Collection: Alain Monvoisin

ABOUT HEADS

I like to work in series, usually long ones, so that the project can blossom, assert itself, and be enriched through multiple variations, and so that, at the end, I feel I've explored and exhausted the initial concept. This so-called exhaustion is merely the pretext for embarking, with a new perspective, on another series.

Painting teems with faces. But what comes before the face? A form that supports it, in this case, the head, devoid of any distinctive features, any expressiveness, any subjectivity. It's impossible to play with its shape, reduced to a vague ovoid, sometimes distorted, simply with its color and texture. Therefore, unless we want to see it floating in a meaningless space, we must create a context for it. This is where the "Heads" series becomes a project that could be described as conceptually naive ! Placing these heads in situations ranging from the trivial to the absurd, including more or less veiled allusions to art history, or simply situations where forms and colors dominate. I call them "forms of life." These forms of life are different from one another, drawn from diverse aesthetics, from art history or from my imagination. They are arranged around the head with the aim of coexisting and forming a coherent, if not harmonious, whole. A concern for the unexpected, as well as lightness and a touch of humor…

However, the project is not merely aesthetic; it presents itself as an ambitious metaphor for seeking a structure that allows individuals from different backgrounds to coexist…

THE WORK OF ALAIN MONVOISIN