Act I: Dos à Dos
Act I : Dos à dos (back to back)
2003/2004
10 backs, 3 phases, 30 performances, 27 transfers
back
10 backs, 3 phases, 30 performances, 27 transfers
At first I didn't know how it would work, I was facing the unknown.
For the first Act it seemed easier to me to start by painting backs. First of all, being behind the person, our eyes could not disturb us. The only result they could see was the print on watermarked paper.
For this first work, I wanted to question the person about himself, as a human being, following an evolution specific to Man: the word, the image, the sign. Man stands upright: his back is the symbol of his verticality, the symbol of humanization. The back was the ideal support for this reflection.
Ten people played this game three times. They could intervene in the choice of colours. A work for two, without witnesses; an imposed theme, a single interpretation.
This Act was divided into three phases and concretized into thirty performances.
The requests:
Phase 1 - Symbol: one word (primitive, instinctive)
Phase 2 - Image: One photo + personalized sentence (representation)
Phase 3 - Sign: A sign and an enigma (language, communication, exchange)
The prints were made by transfers on watermarked paper (54x35 cm) after taking the photos. The photos were worked on computer for the posters: the painting is cut from the rest of the body. Only the painted body part should remain to focus the viewer's gaze on the message conveyed by the person's/support's proposal and my own interpretation.
The exhibition:
The transfers are suspended by two wooden rods on the top and bottom of the paper. To play on the transparency of the material, they are displayed in free space (suspended from the ceiling) and punctuate the exhibition of posters on the walls. The posters (40 x 60 cm) are grouped by phase (symbol, image, sign) with the corresponding proposals on strips of paper in large print below and above each of them. Postcards were published representing each of the 30 performances (15x10 cm).
For the first Act it seemed easier to me to start by painting backs. First of all, being behind the person, our eyes could not disturb us. The only result they could see was the print on watermarked paper.
For this first work, I wanted to question the person about himself, as a human being, following an evolution specific to Man: the word, the image, the sign. Man stands upright: his back is the symbol of his verticality, the symbol of humanization. The back was the ideal support for this reflection.
Ten people played this game three times. They could intervene in the choice of colours. A work for two, without witnesses; an imposed theme, a single interpretation.
This Act was divided into three phases and concretized into thirty performances.
The requests:
Phase 1 - Symbol: one word (primitive, instinctive)
Phase 2 - Image: One photo + personalized sentence (representation)
Phase 3 - Sign: A sign and an enigma (language, communication, exchange)
The prints were made by transfers on watermarked paper (54x35 cm) after taking the photos. The photos were worked on computer for the posters: the painting is cut from the rest of the body. Only the painted body part should remain to focus the viewer's gaze on the message conveyed by the person's/support's proposal and my own interpretation.
The exhibition:
The transfers are suspended by two wooden rods on the top and bottom of the paper. To play on the transparency of the material, they are displayed in free space (suspended from the ceiling) and punctuate the exhibition of posters on the walls. The posters (40 x 60 cm) are grouped by phase (symbol, image, sign) with the corresponding proposals on strips of paper in large print below and above each of them. Postcards were published representing each of the 30 performances (15x10 cm).
Phase 1: Symbol
Phase 2 : Image
Photo custom phrase
Phase 3: Sign
Un signe et une énigme
