The journey of a journey
In the summer of 2004, I went off to spend a year in Barcelona. To learn new things. To find another approach to art. To discover unfamiliar techniques, notably the use of steel, including stainless steel, and alloys of bronze and nickel.
I also discussed my work, and my creative orientations, with other artists; and this allowed me to bring to maturity a number of questions, e.g. the one that was seminal to the book: "Hey, why these French fries?"
The thematic: the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious
Blade Brothers is a journey between Day and Night. Between the "Day" side and the "Night" side that exist in all of us. These 2 worlds are connected at a single point: perhaps an insight that occurs during the day, or again the moment of waking up in the morning, when, for a few fleeting instants, one is still in the world of dreams. But it remains just a point, because our "reasonable" life, with its succession of obligations, stifles the few appearances of our "Night" side.
And it was such an encounter between our "Day" and "Night" sides that gave rise to these sculptures, in which 2 parts (2 blades) are furtively united at a point. A tiny point. It is actually non-existent in the first sculpture, Boîte à l'Etre / Being Box, which represents conscious thought closed in on itself, a symbol of 100% material life. It appears as a phone call from the subconscious in Allô de Rose / Hello from Rose, and gets larger in proportion to the attention paid to it by the characters in the book, attaining fusion with Chacun pour Soi / Every Man for Himself, as the 2 parts establish a kind of rhythm in unison, so that, as Jung would have it, the Self constitutes total Being. In short, the path of life is smoother when both parts (conscious + unconscious) are functioning, rather than just one…
The texts and characters who set this journey to music are imaginary. They find their source in works that are important to me, such as Jung's My Life, or Jacques Prévert's sparkling poems.
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