Imperfect Monochrome

Like all great artists, I had to make a monochrome !

This item is a tribute both to the brilliant « Alphonse Allais » and to his friend « Paul Bilhaud », who were the true inventors of monochromes in 1882 ^[1] long before Malevitch, Rodtchenko, Klein or Soulages.

But it's also an opposition to the importance and seriousness given to them since by the world of contemporary art ^[2].

My favorite work by Alphonse Allais is the one entitled : « Harvest of the tomato by apoplectic cardinals at the edge of the red sea ».

While I was in my studio, working to make my monochrome as perfect as possible, I took a step back to admire my work.

But when I approached to correct a slight defect, I stumbled over a tube of paint lying on the ground, and nearly fell. I caught myself at the last minute with my hand right in the middle of the painting .

At first I was dismayed, but upon closer examination, I realized that all the splashes of paint made this « imperfect monochrome » more than perfect !

The beauty of color now erupted from thousands of reflections of light !

Decidedly, chance does things well.

Post-scriptum : Like all my artworks, this one is signed on the back, but the most observant of you will have noticed that I managed the unique feat of signing it also on the front (with clear acrylic gel, to respect the « monochrome rule » !)

I think I'm the only artist in the world who has dared to do so, but if you know of another, do not hesitate to tell me about it on my contact page.

Notes and references

1. « Album Primo-avrilesque »  on the B.N.F (National Library of France)

2. Wikipedia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome_painting