The Beauty of Calligraphy
“The calligraphic line can be elegant, rhythmic but also coarse and rude. What matters is its inner essence, the sensitivity, the fragility or the brutality it can convey. Legibility is not an issue for me. Beauty lies somewhere in between the lines, where the silence of our souls meet an overwelming sense of reality.”
We are not many in France that practice contemporary calligraphy. It is a long and lonely road… I must admit that my views and my understanding of calligraphy are very personal. My first interest in graphic arts came when I followed a course in History of Art and discovered works of Dotremont, Hartung and Alechinsky. At the same time, I followed a course in historical calligraphy in Dijon. Then I moved to Belgium and met Roger Willems, which was the first turning point. The second was when I met Brody Neuenschwander who gave me a more poetic approach to calligraphy. It encouraged me to research into a free, liberated gesture far from pure aesthetics. That concept was strengthened during my ten year participation with the artistic group the “Black fingers” that include calligraphers from France, Italy and Belgium: Laurent Rebena (Fr) David Lozach (Fr), Bruno Gigarel (Fr), Julien Chazal (Fr), Bernard Faguet (Fr), Jigme Douche (Fr), Piero de Macchi (It) Massimo Poello (It), Li Chen (It), Roger Willems (Belg) Marion Andrews (Belg).
Today, most of my work is based on experimental research with the graphic line, space, colour and texture. What matters, is the overall sense the painting conveys, the sensitivity of the mark, the fragility of the stroke, the intensity of the texture. Not superficial beauty, but an authentic, mysterious, untouchable beauty, that one could call : the soul.
I’m looking for something almost organic.
Touching the silence of the page.
Feeling the fragility of a stroke.
Smelling the colour of textured lines…
and most of all, I need to listen to my inner voice, that tells me to play, to explore and experiment in order to awaken to the world that surrounds me.
