Michel Verjux
Au plafond, calage en angle (source au sol)
(un éclairage)
1. When an artist decides to work with and in real space, even with the least of tools, he already has much at his disposal. There is nothing in this space, and what he discovers is not emptiness. All that exists, there, in front of his eyes and around him, can act as a support for his work, starting with the floor, the ceiling, the walls, the doors, and the windows.
Quite clearly and simply, and without any unnecessary additions, the work can show something, starting from space itself.
For something to be shown - to be exhibited - so that it can be seen and looked at, it first needs to be illuminated! And illuminating means spreading light and distributing it.
2. As is the case with similar works, Au plafond, calage en angle (source au sol) directly involves us as human beings, in view of our upright position.
This “vertical” work is not an “endless column” but simply a light cone projected like a fountain in the corner, inside an architectural space... It is a sort of index of the event, of the act, and of the symbolism of showing.
The light cone is created by a source - a projector installed on the floor - and it rises upwards. When it reaches its goal, which is the flat surface in one corner of the ceiling, the projected light appears to our eyes as a circle that illuminates a portion of space and that refers back to our own presence.
3. Of all that the universe needs - energy, matter, and information - light is an important physical agent in our everyday lives, on a par with matter, space, time, and so on.
Light is the primary material I choose for my work. But not just light per se (what is a thing per se?) but light in action in a given situation, in the form of éclairage.
I devised my first “éclairages” in 1983, initially to cure myself of pointless desires and needs, both in art and in life in general, and also to heal anyone who might feel and wish the same thing.
I do not reveal the being, nor the time or space; I illuminate the landscape from one moment to the next, from one place to the next, from one sign to the next!
I do not create anything but simply show - and I imagine and reflect based on what is shown. In most of my works, there is no humour but at the heart of my overall project there is, or at least there may be, irony - a primordial form of irony.
Note for the gallery A arte Invernizzi of Milan, taken from my Notes numérotées à mon nombre de jours de vie, note n° 23 623, atelier du Père-Lachaise, Paris, 4 February 2021.