There's something slightly dodgy, awkward, and, let's face it, a little embarrassing about the Star Wars paraphernalia lining your bedroom shelves. Don’t worry, we get it—no home is complete without a Yoda teapot, Darth Vader USB stick or an R2-D2 trash can. But there’s a better way to integrate scenes and characters from the trilogy (err… hexalogy? let's call it a "saga" and leave it like that) into your daily life than with silly knickknacks.Cédric Delsaux's photo series, for instance, is an artistic homage to the Star Wars legacy that exceeds the simple “fan tribute.” His new book, Dark Lens, compiles a few years' worth of photos that borrow emblematic visual elements from the films and stage them in realistic settings through highly sophisticated collage work. His urban landscapes combine down-to-Earth realism and sci-fi fantasy, toying with styles both alien and familiar, strange and intimate: spaceships parked next to construction cranes, Imperial Guards keeping watch on a parking lot, an X-Wing storming the sky of the suburban French business district of La Défense.In an interview for the French magazine lexpress.fr (in French), Delsaux explains that he never wanted to "do the work of a Star Wars fan." He also recalls how Georges Lucas heard of his work and loved it, to the point that the director himself agreed to write the foreword for the photography book and to gave Delsaux license to publish elements of his saga. Lucas also admittedly bought 25 copies of the book in advance. So, who’s the fanboy now?
Dark Lens by Cédric Delsaux – Editions Xavier Barral. Out October 20th.Visuals courtesy of: © Cédric Delsaux, Éditions Xavier Barral, 2011
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