Dear Friends,
Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff: the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery explores the skies with acclaimed photographer Manolo Chrétien and his dynamic Nose Art exhibition.
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Dear Friends, Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff: the MB&F M.A.D.Gallery explores the skies with acclaimed photographer Manolo Chrétien and his dynamic Nose Art exhibition. |
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Chrétien combines his artistic talents and imagination with his aeronautical experiences, turning iconic aircraft into emotionally powerful art. From a deluxe 1960s Learjet to military vessels like the Dassault Rafale and the Etoile de Suisse (“Star of Switzerland”), one of the first TWA Constellation aircrafts converted for civilian service, his images offer a dynamic and unusual dead-on visual perspective. Chrétien’s photograph of the Concorde jetliner easily allows you to imagine the streamlined nose piercing the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, an image further accentuated by the circular cut-out format following the shape of the aircraft’s fuselage. 
The eight photographs in the Nose Art exhibition reveal the artist’s deeply rooted passion for aviation. “Nose Art is the natural outcome of ten years’ worth of trying to capture planes from a humanistic or animalistic angle, and it is the beginning of a new way of working,” Chrétien says. “It's been in my head for years, since my father, Jean-Loup Chrétien, woke me up one morning from the air through the window of my second floor bedroom in a helicopter he was testing. I remember it as if it were yesterday: the animal-like cockpit of the Alouette, my father with his Ray Bans smiling inside, motioning to say, ‘Time to get out of bed, kids!’” 
Chrétien’s childhood abounded with aeronautical adventures, so it's not surprising that these influential experiences materialize in his compositions. “My inspiration for Nose Art came suddenly while on a photo trip in the Tucson desert in 2008. I was photographing all sorts of planes when I had a flashback of my brothers and I when we were very young in the garden of our house in Orange, France – which was right next to a runway.” Chrétien shares. “Growing up I saw the tarmac, kerosene, and aluminium through the eyes of a small child; I was overwhelmed by the size of these huge metal birds flying over me. I photograph from this viewpoint today, sometimes by lying on the ground to recreate a childlike sense of scale.” 
It was no easy task for Chrétien to shoot the planes in preparation for the Nose Art exhibit as he had to photograph their noses high up off the ground. A trusty tripod and a forklift were essential to boost him high enough so that he was face-to-face with the nose of the plane, creating the best possible angle to photograph these legendary flying machines. 
The Nose Art collection has now landed at the M.A.D.Gallery in Geneva and you are welcome to stop by and let your imagination take flight. And if Geneva is not part of your travel plans anytime soon, you can keep in touch via our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (@mbfmadgallery).
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