Urban Totems is a visual representation of our fragmented modern world. Rioux breaks the form of familiarity by creating mirror images of architectural elements.  Some might say his creations are reflective of a worrisome aspect of contemporary society.

He takes familiar elements of our urban environment and visually mirrors them to create a series of symmetrical images that are dramatically striking and no longer resemble the reality of the original image. His work is also characterized by the exploration of avant-garde technology and by the use of a minimalist vocabulary.

Today, with digital technology, photographs have progressively lost their value as trusted documents.  Urban Totems is Paul Emile Rioux’s way to question the rapport between ourselves and our changing universe and the difficulty that we encounter in finding points of reference.

With the arrival of digital technology, photographs are no longer trusted documents. Through the newfound ease of manipulation we have become mistrustful of images that recently seemed trustworthy. Urban Totems skillfully and cleverly mixes contemporary elements in a form that takes us back to the most raw of artistic expression.  The artist presents a series of images made up of different architectural fragments. The choice to use black and white photography allows us see a purified and symmetric form

Urban Totems offers a mirror to this increasingly fragmented world.  Its images stand up and are essential like a sign.  Paul-Émile Rioux breaks the form of familiar elements to make a new figure emerge: a tribal image, reflective of a worrisome aspect of contemporary society.

Architecture is central in the work of Paul-Emile Rioux.  It is present in his photographs (Sténopé, Vestiges urbains), in the abstract forms of his digital images (Pixel de marque), and in a new light, at the heart of his most recent project/creation (Urban totems).

- Augustin Rioux / Neal Rockwell