À grand déploiement

(The Great Unfolding)

2008 – 2016

Newspaper, liquid white glue, Kraft cardboard, plastic straps, hardware.

Each module : 55 X 55 X 140 cm.

Artist collection and Charmey Museum collection in Switzerland.

I use the “honeycomb” assemblage technique, a paper collage technique that I have perfected over the years. Each module is constructed flat, as thin as a book. Once dried, the collage is unfolded, forming a lightweight voluminous structure. This technique amplifies the paper, which opens into supple and flexible honeycombs, echoing knitted stitches. The work can be folded flat, like a book that we close after reading it.

The modules are then cut so as to give them a symmetrical form. Unfolded, the modules have an identical double. Each module is different yet similar, as though part of the same family. We can see Rorschach inkblots or a collection of butterflies.The ambiguous identity of the forms evokes ornamental motifs, a migration of white geese, cellular organisms, or aerobatic manoeuvres. The newspaper texts give the honeycombs a grey tint and heighten the impression of being inside a hive! Each module joins the others to form a compact swarm taking over the gallery wall. In their circular forms, the modules appear, open and reveal themselves, and strut about.