Tu le peins en bleu, tu le fous au lac

(PAINT IT BLUE, THROW IT IN THE LAKE)

This vernacular expression from the Lake Geneva region in Switzerland reflects a practice that has almost disappeared, having been condemned in the Western world, but which still persists clandestinely: getting rid of what is no longer useful, what has been consumed, what is no longer in use by abandoning it in a natural environment, a wild dump, where nature will make it all disappear, away from living areas, out of sight. In the case of this particular expression, a lake with a blue surface.

Project in collaboration with Gaël Epiney.

The act of discarding calls into question our shared perception of the notion of value. This issue is also relevant in the field of image culture, where a multitude of visuals are created, published, and consumed instantaneously on a daily basis. In the sphere of art, the issue of value is broken down into different themes, such as the notion of authorship, the art market, cultural speculation, conservation and heritage. 
TU LE PEINS EN BLEU, TU LE FOUS AU LAC uses analogy to explore the issue of the value of artistic productions by turning the act of discarding on its head. What happens to discarded aesthetic objects, to that which is perceived as ugly, to that which is no longer relevant or useful? Can they still be looked at?

Collecting paintings on canvas produced by artists who we don't know whether they are professionals or amateurs, and without knowing the reasons why they were abandoned, expresses the desire to reactivate these creations by integrating them into an artistic installation. Applying a blue glaze to their painted surface creates unity, but it is also a metaphor for the surface of the lake and an analogy with the notion of surface in painting. The aim of all these actions is to give new life to these waste images by modifying them and recontextualising them in a new economic and cultural configuration: a contemporary art project.
The change in the condition and status of the paintings creates a new artistic body, but it also remains a trace of their initial state, since the original images are printed on bath towels, which in some ways constitutes a form of archiving.  TU LE PEINS EN BLEU, TU LE FOUS AU LAC aims to highlight what moves on the surface and what acts deep down, in a constant back-and-forth between an awareness of our ecological environment and a perception of our cultural environment.

TU LE PEINS EN BLEU, TU LE FOUS AU LAC is a multimedia installation developed in collaboration with Gaël Epiney. It is composed of a set of floor paintings, a series of photographs, printed bath towels and two videos. 

SEE BOTH VIDEOS >>