Chiaroscuro is the italian word for « light-dark ». In art, Chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.

Thomas Paturet wears several hats. Architect, cartographer and publisher, the artist is accustomed to mixing disciplines in his various projects. T. Paturet sees the landscape as an architectural ensemble. He moves mountains like blocks of concrete through extraordinary collages. With his latest magnificent series “Chiaroscuro”, he captures this Mount Saint Helens & Mount Rainier in Washington, D.C., which he presents in a unique way, as in a movie set.

“From Rembrandt I’ve learned how little light there is in man. The Rembrandtesque portrait exhausts all its light resources; there is no more light in it. Light itself seems to be the interior refraction of a light that dies somewhere, far away. Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro doesn’t derive from bringing clarity and darkness in close proximity but from the illusion of light and from the infinity of the shadow. From Rembrandt I’ve learned that the world is born out of the shadow…”
Emil Cioran, The Book of Delusions, 1935