"Etienne Ruggeri presents his photo shots, each more out of the ordinary than the other, with their own disturbing, fun and magical identities.
With his lenses, ideas and a good dose of talent to take his subjects to their extreme, Etienne Ruggeri fixes no limits to his borderless imagination. By burning the whites out, giving life to what is vague, fading the corners, firing up the colours and aging the shots, the viewer is carried away to the photographer’s ‘minuscropic cosmos’ where pleasure and fun abound, free to breathe before the work of a photographer who takes not being serious seriously.
The man behind the photographer is inquisitive about everything and has decided to shape the world as he pleases. He is always on the look-out and continually observing the world around him. He looks to be where he is least expected and free to set out his unique artistic territory by redefining a space-time and place that can only belong to him.
Whenever Etienne stumbles upon an object in a state of neglect, the man becomes creator and with his limitless creativity, his mind teeming with ideas, obsessed by an image, he seizes the abandoned object and caresses it with his artistic fantasies until it comes back to life: the Sofabsurde series is just one example of his resurrections – two faded velvet-covered travelling armchairs. For several months, Etienne took them from one corner of Lyon to the other, to sit proud above a narrow bridge or immersed in the water of a fountain. They were also seen recently in the streets of Paris, just another leg before other final journeys.  Under Etienne’s loving eyes, the two battered seats, once treated like trash, rediscover the joys of life and have a great time interacting with the many different characters they meet up with on their travels..." Text Sophie Ansel