Marc Janus

This set of paintings is the result of eleven years of research with wood blocks. These blocks began to be used by the Egyptian civilization to decorate fabrics, and are still used today in some parts of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal, where I found them. Before that, I used daily objects, s...

This set of paintings is the result of eleven years of research with wood blocks. These blocks began to be used by the Egyptian civilization to decorate fabrics, and are still used today in some parts of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal, where I found them. Before that, I used daily objects, such as paper towels, to create decoration. I remember the day I first saw the blocks in a small Indian town. It felt like a crush, and from that first trip I brought about thirty of them. Now I have hundreds. When I work with these wood blocks, my intention is not to seek harmony through order and geometry, but just the opposite. The first step of my work is to create a certain order and then destroy it and transform it in a balance that thrives in chaos and disorder. It is not my intention to follow in the footsteps of the artisans. My job is a different one: to use the tools of classic art and transform them into something contemporary. Then, I add these decorations to texts or expressions that I've been finding in my travels, or on the walls of the cities I visit, or in peoples’ conversations.Sometimes I select those expressions that define the environment in which I find myself, my interaction with the local people, or a specific situation that I have experienced and from which a concept was born.