Spell: Karel Fonteyne

Karel Fonteyne (°1950) is a prominent Belgian photographer. Due to a significant age gap with his siblings, he spent much of his childhood alone in nature, deepening his sensitivity to the world and its intangible dimensions. He is fascinated by the inexplicable and mysterious, a theme that pervades his work.

After his artistic studies, Fonteyne began his career as an art photographer, gaining recognition with exhibitions in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels and the Royal Palace on the Meir in Antwerp. In 1980, he moved to Italy and embarked on a 17-year career as a fashion photographer, traveling the world. He worked particularly for Vogue, taking fashion out of its conformist context and placing it in a new universe, using both imaginative and dramatically realistic rhetoric, often with humor. He also collaborated with Martin Margiela, Dirk Bikkembergs, Walter Van Beirendonck, Marina Yee, and Dirk Van Saene.

Fonteyne starts with an intuitive feeling that he allows to mature. His work defies traditional categories; each image is a stage, a story. He uses photography like a writer uses words to create a unique world situated between the impossible and reality.