Snapshots - Instantanés de New York

or

Reinventing New York — between pigment, pixels, and memory

Galerie Catherine Pennec is delighted to present the exhibition Snapshots – Instantanés de New York by visual artist Frédéric Nolleau, on view from October 16 to November 15, 2025.

Trained as a graphic designer, Frédéric Nolleau creates hybrid works that blend photography and painting. Starting from his own photographs taken on the streets of New York, he transforms each image through a process of physical experimentation — scratching, layering, erasing, pigmenting — pushing the original material toward a new visual and sensory state.

This new body of work offers a mental landscape of New York, far removed from the postcard cliché. The artist seeks out visual tension, ambiguity, and the hidden rhythms of the urban environment. His images are not reproductions of the city but evocations of an inner space, shaped by memory, imagination, and gesture.

“What I’m looking for is tension. Atmosphere. Something slightly unstable, on the edge of the visible,” explains Nolleau.

“I’m not aiming for a beautiful picture — I look for ambiguous zones.”

The opening reception will take place on Thursday, October 16 at 6 p.m., with the artist in attendance. Visitors will be able to explore his singular visual language — influenced by contemplative cinema, fragmented narratives, and the layered density of urban life.