étude pour le nombre

2008

spray and oil paint on cardboard, 45 x 45 cm, Private Collection

The result of reflecting about proportions, Study for le nombre is a five-sided piece of card cut out according to the golden number formula, the ideal incarnation of the harmony of proportions. This geometric shape, a kind of square with one corner cut off, has been carried over into Le nombre # 1. The latter consists of a stretcher spe- cially shaped by the artist, and a linen canvas badly stretched so as to form folds at the angles. Covered with sev- eral layers of retouching varnish, the canvas becomes a transparent drape that discloses as much as it conceals.