Baby



baby






T r a n s-P a r e n t
diploma
l’elac
Renens, Switzerland
2013

T r a n s-P a r e n t was my Bachelor of Arts diploma at ECAL, Renens, Switzerland, in 2013, with Philippe Decrauzat as tutor. The works belong to the phase I called ‘Pre-Natal’, then ‘Baby’ (2011–2013). Dispersion paint meets a door, a bed base, a cart and wooden frames; plastic glass, foam and polystyrene offer further beginnings. Each support brings its own proportions and possible uses, and has already made some of the painting’s decisions. Painting moves across these materials without asking them to become a standard canvas.


Step Framed
dispersion, wooden frames, staples
50 × 70 cm
2013


T r a n s-P a r e n t

Poly-Glass
dispersion, plastic glass
5 × 9 cm
2013


T r a n s-P a r e n t



Lite
dispersion, thick cotton, do it bed base
124 × 204 × 10 cm
2013


Mono Chat*Rio
dispersion, cotton canvas, cart
38 × 25 cm
2013


Aleatoile
dispersion, cotton canvas, ribbon, Coca-Cola light
8 × 25 × 8 cm
2013

Dia:gonal
dispersion, white canvas, door
85 × 200 cm
2013


Sol(h)ide
dispersion, MDF
30 × 30 cm
2013

Inside Out
foam, wooden frame
40 × 40 cm
2013


T r a n s-P a r e n t

Pink 450g
dispersion, Arches paper, OSB
111 × 111 × 3.5 cm
2013
T r a n s-P a r e n t
Presque Cadres
Dia:gonal
Aleatoile
Pink 450g

Presque Cadres
dispersion, polystyrene
35 × 35 cm, 35 × 35 cm
2013

Camp Views

Camp Views, 2013. 108 images from the Pre-Natal period, 2011–2013. The idea comes from Susan Sontag’s ‘Notes on “Camp”’, 1964.


























































































































































































































Pre Natal Phase




Pre-Natal



I called this phase ‘Pre-Natal’, then ‘Baby’ (2011–2013): the years of my Bachelor at ECAL, with Philippe Decrauzat as my tutor. The name turns post-mortem round; the work is examined before it is born. I wanted to understand what an avant-garde could mean from where I stood. Calling a practice new would not be enough: something had to change in the way a work is made, shown and encountered.

A studio, an exhibition, a screen and a printed page give one work different neighbours and different durations. Brian O’Doherty’s writing on the white cube and Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium Is the Massage helped me treat those settings as material. In 2015 I turned McLuhan’s slogan round: the medium is not the message; its content is.

An object could act as a word, and an installation as a sentence. Moving a work, leaving a gap or changing the order turned arranging into editing, and each visitor’s path cut the same elements into another sequence. Several pieces came with instructions instead of a fixed place: two resin bricks lie side by side on the floor, in an order left to the curator; a video asks for a pale blue outline to be painted on the wall whenever it is projected.

Labels came next. In 2012 I made a deck of 37 cards: wall labels drawn as paintings, and paintings written as labels. Robin Lebey and Frédéric Gabioud made some of the cards, so the deck also tried out the artist as curator; its one rule is that tournaments of labels must be held regularly. A label gives someone a way in, but it can decide too much in advance. I wanted to leave room for what each person knows, remembers or cannot yet place.

By 2013 the exhibition had become one working format among others, beside the studio, the book and the website, and each could change what a work was able to do. The pieces gathered here use ordinary supports, variable arrangements and particular places. The deck of labels went furthest: P+ begins there.








