"Vivien is a French photography artist who draws inspiration from the mysterious and surreal, icluding the haunting works of poets Charles Baudelaire and H.P. Lovecraft. He conjures dark scenescapes, luring us to misstep into his glistening, dystopian fantasy by steering our empathy towards his faceless protagonists. We watch them, as they explore Racault's ominous realm, provoking within us the euphoric concoction of both wonder and fear.
Stars seemingly fall from the sky, faceless beings threaten us from shadowed caves. Thematically, Vivien juxtaposes beauty with death, whilst the recurrence of the distorted human image scrambles our judgement of wether we feel fear for the protagonists or wether we fear the protagonists themselves. A truly sensory series of works." Ana, Melbourne's Little Artspot, melbourneartspot.wordpress.com (3 August 2010)
"Three photographic artists Vivien Racault, Keren Dobia and Michael Ross present works which incorporate the haunting and fantastic..."
Artabase.net weekly newsletter (7 July 2010)
"The work [Incarnation] aims to restore original connections to the invisible and the sacred, through the spontaneous expression of dreams."
Artabase.net (July 2010)
"Three young artists introduce impressive portfolios at this dream-themed exhibition, pushing at the boundaries between photography and fantasy. Surreal scenes play out across two dozen canvases, from sci-fi landscapes to twisted takes on nursery rhymes. (...) French artist Vivien Racault’s work blends chiaroscuro lighting with monochrome photography to create alien worlds studded with green laser light. There’s a sci-fi back story to his almost-unpleasantly hallucinogenic works..."
Myke Bartlett, The Weekly Review (edition of 14 July 2010)
"Vivien Racault proposes us a serie of digital photographs that he considers being closer from painting than from photography. All these works are indeed the result of skilful photomontages that merge several shots, thus requiring an absolute work of «digital painting» in order to release an homogeneous and coherent set.
Vivien Racault's images thus appeal to imagination and even more to the senses. Beyond figuration, the subtle play of the chiaroscuro, the direction of the characters and the natural settings, but also lthe use of allegory introduce in his work a mystery and ambiguity unique to the Art of the Fantastic.
That's one way for Vivien Racault to ponder mankind and its relationship to the universe."
"2008/2009 Purchases" exhibition catalogue de l'exposition ", Reunion Island Department Artotheque (April 2010)
"Vivien Racault has been here from France for a year on a photography research tour. His classical, almost stilted compositions blur the lines between reality and imagination and they can be seen at Obscura Gallery."
Rohan Trollope, The Age (edition of 11 December 2009)
"Racault’s camera reacts like a witch’s mirror, introducing the world of the Known to the Unknown, granting each a moment of self-realisation.
Through visual allegories, Racault imbues a sense of ambiguity and mystery to his characters. Shrouded in classical undertones and stilted compositions, these figures are left vulnerable to the scrutiny of their worldly onlookers, while also tempting them to enter the photograph and join in their mysterious rituals. This work is an enquiry into collective fancies."
Nadav Baker, Gallery Manager, Obscura Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (Press release of the 4 November 2009)
"Make the Unknown appear, make reality switch to a phantasmagorical and mysterious fantastic : to achieve this, Vivien Racault uses both allegorical figures and vanishing points, which show meaningfully other dimensions beyond the surface. At first, we are charmed by ageless landscapes, but soon, by the time our glance gets used to the ambient chiaroscuro, this beautiful world switches to an often disturbing strangeness reflecting our own inner landscape and shadows. (...) When you get confronted to this universe, you've got two possibilities left : turning your eyes away or accepting to lose yourself in these photographs where each element is set so cleverly."
Vincent Pion, Le Quotidien (edition of 24 June 2008)
"Presumably nothing joyful, with shadows of Death hovering over an omnipresent idea of fear, with ranges of sick humour and vanishing points, always there to draw the public where they don't want to go, on the other side of the mirror of creation. (...) But, the artist (...) wants to tell everything : the shady scenes, the ambiguities, the things that are going to be born before our eyes if we are patient enough, and the meaning each of us can give to them... Finally, if you take your time, you really see things differently."
Marine Dusigne, Le JIR (edition of 11 July 2008)
"The enigmatic nature of these images can also be related to the fact that it remains impossible to define the characters by a concrete or identifiable action... as if the characters were stuck between two moments of time, just before or just after the very moment that would reveal the mystery of the action.
(...) For Caravaggio, who systematizes the use of chiaroscuro at the end of the XVIth century, this technique carries a symbolical meaning : the earthly kingdom is plunged into darkness and the intrusion of the divine - of the mystery in Vivien Racault's art - distinguishes itself by the phenomenon of light. The source of light is often set outside the composition (...), suggesting the viewer he should look for the key of the enigma beyond the visible action. Thus, Vivien's work drives us between two worlds : the Real and the Surreal, the Known and the Unknown, the Visible and the Invisible, the Darkness and the Light. The characters in his scenes are the witnesses of this secret path between two uncertain and indistinct worlds."
Laetitia Espanol, teaching brochure for school audiences, Reunion Island Department Artotheque (June 2008)
