Drawing
In my drawing process I follow Plato’s recommendations to observe directly things of the world as they present themselves in Nature. Are things really as they appear? To draw is to give way to the mental and physical operations that arise frantically one after the other in an exhilarating feeling. Duplicating reality at the threshold of consciousness is like a race between the hand and the eye.
It’s force lies in a powerful process that comes forth when the brain works together with hands and gut to materialize thought. Drawing becomes a continuous quest to attest of the visible by attempting to reach the invisible in an inescapable eternal return to the visible. When one works with large formats and performs rapid and full gestures, drawing is also about self-expression.
Painting
Critical of formalist art, I continue to draw from the variety of forms and shapes of the world. With the human body forever being shaped by new meanings, I continue to examine the structure of human figures, observing attitude and behaviour with a recent introduction of animals in my representations. At the beginning of my creative process, I let pile up visual and social impressions that disturb and/or affect me at the same time hoping for a revelatory moment when I will feel an uncontrolled desire to bring life to the images born from that time and place. I believe the artist is a medium. At the end of the day, a project consists of stocked up mental images of which I feel some have to be shared imperatively. Next, I rationalize the sum of ideas retained and develop a well thought out concep.
Why do I persist to paint? I wish to think of all visible elements of the world like Cézanne used to, with a visionary eye, looking over and over for intrinsic forces within matter, the ones that determine an object to be as it is and not otherwise. To paint is to continue to believe that the fictionality of images will continue to reveal dreams, ideas and emotions. I have great admiration for sensitive artists inspired by the environment like Gilles Aillaud, Emil Nolde, Franz Marc and Cai Guo-Qian.
When not mentioned photos are by Guy L’Heureux.
Photos and Videos
Recording devices are great when it comes to investigate reality. They take visual culture to a broader horizon and give us a sense of relativity of things. When direct observation is not possible, photo and video are there to gather data on the unsuspected. Shots and stills are part of all phases of my process, sometimes at starting point and other times at the end of the line. The pictures I get from Internet help me learn about small and far away stuff witch otherwise I wouldn’t be aware of.
Using these extraordinary tools leads to two processes: an impulsive and instructive one which consists in capturing instant pictures in my comings and goings and a conceptual one where individual pictures and series are taken from scenes that I initially totally staged and fabricated.
Sculptures
It’s through pattern making and sewing clothes that I learned to turn bidimensional material into objects in space. In my current research, I am interested in animalist art and all possible shapes and textures of the animal world.
Besides its capacity to duplicate reality, sculpture is well adapted to installations by contributing to the play of volumes, space and light. Modelling clay is all about the joy of working with one’s hands while assembling parts to build a sculpture lets you make connections, shift meanings and moreover let’s you recycle material.