundaries between photography and sculpture. Between 1987-1997, he participated in three editions of Documenta. He was selected to represent France at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, and went on to receive the medal of the Chevalier de la Légion in 2008. Bustamante has had solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Villa Medici, Rome; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; and others.