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. I wanted to move my practice away from what is called contemporary art, towards the historical notion of the avant-garde, and to understand what an avant-garde could still mean. In 2013 I wrote that we take part in a universalised avant-garde, in which every individual artist embodies the collective by supporting the work of fellow artists, notably by showing it in the exhibitions he curates.

The space in which I presented my work counted for a great deal. The white cube of the exhibition and digital media both became places to work with. Brian O’Doherty’s writing on the white cube and Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium Is the Massage showed me the weight of the context in which art is presented.

My practice was mostly installation. Taken alone, my pieces could be seen as words; presented together or in groups, they became a sentence. I was interested in the limits of an object or a performance when it meets other elements. The succession of works on a wall could be imagined as film editing, in a ‘sequence style’, and each visitor’s drift through the space edited it again. Several pieces came with notes instead of a fixed place: a canvas to be hung at eye level, a wall painting that stops at the highest point the painter can reach, a video that asks for its pale blue outline to be painted on the wall when it is projected.

Labels and wall texts became part of the research. Texts and ideas should accompany a work without overshadowing it or dictating how it is read: the visitor decides what he understands, according to his background or his mood, and this freedom left to the viewer is a great achievement of art. In 2012 I made Playing Labels (Cartels à Jouer), a deck of 37 cards: each card is the label of a work, with notes on how to show it. Robin Lebey and Frédéric Gabioud made some of the cards; the deck’s rule is that tournaments of labels must be held regularly.

I came to treat every space involved in making art as material: the studio, the exhibition, printed formats and curatorial formats, through text, installation, painting, video, music and performance. Curating and my own practice began to meet. 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-Georges
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

Mic/Not Working
écal
Renens, Switzerland
2011

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


Notes:
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.



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.









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.

P.A.S.
book on printed canvas
27 × 46.5 × 3 cm
2012

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.



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)’.

DE)ª(F — PDF, French

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