Studio > < Exhibition
variable objects, variable dimensions
2013


Accident Painting
resin, phosphorescent spray, cotton canvas, spruce
121 × 31 × 4 cm
2012













C. R. O. M.
Group show with Paul Limoujoux and Nicolas Degrange
Tour Saint-Jacques
Saint-Émilion, France
2012


Une Histoire de Plage
chair, latex, tarp, latex, tarp
130 × 80 × 35 cm
2012


L’une
resin, oil bottle
20 × 20 × 60 cm
2012


Levier
resin, bottle rack
60 × 40 × 40 cm
2012





4pm
video with sound
49 min 51 sec
2011



Mic/Not Working
écal
Renens, Switzerland
2011

Playing Labels (Cartels à Jouer)
37 playing cards, 62 × 87 mm
2012

Notes:
Wall labels drawn as paintings, and paintings written as labels: the origin of P+. The whole deck is P+ N.
PDF: English / Français


1/2 Agnès Martin
acrylic on canvas
76.4 × 76.4 × 2.5 cm
2012

Notes:
The best conditions for this canvas to be fully appreciated are met when it is hung at eye level, and is more than one size away from the other pieces.

  1. 1/2 Agnès Martin
    Arthur Fouray,
    acrylic on canvas,
    2012,
    76.4 x 76.4 x 2.5 cm.
    Notes:
    The best conditions for this
    canvas to be fully appreciated
    are met when it is hung at eye
    level, and is more than one size
    away from the other pieces.


CHROME
canvas on frame, spray-painted
2012

Notes:
This canvas can be displayed vertically, or diagonally, depending on use. The white wall is a quality choice.

  1. CHROME
    Arthur Fouray,
    Canvas on frame,
    spray-painted,
    2012.
    Notes:
    This canvas can be displayed
    vertically, or diagonally,
    depending on use. The white wall
    is a quality choice.








Ok?
Galerie Toroni
écal
Renens, Switzerland
2012

Et alors ? — PDF, French, 4 pages
Exercices de recherches — PDF, French, 9 pages
Espace / Sous-espace — PDF, French, 3 pages
Iceberg — PDF, French, 5 pages
Pour le plus beau des arts, essayez le Pop — PDF, French, 42 pages




Dal(le) Erranc(e)
2 resin bricks
25.5 × 12.5 × 6 cm
2012

Notes:
These two bricks must be presented side by side on the floor. The arrangement is left to the curator’s discretion.


PEPITO
resin and foam on Sagex
25 × 25 × 3 cm
2012

Notes:
This sculpture must be presented on a wall, at a height other than 175 cm.

  1. PEPITO PIZZA
    Arthur Fouray,
    Resin and foam
    on sagex,
    2012.
    Notes:
    This sculpture must imperatively
    be shown on the wall, at a height
    other than 175 cm.

PAV
video with sound
14 min 23 sec
2012

P.A.S.
acrylic, cotton canvas,
P.A.V. (book on printed canvas), MDF
54 × 29 × 3.5 cm
2012

Notes:
This testimonial-sculpture is to be placed on the floor. Connection with the video ‘P.A.V.’ is not necessary.

  1. P.A.S.
    Arthur Fouray,
    book on printed canvas,
    2012,
    27 x 46.5 x 3 cm.
    Notes:
    This testimonial-sculpture is to
    be placed on the floor.
    Connection with the video
    “P.A.V.” is not necessary.






FAUX PLAFOND
rosette (white) on painted wall (blue)
125 × variable height × 2 cm
2012

Notes:
The rosette should appear on an azure/sea-blue background. The wall must be painted with scotch tape on the left and right, starting at the floor. The wall painting stops at the highest point the painter can reach. Paint is applied with a roller.

  1. FAUX PLAFOND
    Arthur Fouray,
    Rosette (white) on
    painted wall (blue),
    2012.
    Notes:
    The rosette should appear on an
    azure/sea-blue background. The
    wall must be painted with scotch
    tape on the left and right, starting
    at the floor. The wall painting
    stops at the highest point the
    painter can reach. Paint is
    applied with a roller.


FROMAGE
four layers of resin, yellow, orange, then 2× yellow, on object
25 × 70 × 15 cm
2012

Notes:
This panoptical object should be placed intelligently on the floor. It can also play with ‘FROMAGE (BIS)’.

  1. FROMAGE
    Arthur Fouray,
    Four layers of
    resin, yellow, orange,
    then 2x yellow,
    on object,
    2012.
    Notes:
    This panoptical object should be
    placed intelligently on the floor. It
    can also play with “FROMAGE
    (BIS)”.
  2. FROMAGE (BIS)
    Arthur Fouray,
    Spray paint and
    resin on object,
    2012.
    Notes:
    This panoptical object should be
    placed intelligently, on the floor,
    on the wall or on the ceiling, to
    raise a question about its
    function. It can also play with
    “FROMAGE”.




