MICHEL BOULANGER

For Michel Boulanger, drawing is the trace of a perpetual questioning. The precise and demanding gaze he casts on his models reflects his infinite curiosity.

Faced with a naked body, he does not simply seek to find a form of sensuality, but he attempts to capture the very essence of the body in question. The drawing then acquires a harsh character, without complacency with reality. If the creative gesture is often fleeting, the observation that precedes it can be very long. A state of maximum receptivity close to meditation is essential so that suddenly and without any form of premeditation, the artist begins to run the brush over the sheet. He is, he says, listening to the body of the paper, the brush and the ink, which “coagulate lovingly.”

Sometimes Boulanger orchestrates confrontations between his drawings. He assembles works from different periods which, initially autonomous, reveal themselves to one another. This work of relating or composing is as integral to his creative process as the drawing itself. As if he were attributing autonomy to his works, the artist piles up and preserves his drawings in the hope that they will finally reach to the truth after a more or less long time.

Text courtesy Galerie Bernard Bouche.