Jean-Luc Mylayne’s quest deals above all with the intimate and furtive relation between him and the bird. "Like a cross between an ornithologist and a film director, he first scouts locations and then after selecting and studying a particular habitat, he spends a great deal of time observing the local pool of avian actors. Eventually he chooses a few individual birds to focus on. Through his constant presence, they gradually become accustomed to him and allow him to photograph from relatively close by (Mylayne eschews the use of telephoto lenses). But even then, the taking of a picture is far from a spontaneous action : the artist calculates in advance every element from lighting to composition before settling down and patiently awaiting the cooperation of his avian performer. It is a time-consuming way of making photographs, but it enables Mylayne to produce subtle and often startling images. Rather than portray his subjects in definitive close-up, he depicts them as elements in a surrounding landscape, preserving a sense of their tiny size."
Ralph Rugoff, extracts from the exhibition catalogue
