Philippe Shangti

Philippe Shangti is a multidisciplinary French contemporary artist. Born in 1983 in Toulouse, he studied in this city then he moved to Saint-Tropez at the beginnings of the 2000s. He became known by exhibiting his art on the walls of trendy restaurants. Ten years later, he moved to the Principality of Andorra.

From his beginnings, the artist publishes regularly new collections. Centered on a specific theme, he always denounces different problems affecting society. In 2013, his photographic collection "Art vs. Drugs" launches his career. His works are exhibited in about galleries around the world and in collectors' homes. In 2019, Philippe Shangti is chosen to represent the Principality of Andorra at the 58th Venice Biennale with his project "The Future is Now". This time, those works are focus on the impact of humanity on the environment and the future of our planet.

Early life and education

Philippe Shangti was born in 1983, and raised in Jolimont area at Toulouse. At a very young age, he became interested in photography. |author=Philippe Shangti

Career

Beginnings in Saint-Tropez The artist imagined the design of Le Quai and L'Opera, restaurants located on the port of Saint-Tropez where he also exhibits his art collections.

At the beginnings of the 2000s, Joseph Geenen, a multiple restaurant owner, chose Philippe Shangti to be responsible for the artistic management of a new restaurant Le Quai located on the port of Saint-Tropez He depicted the fact that under drugs influence you may think your are great and super but it is not the case. He used models dressed as botoxed dolls and also well known comic book heroes like Hulk, Batman or Superman In 2012, Philippe Shangti presents in London his exhibition "Saint Tropez to London" at Imitate Modern whose 28 provocative color images present a visual cocktail of drugs, fetishism, anarchy, sex and death. One year later, he introduced his collection "Art vs. Drugs" which is again denouncing drugs. It is considered as the photographic collection that revealed him to the general public and launched his career.

Also situated on the port of Saint-Tropez, The Opera, a true restaurant – art gallery, is inaugurated in 2014. It is a unique artistic concept imagined by Philippe Shangti, where photographs, sculptures and live shows, inspired by his latest collection, blend together. Through creative shows, the artist brings his creations to life on the restaurant's central tables, arranged like podiums, creating a living art gallery. In the following years he always exhibit in the establishment to present his new creations. Prostitution is denounced in the collection "No Prostitution Here", exhibited in April 2016.

Studio in Andorra

The 2018 collection "No Topless Here" focused on the women's empowerment. From 11 May 2019, to 24 November 2019, the artist exhibits several creations at the Institute Santa Maria della Pietà, Venice. Using different types of art such as photography and sculpture, grouped under the name "The Future is Now", those works address the impact of humanity on the environment and the future of our planet.

Inspired by Gustave Courbet's work, Philippe Shangti presented "Beauté Sauvage" ("Wild Beauty"), a new exhibition first visible online on his website, where the woman is converted in the center of the seduction. From 15 July 2020, to 3 January 2021, he exhibits the project "The Future is Now" at the Museum of Fine Arts at Carcassonne The second lockdown in France, preventive measure in response to COVID-19, and some closure imposed on cultural places, penalized partially the exhibition. It is extended until 18 April 2021, with the addition of new works. His 2020 collection is named "No Animal Killer Here". In December 2021, Philippe Shangti opens his restaurant, La Petite Forêt, right in the center of Andorra la Vella. The establishment is managed by his brother.

In March 2023, Philippe Shangti donates the statue Babies are hope, which was part of the project "The Future is Now", to the Museum of Fine Arts at Carcassonne. His collection "Seven", presented in his studio in May 2023, illustrates the seven deadly sins.

Analysis multiple image

image1 = Francesco Melzi - Portrait of Leonardo.png alt1 = image2 = David_LaChapelle_Rudolfinum_4.JPG alt2 = Portrait of Leonardo da Vindi footer = Philippe Shangti can as well find inspiration in well-known painters such as Leonardo da Vinci (left), Working alone at the beginning, he then moves on to creations where he is at the head of about fifteen assistants.

Art can guide people's mentality and speak to them in a very different way than television or the press. Art has contributed a lot to the development of humanity. It shows us new ways. Those things that we think are impossible become reality through art.

On some occasions, Philippe Shangti has been inspired by photos taken by James Bidgood or David LaChapelle, whose works also present a critique of the society full of excess and vanity. Often to make sure his message is understood, the artist goes so far as to write his message in English on the bodies of his models. He also often sign his works with his hand directly on his models. During interviews, Philippe Shangti cites the French artist and fashion photographer Guy Bourdin known for his provocative images as another source of inspiration.

Émilie Frafil, conservation assistant at the Museum of Fine Arts of Carcassonne, explains that the use of nudity in Philippe Shangti's work reveals the beauty but also constitutes small hints of historical, mythological, biblical and artistic references. In Shangti Da Vinci Fusion Basic, four famous painting portraits of women in half body made by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine, Mary Magdalene, Mona Lisa, La Belle Ferronnière, give way to the naked busts of the photo models. Philippe Shangti makes a nod to the Italian Renaissance where artists were inspired by Antiquity, a period during which the naked body was magnified. The staging of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's work The Garden of Earthly Delights confronts two antinomic visions. If in Gothic art, nudity symbolizes sin, human misery, in Philippe Shangti it is on the contrary synonymous with beauty, aestheticism, ideal.