Châteaux de Cartes – complete series of 12 works including 1 triptych, numbered and signed, on Hahnemühle fine art paper 290 gr – 21×29.7 cm (x14)

Portion allocated to a charity: €115

THE STORY

Houses of Cards was born during a trip to Brazil, where I joined friends in a meditation center for a three-week retreat. At the rate of four hours of collective and silent meditation each morning, my mind was going to let go much more deeply than I had expected.

After a few days, very clear images were born there, which I could not connect to anything that concerned me. Some fleeting and others recurring. One of them was a house of cards.

On my return, some time later, rummaging through my serial glue drawers looking for I don’t know what, I “came across” a deck of 52 giant cards that had been there for several years. The size of the cards made them impractical to handle. I had never known what to do with it.

At that moment, the image of the house of cards seen in meditation imposed itself on me. I immediately started cutting to remove the unprinted parts, without knowing where this would lead me.

When all the pieces were “cleaned”, I spread them out in front of me on a white tablecloth. I then thought of the film by Paul Grimaud and Jacques Prévert, The King and the Bird. Grimaud being also a game manufacturer, the circle was complete.

This is how “Château de Cartes”, the first in the series, was born.

The card game

The game of 52 cards is a totality, a small closed world, rich in stories and symbols. Divinatory for some, alchemical for others, “only” playful for still others, it contains a complete calendar, but also treasures of interpretation. It presents multiple faces depending on the times and regions. Known and used by billions of Humans, it only costs a few pennies, can be taken anywhere, can be found at kitchen tables or at prestigious games tables, can be played alone or with others.

I chose it to represent Le Monde and I play with only two rules:

    • Use all the printed parts of a deck of 52 cards per table,

    • Paper format raisin.

I break down each game into as many elements as I then assemble to create paintings. In doing so, a story is built and gives an axis to creation. From then on, paintings and texts respond to each other and feed each other in a jubilant creative process.