{"id":95692,"date":"2021-04-28T10:14:30","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T08:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/?post_type=extra&p=95692"},"modified":"2021-04-28T10:14:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T08:14:30","slug":"b48","status":"publish","type":"extra","link":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/en\/extra\/b48\/","title":{"rendered":"Vittorio Santoro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L\u2019artiste italo\u2011helv\u00e9tique Vittorio Santoro a une pratique que l\u2019on pourrait qualifier de \u00abconceptuelle incarn\u00e9e\u00bb.<\/span> Si l\u2019\u00e9l\u00e9ment conceptuel sous\u2011tend de fa\u00e7on \u00e9vidente chacune de ses propositions plastiques, relay\u00e9 par ailleurs par un usage explicite du langage qui vient souvent dialoguer avec la forme plastique, les mat\u00e9riaux (bois, cuivre, miroir, jute\u2026) qu\u2019il utilise de fa\u00e7on r\u00e9currente pour ses installations ou propositions sculpturales sont soigneusement choisis, en fonction aussi de leur valence symbolique. L\u2019usage du verbe se fait toujours \u00e0 bon escient,<\/span> avec une concision et une ambigu\u00eft\u00e9 suffisantes pour que sa pr\u00e9sence \u00e9nigmatique, \u00e0 l\u2019instar de formules sphyngiennes, ouvre de nouveaux champs s\u00e9mantiques, sans pour autant se donner enti\u00e8rement. Cette ind\u00e9termination polys\u00e9mique r\u00e9pond d\u2019ailleurs aux \u00e9quilibres comme en suspens, aux juxtapositions formelles \u00e9nigmatiques de ses propositions sculpturales. L\u2019art de Santoro est litt\u00e9ralement un art sur le fil et liminal. Tout se passe aussi comme si l\u2019artiste voulait aussi cristalliser en nous, ses spectateurs, et nous renvoyer la dynamique d\u2019une praxis comme suspendue, d\u2019un moment de choix, \u00e0 la crois\u00e9e des chemins, en fonction du sens que nous donnerons aux moments et contextes que nous traversons.

Ces diff\u00e9rents aspects de son travail sont particuli\u00e8rement sensibles dans les diverses propositions que nous incluons dans Bye Bye His\u2011Story, chapter 5050<\/em>. \u00ab Avant \u00bb se trouve apr\u00e8s \u00ab apr\u00e8s \u00bb <\/em>(2016) est la premi\u00e8re \u0153uvre que nous d\u00e9couvrons dans le parcours de l\u2019exposition. Elle nous renvoie directement \u00e0 notre image en rentrant dans l\u2019espace d\u2019exposition comme s\u2019il nous appartenait \u00e0 chacun.e d\u2019entre nous de trouver et cr\u00e9er\/co\u2011cr\u00e9er les sens de ce que nous allons rencontrer. A la lettre, le titre trouve sa justification concr\u00e8te dans la position respective des pr\u00e9positions dans le dictionnaire fran\u00e7ais.<\/span> Au\u2011del\u00e0, il s\u2019agit en effet de fa\u00e7on m\u00e9taphorique de sugg\u00e9rer le fait que la recherche de sens ou des causalit\u00e9s des \u00e9v\u00e9nements qui jalonnent nos existences suit en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral le moment de la confrontation \u00e0 ces derniers. C\u2019est alors, dans un deuxi\u00e8me temps de r\u00e9flexion, que l\u2019on retrouve dans notre pass\u00e9 l\u2019ancrage s\u00e9minal, les racines annonciatrices de ce qui nous attend dans le futur. <\/span>Mais ce n\u2019est \u00e9videmment que l\u2019une des possibles interpr\u00e9tations de l\u2019\u0153uvre. Celle\u2011ci s\u2019appr\u00e9hende d\u2019ailleurs en deux voire trois temps successifs car elle est construite de fa\u00e7on dialectique par deux \u00e9l\u00e9ments coll\u00e9s bout \u00e0 bout et que l\u2019on ne d\u00e9couvre que successivement: le miroir plac\u00e9 perpendiculairement au mur et derri\u00e8re ce dernier un \u00e9chiquier, dont on voit le plateau, dans lequel l\u2019artiste a dissimul\u00e9 des origamis aux formes explicites de chouette ou de sphynx<\/span> r\u00e9alis\u00e9s avec des articles de journaux quotidiens qui ont retenu son attention au moment de la r\u00e9alisation de la pi\u00e8ce. Ces \u00e9l\u00e9ments, exprimant la sagesse et ses \u00e9nigmes, se d\u00e9robent de fa\u00e7on symbolique au spectateur, qui n\u2019en d\u00e9couvrira l\u2019existence qu\u2019en lisant cette entr\u00e9e de catalogue. Par ailleurs, la symbolique de l\u2019\u00e9chiquier d\u00e9sert\u00e9, sens dessus dessous, pourrait r\u00e9sonner comme une invitation \u00e0 nous \u00e9loigner ou remettre en question toute logique binaire, pour aller de l\u2019avant. A contrario, il pourrait aussi exprimer le fait que notre parcours d\u2019\u00eatre pensant et r\u00e9fl\u00e9chissant ne peut faire l\u2019\u00e9conomie d\u2019un antagonisme dialectique au sein de notre propre conscience.

