Cédric Pollet
Cédric born in Nice, France in 1976, is a C, and landscape architect. In 1999 he entered the Department of Horticulture and Landscape at the University of Reading, England. It was on this occasion that the self-professed lover of English gardens used a film camera for the first time. As luck would have it, the tormented trunk of a venerable centuries-old oak literally opened his eyes to a world that was hitherto completely unknown to him: the world of bark. It was a revelation that changed the course of his life.
And so he decided to observe trees from a much different angle and began his research on bark, a topic almost never addressed in the horticultural literature. Bark is an absolutely vital part of a tree, often overlooked and yet so magical, it reveals, to those who know how to look, a surprising and infinite pictorial diversity.
In a large number of countries around the world he has, since 1999, tracked down the most fascinating bark from trees of forests, parks and botanical gardens, accumulating more than 20,000 images covering around 500 species.
From his many botanical expeditions, Cédric Pollet brings back unique images where graphics and colours blend without limit. Some bark seems at time unreal and yet, these colours are signed Mother Nature. All the hard work of the artist lies therefore in the precise and regular observation of the most photogenic specimen so as to detect at times those changes of colour so extraordinary yet so ephemeral.
Beyond this approach, both scientific and artistic, his photos open our eyes to a world at once unexpected and yet within reach of everyone.
The result of all his research gave rise to his first book« ECORCES (BARK, An Intimate Look at the World’s Trees) », published in October 2008 by Ulmer editions. Translated into German in 2009, into English for the summer of 2010 and Japanese in 2011, the book has become a reference on the subject and was awarded the P.J. Redouté Prize.
Books
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« ÉCORCES, voyage dans l’intimité des arbres du monde / An Intimate Look at the World’s Trees » (2008) - Redouté - Artistic Award for the most beautiful book on plants of the year 2009.
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« ÉCORCES, galerie d’art à ciel ouvert » (2011)
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« JARDINS D’HIVER, une saison réinventée » (2016)
