Born in 1950 in Antwerp, Karel Fonteyne lives and works in Belgium and abroad. Active since 1968, Karel Fonteyne began his career in art photography. He is fascinated by Tarjei Vesaas’ book “Fuglane” and by South American authors such as Borges, García Márquez and Cortázar, but also by the psychology of Bergman’s films, which got him started in photography. He entered the fashion world at the end of the 1970s and worked for prestigious magazines such as Vogue, Interview, Bazaar, Marie-Claire etc. He also worked with designers such as Martin Margiela, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dries Van Noten, Marina Yee, Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene from the outset.
His work has been exhibited in prestige venues such as the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP, Paris) (FR), Bozar (BE), Festival d’Arles (FR), Fotoforum Kassel (DE), Museo Fundació Joan Miró (ES), Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo (ES), ICC Antwerpen ( M KHA [Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art]) (BE), Noorderlicht International Photo Festival Groningen (NL), Biennale de Photographie Condroz (BE), among others.
Karel Fonteyne has several publications to his credit: Entre chien et loup (1980), See Stars (1987), Black Earth (1990), Pistoleros (2007), Tales of Silence (2014), and Spell which will be released in September 2020.
