The First Day
Marc Rossignol

2021
Softcover with dust jacket / 120 pages / 210 x 210 mm
Published by
MER. B&L
Language
EN
ISBN
9789463935241
Price
39.00 euros

Marc Rossignol (°1954) developed an artistic practice that is rich and diverse, deploying different conceptual methods and material techniques, like painting, drawing, assemblage, sculpture and performance. Inspired by his encyclopedaedic interest in art history and the cultures of the world, Rossignol incorporates many different influences, among which the ideas of Abby Warburg, systems of signage, geometry and the practice of ‘Kolams’ (mandala-like shapes, drawn by woman in India using flour, chalk and rice).

Since 2004, Rossignol performs artistic actions by which he paints or draws simultaneously with his right and left hand, while reciting Edouard Glissant, François Cheng or Pasolini. A returning principle in his work and performances is the continuous line, that he employs according to Eulerian principles — filling the total space of the canvas, ending where the line starts. He draws networks of continuous lines that invade the  space, overlap, and become entangled in an inextricable web. Through the performance, a tension is raised; the experience of the body guides the mind, which becomes purely receptive. Both body and mind converge in the creation of an image that is deeply connected to the moment of production. The brush strokes indicate a route, from the source to the end, and thus underline the particular relationship with the time that flows. 

Rossignol’s work is spirited by an intense study of various philosophical concepts, like singularity and difference, individualism and universalization, and by how these concepts relate to the position of art in our society. For Rossignol, the work of art is produced socially. It is made out of the complex aspects of social exchange, a practice that figures in the domain of language, in its absolute diversity. Rossignol is a playful experimenter, who is always pushing the limits of his own knowledge and experience out of social engagement and a sense of shared responsibility.