Was born in 1958. He lives and works in Brussels.
It’s difficult to avoid clichés when photographing the New York skyline in black and white, but Dratwa’s pictures particularly seen as a series, have an added dimension in their formulaic fore, mid and background composition.
They have a very particular atmosphere, almost voyeuristic, with the figures in silhouette, photographed from behind against the sharply contrasted shaft of natural light through the window combining the gaze of the photographer and the subject over the downtown skyline. The photographs are printed in a meter by a meter and half to maximize the sense of the immense.
Dratwa, the former editor of Domino from 1987 to 1990 is a self-taught photographer, now living in Brussels, whose many travels over the last few decades spawned a multitude of atmospheric cityscape scenes.
“One day I sat down in front of the window on the 66th floor of the Rockfeller center in New York,” Luc Dratwa explains. “I was deeply touched by the poetry of the location. I felt as if I was vacillating between heaven and earth, as if I was elsewhere and I felt that I had to capture this exceptional moment”.
So began a photographic project capturing joe public, unaware, in poses of dreamy contemplation as they take a rest on the bench of the 66th floor.
(Wallpaper – 05/08/99)
Exhibitions and Fairs:
2021
New York Fascination – Galerie Artima – Paris
2020
Windows Tale – Leonhard’s Gallery – Antwerp – BE
2019
Windows Tale – Galerie Artima – Paris
2018
Mixed – Group show – Leonhard’s Gallery – Antwerp – BE
2017
Absolute Art Gallery – Brussels
Nights – Luc Dratwa – Absolute Art Gallery – Knokke – BE
Rotterdam WTC – Rotterdam Contemporary Art Fair – NL
2016
East West – Leonhard’s Gallery – Antwerp – BE
2015
Fotofever – Macadam Gallery – Paris
Tel Aviv Photo 2015 – Tel Aviv – IL
AAF London Battersea – Wanrooij Gallery – London – GB
Charity Auction “L’Accueil” – Brussels – BE
Lille Art Fair – Absolute Art Gallery – Lille – FR
London Art Fair – Wanrooij Gallery – GB
2014
Art Miami – Leslie Smith Gallery – Amsterdan – USA
LXRY Art Fair – Leslie Smith Gallery – Amsterdan – NL
Amsterdam Art Fair I Leslie Smith Gallery – Amsterdam – NL
Absolute Art Gallery – Knokke – BE
Lille Art Up – Gallery 138 – Lille – FR
Lille Art Up – Leonhard’s Gallery – Lille – FR
Hong Kong Art Fair – Bruno Art Group – Hong Kong – HK
Brussels Art Fair – United Gallery – BE
Art India – Bruno Art Group – New Dehli – IN
U.S. Embassy – Brussels – BE
2013
Charity Auction – Pierre Bergé & Associés – FR
Singapore Art Fair – Bruno Art Group – SG
Fotofever – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Subway – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Lille Art Fair – Gallery 138 – Lille – FR
Hong Kong Art Fair – United Gallery – HK
Kasia Kay Art Project – Chicago – USA
Art Gent – Leonhard’s Gallery – BE
Lalanta Fine Art Gallery – Bangkok – TH
Off Art Fair – Young Gallery – Brussels – BE
New Art Fair – Doinel Gallery – Paris – FR
2012
Art Miami Context – Kasia Kay Gallery – Miami – USA
Art Gent – United Gallery – Gent – BE
Art London – Doinel Gallery – London – GB
Subway – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Fotofever – Leonhard’s Gallery – Brussels – BE
AAF NY – United Gallery – NYC – USA
Cara Design Gallery – Saint Tropez – FR
Art Hamptons – NYC – USA
Leonhard’s Gallery – Antwerpen – NL
Subway – Absolute Gallery – Knokke – BE
Art Paris – Paris – FR
Subway – Young Gallery – Brussels – BE
Pierre Bergé – L’Accueil – Brussels – BE
Windows – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Galerie Envie d’Art – Paris – FR
2011
Lineart – Gent – BE
Red Dot Art Fair – Miami – USA
Art Elysées – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Windows – Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
Galerie Alfican – Brussels – BE
Young Gallery – Brussels – BE
AFF – NYC – USA
Galerie Artima – Paris – FR
United Gallery – Brussels
AAF – Amsterdam – NL
AAF – Brussels – BE
Pierre Bergé – L’Accueil – Brussels – BE
2010
Lineart – Gent – BE
Cutlog Fair – Paris – FR
Windows – Galerie Philippe Chaume – Paris – FR
Filigrane librairie – Brussels – BE
US Embassy – Media Hub – Brussels – BE
Affordable Art Fair – Conrad Hotel – Brussels – BE
2009
Young Gallery – Brussels – BE
Young Gallery – Knokke – BE
AAF – Brussels – BE