Spark of Life: Rudy Pilarski’s illuminated landscapes go on show in Fontenay-aux-Roses

Light enters the landscape: in Fontenay-aux-Roses, in the Hauts-de-Seine, the Espace Rosa Bonheur presents photographs by Rudy Pilarski in the exhibition Spark of Life, from November 12 to December 6, 2026. At 20 avenue Jean Moulin, the self-taught photographer gathers images created through light painting, a technique that captures moving light during a long exposure. Buildings, reliefs and horizons thus become partners in compositions traced across the night.

The principle becomes clear when you look at the photographs: as the camera records the scene, a light source moves and leaves a trace in the image. Rudy Pilarski uses steel wool and flaming juggling torches, whose movements are captured with exposure times of about fifteen seconds. Circles, trajectories, and bursts of sparks then appear before the landscapes, creating a contrast between darkness and light.

This line of inquiry extends an interest in the forms, perspectives, symmetries, and geometry. After discovering photography in 2012, Rudy Pilarski developed his practice from 2016, and later decided to present his work in 2019. In color as in black and white, he composes his images by placing particular emphasis on architectural lines and the arrangement of space.

Clichés from Spark of Life were captured across the photographer’s travels in France, from urban streets to seaside shores and alpine peaks. The light added during the shoot reshapes how we read the spaces: it highlights a perspective, echoes a form, or injects movement into an otherwise still environment. The exhibition invites viewers to see how the same landscape can be reinterpreted as a graphic composition through the photographer’s gesture.

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The opening reception, scheduled for Thursday, November 12 at 7 p.m., will be held in the presence of the artist, offering an opportunity to talk about their career and technique. Light-painting workshops are also scheduled for the morning and afternoon, giving visitors a chance to discover the tools and how these images are made.

In front of these images, the eye tries to reconstruct the gesture that produced them. Where does the motion begin, what trajectory does it follow, and what is left of the landscape when you fix your gaze on the sparks? These are questions you'll take with you, camera or not.

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