Florent Tanet THE DAILY STILL LIFE

“More than photography, it is the story of the image that interests me particularly,” says Florent Tanet, whose still-life compositions meet at the intersection between Pop Art and graphic design. After working in the art direction and image departments for fashion brands, Tanet achieved success as a photographer when his series “Colorful Winter,” which consisted of slices of fruits and vegetables arranged as if they were color fields in a minimalist painting, was shown at the French department store Bon Marché in 2013. Ever since, Tanet has worked for a number of major publications and brands, including Chanel, Fast Company, Le Monde, The New Yorker and Nike.

The pictured series is inspired by his daily life. “My approach is that of a ‘lazy person’ who does not make much effort and who creates with what is most common—fruits and vegetables, games and papers,” he says. Tanet’s process, however, is anything but lazy. He first sketches his ideas, and then creates intricate sculptures out of the objects that he has chosen. “Photography is the last step for me,” he says, referring to both “the work of light and post-production.”

It’s hard not to assign meaning to Tanet’s photographs based on our own visual references: They resemble digital collages or seem like advertisements, though they are not trying to sell anything. They are merely photographs of exactly what they depict. “All my compositions are real and I want to keep this natural look,” Tanet says.

The series is an ongoing personal project. One day, Tanet hopes to show these images together in an exhibition.

—Brienne Walsh

Photos © Florent Tanet florenttanet.fr