Frédéric Altmann

IN THE LAPSE OF A GLANCE, OF A SPACE, OF ABSENCE

The role of the artist in contemporary society is vitally important, since it is attuned to the evolution of technology and of the heartbeat of the world. In my opinion, the function of the contemporary artist is not to be a decorator, producing "stopgaps" for dull, dismal walls. And then the fact of leaving traditional places such as galleries, museums, etc. seems to me beneficial for finding new solutions, and for being in touch with an unfamiliar public.

Paolo Ferrari's approach to art is fascinating to me because by investing the space of a factory, he touches on the imagination of each one of us. This is a great endeavour that has nothing to do with exhibiting works large companies purchase for the mere purpose of investing in speculative art, with their more often than not stereotyped images, such as sunsets, impressions of waves, of far away islands with palm-trees...What interests me in Paolo Ferrari's installation is the fact that it can lead to a dialogue with men at their work, giving them a dream, and above all the Reflection-Evasion that encourages the access and response to the art of our times, with its doubts and its questions, getting away from the holier-than-thou deification of art in general and from speculation. Making the world, which has become mechanical-confined owing to the robotisation of man subjected to the ever-repetititve Production-Profitability-Rhythm-Daily chain, become less so. In other words, charging life with more emotion. Experiencing space in different terms than those of the industrial machine, without leaving out inter-personal relations and communications.

The fact that his work is somewhere between abstraction and figuration seems right to me - because showing pictures of everyday life soon grows tiesome. His work vibrates, undeniably emits waves and visual shocks, in direct contact with the mind, without being overbearing, without referring to art history (schools or movments) but close, by certain aspetcs, to Bad Painting, Free Figuration and Graffiti artists.

Reflecting on the place - investing its structures, sunders the familiar way of looking at things and the temium of life. In his exacting preparation of the execution, Paolo Ferrari dispels, in the lapse of a glance, the abuse that machines exert on our environment.

"Métro, dodo, boulot" (subway, sleep, work) was one of the slogans of the students and the workers in the revolution of '68. A revolution following on a dreary, hopeless existence for the workers, and breaking their chains and their habits, slightly improving their lives. Fernand Léger, with Les machines and Les constructeurs (the builders), had understood the social role of the artist in industrial society. He turned beams and rafters into fields of colour so as to open a new era for the world of labour. "I never work directly on the canvas. My work, I assemble it, sketch after sketch, piece by piece, like assembling an engine or building a house. How can you create a sense of space, of going beyond boundaries? Simply with colour, with different-coloured walls."

Tactfully and intelligently, Paolo Ferrari opens a window offering new paths - in the eye's territories - observing, analysing the context of the place, consulting the workers, and with a successful outcome. Abesence is a beautiful achievement, revealing P. Ferrari's humanistic spirit and his fruitful communication with the reality of life. Frédéric Altmann, Chairman of the Centre International d'Art Contemporain di Carros, France.