Non loin de l\u00e0 non plus, toujours dans l\u2019espace d\u2019accueil de l\u2019exposition, le lecteur peut d\u00e9couvrir We Should See <\/em>(2019) une sculpture en suspension, en \u00e9quilibre pr\u00e9caire,<\/span> faite de deux planches de bois, l\u2019une de bois noble (d\u2019acajou), l\u2019autre de pin sur lesquelles on d\u00e9couvre trois plaquettes de laiton grav\u00e9es \u00e9voquant diverses injonctions correspondant \u00e0 notre rapport \u00e0 la vision et la compr\u00e9hension (We Should See, We Can See, We Could See, We Must See, We Have to See \/ We Will See, We Need to See, We Fail to See \/ We Never See).<\/span>

L\u2019eau\u2011forte Une porte doit\u2011\u00eatre ouverte ou non ferm\u00e9e<\/em> (2017) reprend le titre de l\u2019intervention dans l\u2019espace public (ou, plut\u00f4t, rendu public) par lequel des phrases \/ maximes efficaces et sibyllines \u00e0 l\u2019instar de \u00ab Avant \u00bb se trouve apr\u00e8s \u00ab apr\u00e8s \u00bb <\/em>\u00e9taient imprim\u00e9es sur des drapeaux diss\u00e9min\u00e9s dans le tissu urbain parisien, accroch\u00e9s aux balcons de personnes qui avaient accept\u00e9 de les montrer, \u00e0 l\u2019occasion de son exposition \u00e9ponyme pour le Prix Marcel Duchamp 2017. En l\u2019absence de ponctuation, la phrase peut rev\u00eatir des significations fort distinctes, voire oppos\u00e9es. En l\u2019occurrence elle peut fonctionner comme un simple syllogisme, par l\u2019\u00e9quivalence entre les deux locutions qualificatives, ou, si l\u2019on ajoute une virgule entre les deux qualificatifs, exprimer ce choix critique entre ouverture et fermeture. Le graphisme de l\u2019aphorisme reprend la d\u00e9marche que Santoro utilise dans ses Time\u2011Based Text Works<\/em>, o\u00f9 l\u2019artiste revient, inlassablement, \u00e0 la main, quotidiennement, pendant six mois (quelque fois moins), sur une phrase originellement inscrite en helvetica, induisant une r\u00e9solution dialectique et m\u00e9ditative entre le m\u00e9canique et l\u2019humain.

Nous retrouvons des pi\u00e8ces dans le dernier espace de l\u2019exposition, au rez\u2011de\u2011chauss\u00e9e:<\/span> de part et d\u2019autre de la cimaise qui m\u00e9nage l\u2019acc\u00e8s ou la sortie nous retrouvons deux plaques de m\u00e9tal grav\u00e9es, respectivement des inscriptions Sentinelle et t\u00e9moin<\/em> (2017), Witness and Sentinel<\/em> (2017) qui mettent le doigt sur le r\u00f4le d\u2019observateur,<\/span> mais aussi d\u2019acteur que nous avons par rapport aux \u00e9v\u00e9nements que la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 dans laquelle nous nous vivons et traversons. Comme une invitation \u00e0 l\u2019engagement actif par rapport \u00e0 nos valeurs. Non loin de l\u00e0, Resolution Work<\/em> (Contortionist)<\/em> (2018), \u00e9num\u00e8re non sans un certain humour absurde de possibles bonnes r\u00e9solutions pour l\u2019avenir, grav\u00e9es \u00e0 la main sur une fine plaque de cuivre maroufl\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Italian-Swiss artist Vittorio Santoro has a practice that could be described as \u201cconceptual made tangible”. While the conceptual element clearly underlies each of his plastic proposals, which is in fact relayed by an explicit use of language which often comes into dialogue with the plastic form, the materials (wood, copper, mirror, jute …) that he recurrently uses for his installations or sculptural works are carefully chosen, also for to their symbolic meaning. Moreover, the word is always used judiciously, with sufficient conciseness and ambiguity for its enigmatic presence, like a sphynx\u2019s riddle, to open up new semantic fields, without giving itself away entirely. This polysemic indeterminacy in fact reflects both the balances in suspension and the enigmatic formal juxtapositions of his sculptural works. The art of Santoro is literally an art that is on the edge and liminal. It is as if the artist also wanted to crystallize in us, his viewers, and to send back to us the dynamics of a praxis as if suspended, of a moment of choice, at the crossroads, according to the meaning that we will give to the moments and contexts that we pass through. These different aspects of his work are particularly palpable in the various works that we are including in Bye Bye His-Story, chapter 5050.<\/em>

