The title of the book, Voici Notre Quête Selon Maude, consisting of five five-letter words, sets the tone. It is a creation of five woodcuts, each of which, like a page in a giant book, contains ten five-letter words related to those in the title. There are therefore a total of 50 engraved words that are close to the artist’s heart and related to the quest. In a game of associations and variations, the words, engraved in a personal alphabet, can be read forwards or backwards. Everyone can imagine the connection between them or let them resonate as they hear them… or see them. These words, slowly engraved into the materiality of the wood, contrast with the rapid messages sent on our small touchscreens.
For several months, I have been writing pentagrams in a notebook. This research gave rise to this project, which is part of my woodcut and artist’s book creations.
Acrostics of the word A-M-O-U-R (Love)
5 woodcuts, each containing 5 words of 5 letters, beginning with the letters A, M, O, U, R.
25 engraved words that evoke facets or images of love.
Like a wasteland, these words are to be cultivated and left to mature.
A long-awaited and hoped-for arrival. Rejection. So we have been over there.
This artist’s book is composed of some fifty prints – woodcuts – and frottages inspired by Terres déclives, in a journey where ascent and fall echo each other. The idea of slope is the common thread, in shades of yellow and gold. Black shapes also emerge, evoking pictorial impressions of the parabolic poem. The destiny of our world takes shape.
Full text written in black ink.
Prints and frottages on 120g pearl paper, 105 pages, 42 x 29,7 cm.
2022 Limited edition, competition for artists’ book projects on the 2021 Limited Edition literary prize, “Terres déclives” by Thierry Raboud, Musée Alexis Forel, Morges
Collections of the Réserve précieuse, Cantonal and University Library, Lausanne
Without words, they evoke infinity or masks. They also play with shadows and light.
