Fabien Marques (*1982) is a visual artist. He lives and works in Turin and Cividale del Friuli, Italy.
He gained his MA Visual Arts at Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design after completing a BA (Hons) Fine Art Photography at the Glasgow School of Art.
His artworks have been shown in the context of numerous exhibitions and festivals, such as the Copenhagen Photo Festival and the Glasgow Festival for Visual Arts. He has taken part in exhibitions, among others, at Recyclart Brussels, Galerie CC in Malmö, Sweden, and Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow. He was awarded to Prix Wicar in Rome and was selected for Salon de Montrouge in 2018. He was shortlisted for the Fabbri Foundation Prize for Contemporary Art in 2020.
Fabien Marques is a visiting lecturer at Lille University, France, and Udine University, Italy, and he’s been involved for several years as the head of the board of Fructôse, an organization supporting visual artists in Dunkirk, France.
He is represented by the SMdot gallery in Udine, Italy.
The photographic image is central to the practice of Fabien Marques. His works are the result of an interest in the beauty of the ordinary, the banal aesthetics. Exploring places that do not attract attention, it operates between the undefined boundaries of the document and art, representing most often an area without human figures. This absence suggests the presence, creating a meeting point between the expressive, technical, and social forces of an image.
His works often stem from historical and scientific investigations and usually explore territories marked by invisible stories. From intensive research, he reconstructs a constellation of iconographic and textual elements that illuminate and re-contextualize historical or particular events. Through spatial dispositions, the French artist puts the photographic image under pressure to question the ability of the medium to represent the world.
Marques pays meticulous attention to the smallest details, where non-event becomes the subject matter of the photograph.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022
Trent’anni senza Moretti, Musei Civici, Udine, curated by Altreforme [IT] /solo
2021
ReA art fair, Milan [IT]
2020
Premio Francesco Fabbri per le Arti Contemporanee, Pieve di Soligo [IT]
Le distinzioni, SMDot, Udine,
curated by Stefano Monti [IT] /solo
2019
Talkie Walkie - Walkie Talkie [PL], Fructôse, Dunkirk [FR]
Archifoto, a retrospective, La Chambre, Strasbourg [FR]
2018
Microscripts: intervention in space, Castle Museum, Pszczyna, curated by Ars Cameralis [PL]
Billets d’échange, Banque de France of Dunkirk, artworks in public space, curator: Anne Rivolet [FR]
Salon de Montrouge, curated by Ami Barak & Marie Gautier, 63rd edition [FR]
2017
Format à l’italienne Roma, Fondamenta Gallery, Rome [IT] Format à l’italienne, Espace Le Carré, Lille [FR]
2016
Ligne de fret, Arab World Institute, Tourcoing [FR] Today’s homes, Maison Vide, Crugny [FR]
2015
Watch This Space, Young artists biennale, Chateau Coquelle, Dunkirk [FR] /solo
Une fois chaque chose, Musée du Touquet-Paris-Plage, Le Touquet [FR]
Le Travail en corps, encore, Le Tandem, Arras [FR]
2014
Der Mannergarten, Galleri CC, Malmö [SE] /solo
2013
Archifoto 2012, HEAR Haute Ecole d’Art du Rhin, Mulhouse [FR] Un point se trouvant à la même distance de tous les points, HED, Tourcoing [FR]
2012
Archifoto 2012, Galerie La Chambre, Strasbourg [FR]
Quinzaine Photographique Nantaise, Galerie Rayon Vert, Nantes [FR]
Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen [DK]
Manifesto 11, A Comedy Of Errors, Glasgow Festival for Visual Art [UK]
Demonstration #3, Recyclart, Brussels [BE] /solo
CubeOpen, Cube Centre for Urban Built Environment, Manchester [UK]
2011
Futureproof 2011: New Photography in Scotland, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow [UK]
Emerging Creative Talent Unleashed, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow [UK]
53 degrees north, New School House Gallery, York [UK]
Will nothing be understood by the totems of today?, Studio 41, Glasgow [UK]
AWARDS
2018
Supporting project bursary, French Ministry of Culture (DRAC) [FR]
2015
Bursary for visual artists, Nord-Pas de Calais Region [FR]
2013
Bursary for visual artists, French Ministry of Culture (DRAC) [FR]
2012
International Award for the Architectural Photography , Prix Spécial du Jury, La Chambre, Strasbourg [FR]
PUBLICATIONS, RESIDENCIES
2023
Residency and workshop, ”Transhumant landscapes” - Isoipse, Province of Udine and Pordenone [IT]
2021
Publication, Robida #7 “Forest” [IT]
2019
Studio program residency, Cripta747, Turin [IT]
2018
Residency, The Museum of Loss and Renewal - artconnexion, Collemacchia [IT-FR]
2017
Prix Wicar, City of Lille residency in Rome [IT]
2015
Publication, Photoworks Annual “Women” [UK]
2014
Residency at Greylight Projects, Heerlen [NL]
Publication, D!NG Magazine [BE]
COLLECTIONS
Instytucja Kultury Ars Cameralis – Silesia Region [PL]
European House for Architecture – Rhin Supérieur, Strasbourg [FR]
Ciy of Lille [FR]
TRAINING
2011-12
MA Visual Art, Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design 2008-11 BA (Honours) Fine Art Photography, Glasgow School of Art Erasmus studies abroad at the Academy of Visual Art (HGB), Leipzig 2006-08
University Degree Art History, Lille 3 University
RELATED ACTIVITIES
2015-19
Head of the board of Fructôse - supporting artists organization, Dunkirk [FR]
2013-16
Runner of La Confection Idéale - artist-run space, Tourcoing [FR]
2010-16,
Member of Transmission Gallery, Glasgow [UK]
TEACHING
Since 2015
Visiting lecturer – University of Lille, Fr - Faculty of Visual Arts
2022-23
Visiting lecturer – University of Udine, It - Department of Humanities
2014-15
Lecturer – Calais Art School - Foundation class