JULIEN PALAST // SKEENDEEP
- Felipe Rodríguez-Mattern
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 9
Positioned at the crossroads of photography, sculpture, and design, Julien Palast has crafted a distinctive visual language that redefines the relationship between the human body and its representation in contemporary imagery. His work, which merges form, texture, and color, transcends the mere act of photographic capture to delve into an experimental realm where the skin becomes a field of tension between concealment and revelation.
Photos by Julien Palast ©
Texts & Content Curation by
Felipe Rodríguez-Mattern
Skin as an Ephemeral Canvas
His most emblematic series, SkinDeep, emerges as an exercise in meticulous stylization in which bodies are enveloped in heat-shrink materials of vibrant hues, creating a sculptural illusion where the human figure becomes abstracted into a chromatic relief. In a delicate balance between subtlety and audacity, Palast encapsulates the anatomy within a membrane that, rather than concealing it, accentuates it through an almost hypnotic aestheticization.
Critics have praised his ability to transform the body into a surface for visual exploration—an experiment that converses with the classical tradition of sculpture and the visual language of contemporary design. The tension between the visible and the enigmatic in his work invites reflection on the perception of the body in the age of digital imagery and the aestheticization of desire.
His masterful use of color reinforces this narrative, producing compositions of vibrant lyricism that evoke both the sophistication of industrial design and the sensuality of the human form. Far from being a purely aesthetic exercise, his photography stands as a manifesto on the materiality of the body and its reinterpretation within the contemporary visual imagination.
Palast confronts us with a transfigured beauty—a duality between the tangible and the elusive—turning the skin into a fleeting canvas where the image becomes a sensory experience. His work is, ultimately, a reflection of the constant metamorphosis of art in its dialogue with form, light, and desire.
Palast Photographie
As object specialists, Palast Photographie produces packshots, beauty shots, and still lifes in their own studio, primarily for commercial projects—though this in no way hinders their ongoing personal and collective pursuit of artistic expression.
PALAST counts among its clients prestigious names such as Baccarat, Clarins, Nina Ricci, Jean Paul Gaultier, and even Hennessy. The studio has been involved in various campaigns across France, Australia, Brazil, and Germany.