Du bout du monde

Patrice Balvay practices drawing in large format as a performance. Walking inspires him and provides him with a working method. During the month of April, in Le Havre, he walked from "Le Bout du monde" to the Amfard marsh, passing by the cliffs and the port area. Back at the studio, he translated his impressions into gesture and composition, in the form of sketches, from which he conceived a very long drawing, to be faced with an aboriginal painting of the same format. The curved hanging structure conceived for this purpose was inspired by that of the Water Lilies at the Orangery.

Because it is an entire Aboriginal community that responded to the project - seven individuals with varied styles to produce seven large paintings - Patrice Balvay decided to extract seven stages of his walk to produce seven drawings of different facture. The colors and compositions of the aboriginal paintings in progress have conditioned these drawings, worked in successive layers. The repetition and variation of the same gesture, the vibration between the top and the bottom, the organic and spiritual link to the landscape, are found in the works of the Ikuntji community and in those of Patrice Balvay, made on the opposite side of the world.