Cédric Bouteiller
The man sees his work as an acquisitive action, a fusion of techniques that oscillate between modern photography, contemporary painting, graffiti, digital retouching and collage. Hunting is also an essential artistic activity. Cédric Bouteiller scavenges, recovers or tears up papers and affiches from public spaces.
In fact, this artist is also an alchemist. Many have used alchemical thinking to quench their thirst for gold or immortality. But others have used the practice to awaken. Mystical alchemy to transcend one's condition, mystical alchemy to raise one's consciousness. Cédric also speculates on the oxidation of matter, the hardening of a plastifiant, the evaporation of a paint... So many residues with random and uncertain renderings, which can feed his paintings: "You see, that interests me", he often says, pointing to a crackling varnish or an accidental gradation of acrylic.
Spend a little time in Cédric Bouteiller's workshop, and let your gaze wander over the drawing tables or worktops dedicated to his epoxy polishes. Everywhere you'll find paint trays, masking tape, cans of thinners, bottles of hardener or stubborn solvents, dangerous cutter blades or elegant natural bristle brushes... Under the effect of ambient heat, epoxy resins harden. Irreversibly. As a result, some tools find themselves trapped in buckets in improbable positions. Stopped dead in their tracks by the artist's will or oblivion. A keen explorer, Cédric Bouteiller often roams the asphalt, alone, on foot or at the wheel of his car, camera always at hand.
He's always on the lookout for the slightest visual oddity that might emerge from his urban environment. This watchful eye, this gleaning of graphic resources, enables him to seize on a strange drip on a wall, a singular stain on the tarmac, to pick up a piece of poster whose tear shape might inspire him: "The bangs, the cut of a paper can sometimes justifier a good pull on the handbrake", the artist laughs. Scribbled notes, pigments by the hundreds, digital data storage cards, art books by the kilo, inked notebooks, monographs or touring circus affiches. Between memories and tools for the future, Cédric Bouteiller's studio is filled with objects to create. Composite, between two eras and several continents, his bric-a-brac is necessary. Accumulation helps him to bring out materials and give birth to ideas. Here, a Chinese porcelain inkwell, there a glass cabinet full of huge markers. On the floor, little lakes and ponds left by dry resin...
The artist's works