DE)ª(F — PDF, French, 64 pages

Pre Natal Portfolio — English PDF
Pre Natal Portfolio — two-page PDF view

A Painting on the Wall

A Painting on the Wall
2012–2013
(114 Digital Media)

In A Painting on the Wall, a website from the Pre-Natal phase, I treat foreground and background as curatorial decisions. Each page is a 595 × 842-pixel image, in the proportions of A4 paper, so that a printed format becomes a screen surface close to an exhibition display. It can show an image, serve as a backdrop or frame another image. The page numbers mark each arrangement as it changes. What stands in front depends on what has been put behind it.
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
017
018
019
020
021
022
023
024
025
026
027
028
029
030
031
032
033
034
035
036
037
038
039
040
041
042
043
044
045
046
047
048
049
050
051
052
053
054
055
056
057
058
059
060
061
062
063
064
065
066
067
068
069
070
071
072
073
074
075
076
077
078
079
080
081
082
083
084
085
086
087
088
089
090
091
092
093
094
095
096
097
098
099
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112

Void Drawing

Void Drawing 1, Arthur Fouray, 2012: snow falling over a white plain, a basketball in the air.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Dribble?ArthurFouray,basketballstanding forthe entranceto ‘VoidDrawing’,3D, 2012.

Void Drawing 2, Arthur Fouray, 2012: drink cans scattered on a snowy slope.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Junky AntsArthur Fouray,intervention in the museum’s space / dis(placement)carded inAntarctica, 3D, 2012.

Void Drawing 3, Arthur Fouray, 2012: blue, green and red blocks side by side on white, a black ball below.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Void DrawingArthur Fouray,the project’s ‘white space’,3D, 2012.

TV WallArthur Fouray,wall activating three colours: blue, green, red,3D, 2012.

REZArthur Fouray,Ball = Pencil,3D, 2012.

Void Drawing 4, Arthur Fouray, 2012: blue and green walls on white, a red post in front.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Void DrawingArthur Fouray,the project’s ‘white space’,3D, 2012.

TV WallArthur Fouray,wall activatingthree colours:blue,green,red,3D, 2012.

REZArthur Fouray,Ball = Pencil,3D, 2012.

TracesArthur Fouray,3D, 2012.

TracesArthur Fouray, 3D, 2012.

Void Drawing 5, Arthur Fouray, 2012: a white statue of Christ with open arms beside long rows of yellow balls, one of them green.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Void DrawingArthur Fouray,the project’s ‘white space’,3D, 2012.

REZArthur Fouray,Ball = Pencil,3D, 2012.

TracesArthur Fouray, 3D, 2012.

JesusArthur Fouray,portal for leaving the projectand discovering the traced drawing,Taschen 3D, 2012.

Void Drawing 6, Arthur Fouray, 2012: lines in blue, green, red, yellow and black traced on white.

Void DrawingParticipation in ‘ORBITES EXCENTRIQUES’, the first exhibition of the MIna Virtual Museum.Inspired by THX 1138, this project is a metaphor for a trajectory becoming a drawing in the void.The exhibition is available at this address: http://minaccess.com

Drawing 1138Arthur Fouray,drawing obtained from the traces,JPEG, 2012.

Traces ObtainedArthur Fouray, JPEG, 2012.

JesusArthur Fouray, portal for leaving the projectand discovering the traced drawing,Taschen 3D, 2012.

Missing Information

Missing Information, 2011, is a series of videos, each set to a different song, with fractal and interference imagery. The film on this page brings them together, 16′01″. With it comes an archive of 488 GIFs, shown here as a grid of simultaneous loops. A separate hour-long audio work, Missing Information ?, shares the title.

I wanted to test what a change of format could do to a work. The videos have a beginning and an end; the GIFs, played together, have neither. In 4pm and P.A.V. the movement comes from physical gestures. Here it comes from the format.

A loop has no running time.