Peintures noires (Black Paintings), 2013–2017, ongoing series

Black oil paint on wood
Variable dimensions

Tableaux noirs is an ongoing series of black oil paintings on wood in which images emerge through variations between matte and glossy surfaces. Before applying the paint, I prepare the support with different grounds and mediums, anticipating how they will affect the final surface. A single, irreversible layer of black oil paint is then applied over the entire composition.

The work is produced through a form of partial control. The image is planned in advance, yet its final appearance cannot be fully verified while the paint is being applied. It becomes visible only through changing reflections and according to the viewer’s position. In several paintings, parts of the image gradually disappeared during the months following their completion as the materials fully dried. Initially caused by the interaction between paint and support, this instability has become part of the continuing development of the series.

Tableaux noirs therefore combines precise preparation with an irreversible process whose consequences extend beyond the moment of painting. The image remains dependent on surface, light, material transformation and time, while the artist’s control ends before the work reaches its final state

The artist applying the single black oil layer to one of the Tableaux noirs, after preparing the support with different grounds and mediums.

Exhibition and studio views of the Tableaux noirs series: Repentir, the first work in the series, presented at Galerie Oberkampf, Paris, in 2013, at Tables.empty.workshops, Montargis, in 2016, and at Les Temps d’Arts, Boiscommun, in 2016, alongside later paintings produced in 2017 and shown at different stages of the process, before and after the application of the single black oil layer.