E.R. PART II

I ponder on those moments where everything shifts, between hope and disillusion. These moments seem to have multiplied in a world that appears to me in a constant state of instability, where everything accelerates, where any news item is relayed on a large scale by social media.

The feeling of serenity before the tipping point comforts me. I would like to freeze it, but it seems so fragile to me that I am ultimately overwhelmed by the fear of losing it. This then develops within me a sense of emptiness, a sensation of falling, a form of determinism, mixed with a desire to start all over again, to rebuild, not to give up. I seek to transcribe and express these feelings.

Three notions henceforth manifest in my work: my relationship with temporality, which sometimes evokes urgency or a cry, my relationship with space, more precisely the scale used, and finally, this feeling of loss between hope and fate, facing a state of affairs. What interests me is the mental process that leads a person to accept a situation that could lead to their downfall, a loss of freedom, or a loss of values.

Mis en avant

Reanimation

Marble, incubator 120 x 100 x 80 cm, phototherapy lamp, metal, serum bag, cushion, part of the Emotional Rescue series

There are all these peaces that we maintain in an artificial state: to avoid waging war, we are willing to make certain arrangements with peace, even dishonor. We then keep this peace on life support regardless of the consequences and collateral damage because something stronger, greater than us, is between life and death, and we all depend on it. The veined marble egg symbolizing the life of the bird in its egg, in an incubator, in a state of end-of-life, or it could be the beginning of life, shows that believing in perpetual peace can then become a calling, where man sacrifices a part of himself and accepts to live in a world suffering and threatened on all fronts.

Salvation

Blown glass, naturalized dove, lead, pewter, resin, 100 x 60 x 60 cm, 2017.

To work for peace while there is still time would thus appeal to our reason, that part of humanity which is tamed by our responsibility 'for' the other. Our emotional being could find its salvation through this duty of reason, or in other words, 'our well-ordered concord,' as defined by Saint Augustine in 'The Charter for Peace.' This pact or alliance of peace, which must be respected while restraining our nature, I addressed in a work based on our desire to preserve what is most precious while imprisoning it to maintain control. Thus, a dove finds its place within a glass bulb of its size. The dove can radiate with all its soul, reminding us that it continues to shine through our efforts. But it is also a prisoner of this glass enclosure, suggesting that even if man thinks he controls things, he nonetheless remains a prisoner of his actions.

Desillusions

Wood, resin-coated fabrics, metallic threads, 180 x 180 x 100 cm, part of the Emotional Rescue series.

After all, Kant warned us in 'Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch' that 'Peace is not the natural state between two wars.' This is the reality of humanity. In one of my installations, I represent peace by a straight, white flag, as if it had just been planted in the ground - peace, like a phenomenon marking a moment between two wars: that fleeting moment when we enjoy peace while waiting for it to fall, and for a new flag to be planted in the same place later before succumbing itself. This is followed by a true massacre of white flags left on the ground like old carcasses on our conscience. In the name of an ideal, whether it be religious or political, man is ready to wage war, maintain peace, and then defend himself if he feels threatened. It's a cycle that marks our history, and unfortunately, we truly grasp its extent only too late.

Revelation

50 x 35x 35 cm, bronze, 2016

Dissection I

Part of the Emotional Rescue series. Metal and naturalized doves.

Captive

100 x 65 x 60 cm, bronze, 2019

Untitled

52 x 45 x 35 cm, naturalized dove, wood, 2018

Freedom

Bronze, 2015

Priceless

12 x 6 x 6 cm, single-resined egg carton, 2015

Qui-vive

Part of the Emotional Rescue series, naturalized doves, bird traps, chain, wire.

Shooting Range

Part of the Emotional Rescue series, slides carousel, audio device, 2018.

Déshérence

67 x 41 x 25 cm, naturalized dove, bronze, 2018.

Untitled

Part of the Emotional Rescue Series, naturalised doves ‘wings, wood, fabric.

Birth

"L'extravagante hypothèse "* (The extravagant hypothesis), from which I borrowed the title of this work, presents a dove inside a skull, leaving doubt as to the animal's intention: is it born in this egg, which it has invested with all its aura until the death of this being, or does it come to feed on this death? Does this hypothesis pose a profound contradiction as to the nature of man, or is this moral conscience really within us, buried deep down inside?

*Specialist in political philosophy, Miguel Abensour interprets Levinas's political thought as an exploration of an "extravagant hypothesis" that is the original circumstance of the ethical event.

Untitled

Crucifixion

Wood, chrome, 2015

An image, like a very precise flash, mostly arising from an encounter or current events, constitutes my raw material. I transcribe it and immediately shape it from multiple angles of interpretation. The objective, always the same, targets a scene where codes and usual conventions are diverted by playing with mediums, materials, and references to establish a new perception.

The materials used, whether they are cold or fragile (marble, metal, glass), and the symbols allow a necessary distancing for reflection and questioning that I wish to share: is it a belief that we apply when we think we live in peace? Is it a representation or a reality? The ambiguity raised is also found in my works through a blend of thoughts and references.

These works reinforce the idea that it takes very little to overturn the balance of a region and make way for untold tragedies. What our parents passed down to us, what they sometimes fought for, seems to us as taken for granted, even innate after more than half a century without war. Yet, every day seems like a new mutation: an effort for peace in one part of the world, then a rush into oblivion in another. All this against a backdrop of social, economic, and technological progress that ultimately leaves me perplexed about the real prospects for dialogue, social and spiritual enrichment, respect, and freedom.

CARTON

Cardboard Print Edition
Usable on a shooting range.
1000 ex. 50 cm x 50 cm Numbered and Signed

SeriesSnap DeusNovember 18, 2023SERIES 2

VISUAL ART

E.R. PART II