“Christian Boltanski, one of the most important French contemporary artists, evades definition — is he an alchemist, philosopher, potential suicide, clown or Rasputin? His work has ranged from the creation of an ‘ironic museum of the self’ to sensitive portrayals of ordinary people: a collection of school portraits from a secondary class many years ago, or snapshots of an unspecified family. Boltanski gathers old photos, clothes or personal objects which are presented as archival artifacts tracing individual lives, dramatized through his deployment of darkness and light. His art has been presented in museums and public sites all over the world and hovers between the trauma of the extermination camp depot and the redemption of the memorial shrine.”
