Particularly since the 1960s, the French language has rather uniquely championed the term ‘arts plastiques’ (‘plastic arts’), a term long-abandoned in other languages and contexts in favour of alternatives like the ‘visual’ or ‘fine arts’. Probably because of this, some artists still define themselves as ‘artiste-plasticien’ (‘plastician’), as opposed to ‘artiste-peintre’ (‘painter’)  or ‘artisan-designer’. The term suggests an emphasis on matter rather than image, and points at artistic activity as an exploration of materials and forms through a variety of modes. Jean-Luc Moulène tends to call himself a ‘plasticien’, even though photography is the medium for which he first gained recognition in the 1990s. But this choice is not just a matter of French habit — rather, it is a revealing move that suggests not only that image-making is just part of his practice, but that the idea of materials, their manipulation and what they might say about the form of society and the possibility of its transformation is at the core of his work. 

Moulène studied arts plastiques (and literature) in Paris during the 1970s, after which he worked as an artistic adviser for a branch of the French electronics company Thomson, from 1981 to 1989, and, for a brief period in 1989, in commercial advertising. These early experiences with the fabrication of the imagery of products and brands familiarised him with the specific methodologies used in publicity and communication, and helped him analyse the desired effects of images on the social behaviours of consumers. As a result, his photographs, which span the genres of portraiture, still life, landscape and the street scene, critique the seductive character of conventional media representation, and the manipulations it allows. Though