Redivivus-trama, 2023, transfer on fabric, 10 x 15 cm
A transfer is a painting restoration technique in which the pictorial layer of a painting is deposited on a new support. This operation is used as a last resort when the previous support and/or its reparation are defective and refixing or any other form of consolidation is not an option. It is an extreme and irreversible solution, to be carried out with great care.
I was lucky enough to learn and carry out this operation on a canvas by Norman painter Jacques Pasquier with my grandfather. He passed on his knowledge to me, which he himself learned from his father, who was also a painting restorer. Transmission, filiation and memory are fundamental notions in my practice.
I draw an analogy between the damaged support of a painting and the loss of memory of an event or
experience. The transfers I've made aim to enclose the remnants of this incomplete memory in the fabric's weave.
This new medium, as delicate in its set-up as it is raw in its appearance, lets you hold the image in the palm of your hands. To touch it, to manipulate it and to connect these lived spaces together. The image has deteriorated, and the canvas weave takes over the memory, but by imprisoning it, it puts an end to its destruction.
