Phylactery

Concept

After years of observing and drawing from nature (models, still lifes, interiors, landscapes), I was looking for a method of working that could keep an adventure for myself and could keep me surprised of my own work.

I discovered the technique of 'écriture automatique' (automatic drawing) in 1996. My working method is the following: I start drawing directly on an empty sheet of paper with Indian ink (without a sketch in pencil). I start drawing a few lines. I decide a shape somewhere on the paper. And this shape dictates me what I have to draw next to keep the composition 'in balance'. I don't have a plan, I don't know what is going to appear. That's exactly the state of mind I want or need to create. I started my abstract 'Amorphous' series in 1996 with this method.

In 2005 I visited a friend and discovered a Surrealist painting on his wall that reminded me of the works by the painter Giorgio de Chirico. The use of symbols in this painting invited me to begin the series 'Imaginary rooms' in which I use for the first time visually recognisable elements in the hope to be able to communicate more with the viewer. But my working method kept the same. All the 'Imaginary Rooms' are made with the same technique of 'écriture automatique'. I hope that you will be able to enter my work with your own imagination and gives you a moment of visual pleasure, dream or contemplation.