Drawings. Drawings on paper surfaces—what could be more ordinary and simple ? Of course, one must speak of color. But little or no color… A drawing limited to black pencils, to black pigment diluted in poppy seed oil as the sole binder, to a touch of white paint, and, sometimes, a hint of color.
And there are also three-dimensional pieces, installations. These are elements created to connect and interact with each other, depending on the arrangement within a space. The materials are recurrent: lead, charcoal, wax, light, and paper.
Like parts of a greater whole, their use truly makes sense only when they are « oriented »—installed—relative to one another, as they are already, to some extent, within the studio.
This dialogue truly constitutes the artwork, through its spatial assembly and also its non-persistence over time. It should be seen as a game, where one transports and reconstructs, for a given time and space, a piece of the studio. And then dismantles everything to return each part to the cocoon of the studio…
Returning to works on paper—like the three-dimensional constructions—they are also « built » by interconnecting « forms. » Sometimes I might be tempted to speak of writings or signs, but in what language then ? That is where part of the enigma lies.
But we should not rush; the path may still be long…Drawings, like installations, share the common thread of these arrangements and implementations of forms, pencil strokes and a few patches of oily black-brown colors, as well as elements of wax, constructions of metal or lead, charcoal, and glass supports. Whether they are drawings or accumulation constructions, it is this interplay between them that is the entire essence…
At times, there is the feeling of being like a typographer composing a text by drawing from boxes filled with forms, without knowing the end of the story and certainly without seeking to know it.
Or simply, to use an image by Jorge Luis Borges, being the curator of an endless library, perfectly classified and organized but according to an order unknown to me, and from which I draw one volume, then another that refers to another again, and so forth over time.
Sometimes the use of these elements is systematic—forms and « objects » that I recurringly call upon as one calls upon old friends. Without hesitation and without shame, they are reliable. Others navigate freely, indispensable and necessary for a time, convinced they pave the way… only to disappear from the shelves of the library a few days, months, or years later…
It is then necessary to play the alchemist, codifying through forms, overlays, and transparencies as many links between the elements traced on the sheet or erected in space, while playing with the poverty of the means used.
And thus, continuing this setup in volumes and installations by complementing and opposing forms and materials: electric light as a revelation of a world, wax and lead as complements through their plasticity and openness to adjustments, charcoal as fragility of existence, to name just a few possibilities given to the imagination.
Alain Quesnel – 2023
