These strokes, I made with different tools, like charcoal, black stone, pastels, felt pens, watercolours, or others, and I already found in them something close to the balance of GesteBrut. But since I had moved into this new bedroom, I didn’t have much space to store what I was producing. So, realising that I had to find a solution, I decided to change my drawing habits.
The first thing I changed was the size of my sheets. I went back to small A4 sheets, something that had become difficult for me, but that allowed me to store more drawings more easily. I chose white printer’s paper, with a weight of 200 grams per square metre, which gave me the feeling of a real sheet to draw on, as well as offering me an economical support, allowing me to produce without having the cost as a primary concern.
At the same time, I changed my tools, preferring a black point pen, which offered me something simple and economical. In addition, I had an idea in mind, the idea was, with both parameters, white sheet and black point pen, I would be able to take digital photographs of my various productions, and thus I would be able to store them a second time, but in digital format, more transportable and shareable. And I also had the idea that I could print them on larger or smaller sheets, and that I could also add colours, or other lines, thus making a kind of base that could evolve, while transforming the A4 format into something dimensionless. I also imagined that with this digital aspect, I could combine different drawings with each other. This is why my form of drawing is closely linked to the worlds of reproduction such as engraving or silk-screening, as well as to the worlds of volume, sculpture and digital. And this transforms my handmade drawings into photo negatives, while at the same time transforming the prints into photo positives, treating both forms as originals.
Another habit I have changed is the place and time of drawing. I used to draw during live model sessions, or on specific occasions. With this A4 size and black tip pen, it was easy to carry them with me all day long, and as a result I found myself able to draw all the time, anything I might encounter in my daily life, whenever I felt like it.
Another habit that I changed was my drawing technique itself. When I was in high school, I had a maths teacher who was blind. What impressed me the most was her ability to write lessons or draw graphs on the board. With one hand, she would put her index finger on the board, which served as a reference point, and with the other hand, equipped with a chalk, she would draw her letters or the abscissa, the ordinate, and the various curves, not perfectly but with enough precision to amaze me. I was inspired by her to change my drawing technique. Instead of constantly going back and forth between my paper and the subject, I tried to use her technique little by little. In addition, this technique allowed me to learn a random aspect, a random aspect that echoed the balance of GesteBrut.
These different changes of habit occurred simultaneously, because to me it was only when taken as a whole that they formed a coherence. And I saw in this coherence a profound change in my workshop. I use the term « workshop » to refer to my place of production, my production machine, my production time and my storage place. That’s why I mentioned the American framework earlier, before making the transition between painting and drawing. The craftsman had a workshop, that’s why he could paint the edges of the American frame. In painting what I changed mainly was my application, while in drawing what I changed mainly was my workshop :