16 Breathtaking Photos Of Charles Pétillon’s Most Stunning Balloon Installations

French artist Charles Pétillon gives flight to his imagination in breathtaking photos of art installations of white balloons staged worldwide. In his latest series, ‘Weightlessness’, Pétillon pays homage to surrealism. The contemporary artist carefully crafts cloud-like clusters of balloons that carry a nuanced message for his audience. Pétillon got into creating his installations in 2009 when he began first researching balloons. According to the artist, the influences that led to his original exploration into this particular art form was ‘Land Art’. Pétillon elaborated, “Originally, I’m a still life photographer. For a long time, I photographed fashion accessories, cosmetic products, and more. I’ve always had the habit of photographing my subjects in settings I created myself. One day, I took a series of photos of sunglasses with a balloon setting…and that’s how the story began.”

#1 Scolytes

“Bark beetles, small destructive beetles, cause considerable damage to French forests, exacerbated by climate change. This tree is all that remains of the cutting necessary to limit the spread of the beetle in the forest about 1km from my studio (about 6 hectares of cut conifers.)

The moment I took this photograph is important to me. Indeed, I took it just before sunrise, this suspended moment, no longer quite night, not yet really day; like the rebirth of this forest. Indeed, this clearcutting will give way to new, more resilient species.”

#2 Hic iacet controversia. (There is the controversy)

“Referring to controversial statues in public spaces.

This photograph is not limited to a simple representation, it questions our relationship to collective memory and cultural heritage. The surrounding void reinforces this questioning as if the absence of a precise context underlined the importance of the debates that emanate from these controversial statues. Thus, “Hic iacet controversia” does not simply evoke a controversy; it makes it the setting for a profound reflection on identity, memory and the very nature of art in our contemporary society.”

#3 Brutalism

“In this photographic work, the austere beauty of the concrete building, emblematic of the brutalist architectural movement stands in the heart of a forest, harmoniously merging nature and human creation. 

The delicate balloons coming out of the windows awaken our gaze and invite a renewed contemplation of brutalist architecture, long criticised for its uncompromising appearance. This contrast between the hardness of the concrete and the softness of the balloons provokes a reflection on the evolving perception of this style, revealing how the passage of time can attenuate harsh judgements. 

This photograph highlights the brutalist architectural movement, but the method used to take this photo questions us about photographic representation. 

Indeed, the photograph is real, but it shows a distortion of reality because this building is only a wooden decor on which I stuck a creation inspired by brutalism. This photo reminds us that any representation is an interpretation. It does not restore reality in its entirety, but offers a reading of it, a subjective vision. In this it embodies a questioning of the gaze itself: what do we choose to see and what do we choose to forget in the act of seeing?”

#4 Marcher sur la tête

“The expression “walking on one’s head” has a singular philosophical scope. Its strong imagery designates a radical reversal of the natural order, established values and reason itself. Through this metaphor, the human mind finds itself confronted with a world where logic and common sense seem to have given way to the absurd, where what was once obvious becomes uncertain and norms waver. 

Thus, “walking on one’s head” is not only the expression of a reversal, but it engages a broader reflection on our relationship to the norm, to reason and to the quest for meaning in a constantly changing world. It points out the fragility of our human constructions and reminds us that, sometimes, the absurd is the key to revealing the very essence of our condition.”

#5 Igloo mobile 3

“With the Igloo and Igloo Mobile series, these photographs offer a reflection on nomadism through the ages and around the world. How has nomadism evolved?

This photograph, at dusk, at the moment when the sun sinks, I wanted to make it for a long time. In nature, when the sun falls below the horizon, then the noise fades, the wind disappears and there remains only this fleeting light of a few minutes to capture a mobile igloo.”

#6 Igloo 1

#7 Igloo 2

#8 Igloo mobile 2

#9 Mutations 1

“Mutations 1 and 2 – When Charles Petillon enters in to the forest, a place full of dreams and a picturesque enclosure filled with stories and magic, the presence of balloons introduces a style of writing coming from a world of Mutation. This natural space bears the scars of its heritage and ambition just like humans do.”

#10 Mutations 2

#11 Point de vue (Point of view)

“Let’s take some height?

By placing a ladder on a cloud of white balloons in a totally empty landscape, Charles Petillon invites us to take some height.

This bare landscape symbolizes the emptiness of thought when discovering a subject. A kind of neutral and immaculate thought that nothing can alter.

Yet, it seems so complex to maintain such a neutral point of view in a culture that offers such easy access to ideas and opinions.” 

#12 Conversations

“Conversations invites you to witness the disappearance from the urban landscape of an object we sometimes now remember with nostalgia. This object, we all forgot, has been replaced with a more universal and mobile phone which claims to be private.”

#13 Outrances

“Outrances photograph taken in Dubaï, Charles Petillon expresses a metaphor for the excesses of our mass consumption society.”

#14 Folklore

“With its innocent name, Folklore reinforces the contrast between popular tradition and human action, which is sometimes thoughtless and fraught with heavy consequences.”

#15 Heartbeat – Covent Garden UK 2015

“Covent Garden has commissioned the artist Charles Petillon to create a striking, large-scale installation, composed of 100,000 white balloons. The installation stretching 54 metres in length and 12 metres in width, incorporates gentle continuous pulsating white light to symbolise the beating of a heart. The work is titled Heartbeat. It was hanging in the ceiling space of the South Hall Market Building.”

#16 Anarchitectures

“The influence of Land Art here leads Charles Petillon to question the singularity and purpose of architecture in regards to the standardization of habitat?”