Tourist in his own country

Only his narrative style is slow. Thoughtful, but not ponderous. Profound, but not profound, spiritual, but not esoteric. Just like his pictures. In an exhibition at the ADC Gallery, they came into their own particularly well, as they were hung in three rows one above the other and thus not displayed decoratively. Daniel Comte's works invite you to linger and study them. Each picture contains a part of his philosophy of life and observation. Comte photographs in black and white in order to capture the play of light as well as details of focus that would not be recognizable in color. "What is togetherness, man in the crowd, left alone, overwhelmed?": The silent observer may come up with such questions of everyday life when inspired by a place, a ray of light, an action or movement. And it is from these moments that Daniel Comte's pictures are created to stimulate these trains of thought. His studies as a graphic designer have also left their mark: At least half of the paintings play with geometric figures. But none of the works is just geometry, just action, just thought - without wanting to, the pictures say almost everything about their creator.

Once around the world, please

"You can also book me as a model," says Comte, grinning mischievously. However, this statement is meant seriously. For his last assignment, he was in Ticino, where he played with dogs for some shots - on the flat stones in the Maggia valley - who doesn't know them? Comte obviously loves being in front of the camera, as long as he doesn't have to pose but is allowed to act. But what appeals to him even more is what comes out of it. The pictures are in the foreground, not him. He doesn't like to be the center of attention himself, almost shyly, but not very calculatingly, he talks about his last years in the advertising industry - albeit reluctantly: "I wouldn't choose this industry again. I wouldn't recommend it to my children either," he says. Even though two of his three children are following in their father's footsteps. Like Comte, his eldest started out as a graphic designer, while the youngest is studying at the University of the Arts in Biel. And the middle child is not quite out of line with the graphic Comte sons, he is pursuing his passion for design as a landscape gardener.

The last memories still shape his life today. The experience of being rationalized away by an agency as an experienced creative director because it was too expensive left him scarred and disappointed. And there it flashes up again and again, his farewell to working in advertising, just a hint, but always latent. Comte doesn't like to talk about it: "I've experienced a lot, I've been around the world. But now I've said goodbye to the advertising industry," is all he wants to say. Nevertheless, his departure is a pity, as he was involved in many excellent campaigns. For example, the insurance campaign for Winterthur International. World-famous personalities in their field explained what the term risk means to them personally - including Lord Attenborough, Maurice Béjart and Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, who offered his prayers for Comte for the recording. The latter was not only present at the shoot, he still describes his collaboration with Richard Avedon at the time as very formative. At least one other campaign under Comte as Executive Creative Director will also be remembered: a work for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It visualizes the interruption of nerve pathways caused by inflammation and its brutal consequences through the gaps between two posters, two newspaper pages or through the gaps between the door and the wall.

Street Photographer and Entertainment Artist

Daniel Comte was born in Bern in 1963. After studying graphic design at the School of Applied Arts in Bern, he became Creative Director and a member of the management team at Matter Leo Burnett in 1984. From 1998, he worked as a creative director in the largest advertising agencies in Switzerland. He has been a member of the Art Directors Club Switzerland ADC since 1995. Comte has won over 300 national and international creative and Effie awards. Today he lives and works in Zurich. As an enthusiastic photographer, art and culture are his spiritual media, as he says. "I consider myself a silent observer of everyday madness and the coexistence of coincidence." As a street photographer with a sensitive eye, he wants to be perceived as a tourist and capture situations bluntly. He has already had several photo exhibitions at home and abroad. He is currently exhibiting his pictures at the ADC Gallery at Zentralstrasse 18 in Zurich. Behind each of his pictures are not only philosophical considerations and graphic elements; each picture tells a little story of how it came about: on one of his walks across the Bundesplatz, Comte sees children frolicking under the water jets of the Bundesplatz fountain. And they are indeed there again on his next visit. So he photographed this rather un-Swiss scene: a bunch of children bathing in their underwear and enjoying the sun - in front of the Bundeshaus. His first picture of street photographer René Burri - Comte's great role model - is also on display in the exhibition. "He is unsurpassable, one of the great photographers," says Comte. He simply has a good eye. For other works, Daniel Comte stood in the rain for a long time, waiting for the right moment. But Comte is not averse to formal gimmicks either, although the focus is usually on people. He has always noticed such moments. "I can't deny it, I'm just a visual person," he explains simply. "I often see moments that people then ask me how I keep finding them," he says with a smile. But after all, he is not a fashion photographer. He has to live from the moment. "It's either in the box - or it's gone." Comte's pictures are sometimes confusing, like optical illusions. They invite the viewer to look at them several times so that they have to play the game of "get closer - get further away" in order to recognize the real situation and its connections. Just like life itself.

Ursina mason

In a nutshell

1990 - 1992 Art Director GGK Basel
1992 - 1994 Art Director Weber, Hodel, Schmid
1994 - 1998 Executive Creative Director Matter Leo Burnett
1998 - 2002 Executive Creative Director McCann Erickson
2002 - 2007 Executive Creative Director AY&R
2008 - 2011 Executive Creative Director DraftFCB/Lowe Group
2011 - April 2012 Creative Director and Partner Zürcher
Communications agency Ping Pong
April 2012 - November 2012 Executive Creative Director Blue Spirit
Communications
Since January 2013 Creative Director and Photographer,
Daniel©omte
www.danielcomte.com
[email protected]