arteles_catalogue_2014

TARMARC + PHOTO NOIRE (WORKING TITLE)
Tarmac
Twenty years ago, my practice alternated between figuration and
abstraction. Having focussed on a rather “clean” and “sparse”
figurative art these last years, I felt the need to flirt again with
abstraction. In the first of my two main projects at Arteles, I
explore a theme that has been present for a while in my photo
work: airports. Inspired by some of these photographs, I draw
geometric and organic forms with acrylic paint on paper (about 1.5
x 1.5 m). Some paintings are geometric, others are more organic,
sometimes very abstract, but almost always with a figurative
connotation. Whether close-ups or larger views, generally of
tarmacs (aprons), the aesthetic aspects are very present too.
Despite the theme of airports, the treatment is consistent with my
recent drawings, lithographs, and photos: emptiness, ambiguity,
vulnerability, loneliness, and even relationships. The human
presence remains omnipresent. Even when human figures are not
present, the environment evoked is clearly the result of the human
hand. This series of paintings will be accompanied by some of my
airport photos.
Photo noire (working title)
My second project is a series of photos taken during the residency.
I focussed on darkness, a characteristic of the Northern climate in
November, which is central to works by authors such as Mankell
or Oksanen. In those photos, the situations might be familiar, but
they soak in an atmosphere of mystery and ambiguity. They create
a realistic, emotionally charged fiction that impels the viewers to
develop their own scenarios.