Véronique Vial

"Véronique Vial's life changed when her father gave her a Hasselbald. Véronique Vial is interested in people, in faces, in a certain form of intimacy. The artist has a strong emotional side and goes in this direction to realize her everyday photos. From the beginning, she started to photograph celebrities. One of her most noticed series - A day in the life of Hollywood - where she captures the soul of Hollydwood stars. She takes an amused look at famous women waking up in Women before 10 AM, which will be followed by her male version, intimate portraits taken early in the morning before the public persona takes over. She characterizes herself as a portraitist. She likes to catch the essence of people and is interested in their souls.

Gallery W has chosen to exhibit a dozen prints from her Paris Naked series, which was the subject of a book published in 2009 by Editions Schirmer/Mosel. These photos, beyond their artistic quality, speak of a love story, the story of a meeting between a young woman and her native city, a city she cannot live without even on the other side of the Atlantic. This is the result of a nocturnal journey, at the limit of legality, in the city of light, with the complicity of the dancer Nathalie Pasqua. Paris and its streets, its monuments, its points and its stones, Paris which wakes up slowly in the morning after having shone all night long. 

"One day, Nathalie Pasqua asked me to photograph her"- says Véronique Vial - "We started at 6am at the entrance of the Vavin metro station. Nathalie was going down the stairs, I was taking pictures. At 8am, the city became dense, we had to stop... It was intense and delicious at the same time because Nathalie never stopped inspiring me. And neither did Paris."

Far from the fantasies of a Newtonian porno-chic with too perfect contrasts, Véronique Vial's prints take a very realistic and respectful look at the woman with her shadows and lights towards the moment she seems to prefer, in the early morning when dawn and drakness still merge. Paris wakes up, it's five o'clock... feminity laid bare."

Marie-Odile Radom