\u00a0\u00ab Avant \u00bb se trouve apr\u00e8s \u00ab apr\u00e8s \u00bb <\/em>[Before is after after] (2016) <\/em>is the first work we discover in the course of the exhibition. It directly reflects back to us our image<\/span> when we enter the exhibition space as if it was up to each of us to find and create\/co-create the meanings of what we will encounter. In a literal sense, the title finds its concrete justification in the respective position of the prepositions in the French dictionary. Beyond that, it is in fact a metaphorical question of the fact that the search for the meaning or the causalities of the events that punctuate our lives generally comes after the moment of confrontation with them. It is then, in a second phase of reflection, that we find in our past the seminal anchoring, the foreshadowing roots of what awaits us in the future. But this is obviously only one of the possible interpretations of the work. It can be understood in two or even three successive stages because it is constructed in a dialectical way, with two elements glued end to end, that we only discover successively: the mirror placed perpendicular to the wall and behind this, a chess game in which the artist has concealed origami with explicit owl or moth shapes made from daily newspaper pages which captured his attention at the time of the realization of the piece. These elements, expressing wisdom and its enigmas, are symbolically hidden from the viewer, who will only discover their existence when reading this catalogue entry.

Moreover, the symbolism of the deserted chessboard, upside down, could be taken as an invitation to move away or question any binary logic, to move forward. Conversely, it could also express the fact that our journey as a thinking and reflecting being cannot do without a dialectical antagonism within our own consciousness. Also not far from there, still in the reception area of the exhibition, the reader can discover We should see<\/em> (2019) a hanging sculpture made of two wooden planks, one of mahogany, the other of pine. on which we find three engraved copper plates evoking various injunctions corresponding to our relationship to vision and understanding<\/span> (We Should See, We Can See, We Could See, We Must See, We Have to See\/We Will See, We Need to See, We Fail to See\/We Never See).

The etching Une porte doit-\u00eatre ouverte ou non ferm\u00e9e<\/em> [A door must be open or not closed] (2017) takes up the title of the intervention made in the public space (or, rather, made public) by which effective and cryptic sentences\/maxims the likes of \u00ab Avant \u00bb se trouve apr\u00e8s \u00ab apr\u00e8s \u00bb <\/em>were printed on flags scattered throughout the urban space of Paris, on the occasion of its namesake exhibition for the Prix Marcel Duchamp 2017. In the absence of punctuation, the sentence can take on very distinct or even opposite meanings. In this case, it can function as a simple syllogism, by the equivalence between the two qualifying phrases, or, if we add a comma between the two qualifiers, express this critical choice between opening and closing. The graphic design of the aphorism reprises the approach that Santoro uses in his Time-Based Text Works<\/em>, where the artist returns, tirelessly, by hand, daily, for six months (sometimes less), to a sentence originally inscribed in Helvetica, inducing a dialectical and meditative resolution between the mechanical and the human.

We find pieces in the last space of the exhibition, on the ground floor: on either side of the paneled structure which provides access or exit, we find two metal plaques, respectively engraved with the inscriptions Sentinelle et t\u00e9moin<\/em> (2017), Witness and Sentinel<\/em> (2017), which aptly point out the role of observer, but also the role of actor that we have in relation to the events that the society in which we live and we ourselves undergo.<\/span> As an invitation to active engagement with our values. Nearby, Resolution Work (Contortionist) (2018), <\/em>not without some absurd humour, lists possible good resolutions for the future, hand-engraved on a thin copper plate mounted on it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-95692","extra","type-extra","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/extra\/95692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/extra"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/extra"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centredelagravure.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}