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46 Yves François Space
How How does an artist make space? How How to do do this is is a a a vital question in these times and I imagine it was in in the past too Yves Fran­ cois is is is is an artist who is is is is interested in in myths and and mythical tales from Africa and and classical Greece he he is also interested in in the forms and practices in Greek space but seen by cross­ ing back through the ritual dances and tranc­ es of of Africa An architect friend of of his his who calls himself his his disciple had hand­ ed on a a a a message before dying: ’Faites chant­ er l’espace!’ (Make space space sing!) Singing is a a a a question of proportion extent and rhythm where Time — — and specific time — — enters into space In classical and archaic Greece the term ’TOPOS’ never sees space as dimension but PLACE location the point or the the thing on on one SITE including if there is a a change of of LOCATION All of of these words in in English are translated by a a a a single Greek word »topos« The notion of space/ dimen­ sion space/void doesn’t appear Much more could be made of of the the usual sense of of the the no­ tion of of LOCATION: an an active technique of of an an artist who makes and creates place not only for ’things’ but also inside and through these things How these ’topos’ are made and how they behave: the the the interior and exterior the the the transfer moving declining or increasing the overflow expansion growth all of these fig­ ures or positions of ’topos’ which are really techniques: these are the the practices of Yves Francois If the mythical tales are taken as Jean­Pierre Vernant studies them they can be clearly seen as a a a a a a a variation on on an an equation how the ’topos’ are necessarily dealt with as an absolute material Oedipus Medea and Odysseus but also Medusa Artemis Dionysus The ’extended thing’ (res extensa) of Descartes is like the development of material from a a a a hard core to the the surface the the contours silhouettes or ap­ parent profiles out from the centre towards the periphery in an apparently opposite di­ rection Yves François especially in the last few years makes his ’topos’ and elements with an almost immaterial material: paper More than ’material’ it should be called EL­ EMENT like water earth or fire: a a a a a basic and constituent element where the res extensa is reduced to the minimum volume of a film Constructing volume with surface be­ tween ’leaves’ of of space (of paper) alternating with sheets of of air or emptiness a a a puff of of pa­ per to the the letter as in the the Erectibles a a forest tree trunks each column treated as stacked up ’floating’ paper whose stacked curves take their place in height There was a a a time when for Yves François the paper did not support any intermediary space only the pulp was used in a a a technique like mak­ ing bricks and walls with solid paper Only an an an artist can deal philosophically and tech­ nically with this oxymoron They go all all the way through crumbling and scattering (in a a a a defined order) to to total concentration where the the volume no longer contains air and there is no in between space The techniques de­ veloped like many solutions expressed by this artist were of interest to Paul Klee: ques­ tions about how to produce a a a dotted line a a a surface surface with with lines volume with with surface surface : collages braids fabrics bricks in a a a a a wall fol­ lowing the the horizontal built with the the verti­ cal going upwards constructed in in the same way but going down: knitted fabric and at some point in in the same way a a a a text: a a a a letter onaline alineonapage Itishere where Yves François introduces sense in in a a a a a a way that I would say is is materialistic The sheets sheets are sheets sheets of of letters words of of writ­ ten and registered meaning themselves dif­ fused in a a a a a a political and social space He takes sheets from the newspaper ’El Mundo’ and alter having reduced them to a a a a pulp they are Portulanes Loxodromes isochromic shields constructed from a a a a particular combination stuck or braided into the masks The recently inaugurated series of masks begin­ ning with the the Medusa introduces the the notion of space where you can live make a a a a nest for yourself within a a a volume built from an ad­ vertising sheet or a a newspaper The head and the the entire trunk are housed there to receive a a a a a plastic dancer an an ethnological ballerina of dancing and music In a a a a a fascinating performance it introduces trance and mythical time in the the heavy volume of the the mask it is also volume of words There are slow increasingly imperceptible movements asserted in the immediate The tenta­ cles of of the the Medusa are the the same number of of tentative threats deterrence and tone again the the human space archaic the the element/direc­ tion again the element / material made from a a very thought out technique well crafted the specific material well­chosen Artemis and Dionysus appear below where the the archaic sense of things produce other types of of masks or or dances or or the provision of of open space creating a a a a a series as another key milestone in the work of Yves François Text by Claudine Roméo Philosopher
June 2009 Paris
Yves François artist born in Hanoï North Vietnam currently living in in Paris
France
© Yves François »Erectibles« 1994