Cédric Bouteiller
The man views his work as an acquisitive action, a fusion of techniques that oscillate between modern photographic shooting, contemporary painting, graffiti, digital retouching or collage. Collecting constitutes an essential artistic activity in his action. Cédric Bouteiller searches, recovers or tears the papers and posters of public space.
In fact, this artist is also an alchemist. Many have used alchemical thoughts to quench their thirst for gold or immortality. But others have used this practice to awaken. A mystical alchemy to transcend one's condition, a mystical alchemy to elevate one's consciousness. Cédric also speculates on the oxidation of matter, the hardening of a plastic, the evaporation of a paint... So many residues with random and uncertain results, which can feed his paintings: "You see, this, this interests me," he often says, pointing to a crack in the varnish or an accidental degradation of acrylic.
Spend some time in Cédric Bouteiller's studio, and let your gaze wander over the drawing tables or work plans dedicated to his epoxy polymers. Everywhere, you will find paint buckets, masking tape, solvent cans, hardener or solvent bottles, dangerous cutter blades or elegant natural silk brushes... Under the effect of ambient heat, the epoxy resins harden. Irreversibly. Also, some tools are trapped in buckets in unlikely positions. Stopped net in the momentum, forgetfulness or the artist's will. Ardent pioneer, Cédric Bouteiller often walks the asphalt, alone, on foot or driving his car, a camera always at hand.
Ready to trigger at the slightest visual singularity that could emerge from his urban environment. This vigil, this harvesting of graphic resources allows him to seize at will a strange streak on a wall, a singular stain on the asphalt, to pick up a piece of poster whose tear shape could inspire him: "The fringes, the cut of a paper can sometimes justify a good manual brake," the artist jokes. Scribbled notes, pigments by the hundred, data storage cards, art books by the kilo, encrypted notebooks, monographs or circus posters on tour. 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. The accumulation serves him to raise the materials, to give birth to ideas. Here, a Chinese porcelain inkwell, there a glass cabinet full of huge markers. On the floor, small lakes and ponds left by the dried resin...
The works of Cédric Bouteiller
