Étienne Chambaud
Nameless
2013
80 x 60 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal expression (scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
Étienne Chambaud
Nameless
2013
80 x 60 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal expression (scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
Étienne Chambaud
Nameless LB # 1
2013
200 x 150 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal [removed]scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
Étienne Chambaud
Nameless LB #2
2013
200 x 150 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal [removed]scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
Étienne Chambaud
Nameless MB # 2
2013
150 x 105 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal [removed]scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
Étienne Chambaud
Nameless MC # 3
2014
150 x 105 centimeters
Unique
The basis for The Nameless series is a mixture of varnish and bronze or copper dust applied on stretched linen canvas. Different animal urines –squirrel, mink, wolf, coyote, zebra, bear, lama, deer, dog, puma, lynx, etc.— set randomly on the linen canvas oxidize the metal, thus creating motifs that alter the monochromatic background. Departing from the heroic or ironic figure of the artist urinating on his paintings (from Pasolini's Teorema or Warhol's Oxidation Paintings), the oxidations that compose each canvas are traces of life of anonymous individuals from disparate species. If for human eyes this only produces an anamorphous image, which reveals nothing of each individual that participated, these oxidations preserve, at least during the time the series is fabricated, the animal [removed]scent, pheromones, proteins) contained in each of the urines. Indeed, these possess a “semiotic” quality tied to the marking of territory, social hierarchy, or the signs of coupling belonging to each individual and to each species, but inaccessible to human understanding. Crystallized by the oxidation process, the sum of animal expressions that do not address the spectator, become a thing without name or shape, an improbable chimera that can only be mentally reconstituted through the list of species that participated in each canvas.
