Le Souvenir des pierres
Image: 60 x 80 cm
Frame: 62 x 82 cm
The Mont Analogue series portrays little stones, collected for their strong resemblance with mountainous massifs, and plays with the concept of scale. The adopted vantage point in this photograph accentuates the loss of spatial markers and embraces the practice of rescaling from microcosm to natural topography.
80 x 80 cm
These maps representing French Guyana have been produced by the French national geographic institute. In some areas the map shows lack of information where it is written 'nuages' (clouds). These blank spaces have been cut, as the inverted representation of the cumulus passing over the rain forest, the day the institute took aerial pictures.
11 x 14,9 x 3,5 in
As a between-two surface, an uncertain line of contact, Inframince (Mont-Blanc) is a white stele topped by a transparent and luminescent block of resin. That subtle glow underline the thin opaque membrane which seems to divide the block in two, and draws an uneven relief, miniature size. This tiny thickness materializes, inside the block, the impalpable limit between sky and mountain.
Collection FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
80 x 80 cm
These maps representing French Guyana have been produced by the French national geographic institute. In some areas the map shows lack of information where it is written 'nuages' (clouds). These blank spaces have been cut, as the inverted representation of the cumulus passing over the rain forest, the day the institute took aerial pictures.
Image: 35,4 x 23,6 in
Frame: 36,2 x 24,4 x 1,6 in
A thousand Mississippi series is based on elevation datas, in other words topography. They show real areas of the Mississippi valley, from which we can observe the infinite curves and former bends. Thanks to a subtil color grading, the picture reveals the former paths of the river, engraved in the ground of the valley.
Exhibitions:
- Mapping at Last, Gallery Eric Mouchet, 04th febr- 25th march 2017, Paris, France
-Le Souvenir des pierres, Gallery Anne-Sarah Bénichou, 21 may -23 july 2016, Paris, France
8,5 x 181,1 in
4.6 billion of years are materialized by an 4.6 meters line.
Once this scale ratio installed, it follows that one year equals one nanometer. We can also deduce that there are a billion of nanometers in one meter.
Embossed notebook page
7,9 x 4,9 in
Each Diagramme offers the story of a selected dream made by the artist, realised on a notebook page. By removing the ribbon from a typewriter, the paper has been carved to create the letters and the words which make these scripts visible for our eyes
Exhibition:
- Le souvenir des pierres, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris, 21st May-16th july 2016
Diagramme n°071214-081214"Mont Viso"
Je marche sur un sentier de montagne avec un ami.
Notre objectif est d'atteindre le sommet du Mont Viso.
Au bout d'un moment nous arrivons enfin à la minuscule plate-forme qui constitue le sommet.
Nous nous reposons un instant pour profiter du panorama.
En voulant m'asseoir je fais basculer une grosse roche qui tombe sur le sol et se brise
immédiatement en deux, presque en son milieu.
Je me rends alors compte que sur une des deux faces mise à nu est inscrit quelque chose; un mot est gravé dans la pierre.
Je me demande comment ce mot a bien pu être gravé à l'intérieur de la roche.
Je m'approche pour pouvoir le déchiffrer, je n'arrive pas à le lire.
Variable dimensions
Sédiments series seeks to account for microscopic phenomena. It is the result of sedimentation, literaly as well as figuratively, of a slow time work on some elements that combine and transform to create a "fossil object", the memory of a past experience and the trace of a future sediment.
4,7 x 6,3 x 1,8 in
In july 2009, during a trip into Mojave desert the artist filled two empty 135mm color roll film boxes with earth sample. Back in France he found these two boxes again, among other relics. Thanks to a riddle system of different sizes this earth has been sorted and put into test tubes in order to discover what the desert is made of.
23,6 x 15,7 inches
Exhibition:
- Le souvenir des pierres, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris, 21st May-16th juiy 2016
- Loin des yeux, Centre d'art contemporain de Montréal, du 16 avril au 11 juin 2016
Variable Dimensions 8,7 x 6,8 x 5,1 in
Sédiments series seeks to account for microscopic phenomena. It is the result of sedimentation, literaly as well as figuratively, of a slow time work on some elements that combine and transform to create a "fossil object", the memory of a past experience and the trace of a future sediment.
Image: 35,4 x 23,6 in
Frame: 36,2 x 24,4 x 1,6 in
A thousand Mississippi series is based on elevation datas, in other words topography. They show real areas of the Mississippi valley, from which we can observe the infinite curves and former bends. Thanks to a subtil color grading, the picture reveals the former paths of the river, engraved in the ground of the valley.
Exhibition:
- Le souvenir des pierres, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, Paris, France, 21st May- 23rd July 2016
1 x 0,5 x 0,4 in
Opal is a crystalline stone whose crystals only form in pseudomorphosis, that is to say by transformation of an existing solid, the most frequent being those of wood, shells and bones. This idea of slow transformation of bone material into mineral is taken up here by the shaping of a white opal in the shape of a human tooth, like the residue of a fictive skeleton or the creation of a future fossil.
Image: 9,4 x 12,6 in
Frame: 14 x 17,1 in
On May 3, 1836, a man named “D.Julien” engraved his name on the sides of Labyrinth Canyon, in the meanders of the Green River, in southern Utah. With this inaugural gesture, he left the testimony of the first known European to have penetrated this remote area, while at the same time opening the way to other graffiti, other signatures. Some 173 years later, the artist goes in search of this homonymous double. The photograph Looking for D.Julien -Labyrinth Canyon- relates this experience linked to identity, to the passage of time and to the importance of the trace.
Embossed notebook page
7,9 x 4,9 in
Each Diagram offers the story of a selected dream made by the artist, realised on a notebook page. By removing the ribbon from a typewriter, the paper has been carved to create the letters and the words which make these scripts visible for our eyes.
Exhibitions:
- Le souvenir des pierres, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, 2016
- Territoire Hopi, Galerie Ygrec, Paris, 2015-2016
Diagramme n° 070412-080412 "Papier calque"
Je suis dans un magasin de fournitures de
beaux-arts. Je cherche du papier, du papier
calque. Je ne sais pas lequel choisir et demande
toutes sortes de références à la vendeuse. Je
finis par en acheter de plusieurs sortes.
Une fois sorti du magasin je me retrouve dans une
école primaire désertée. Je sors une feuille
transparente et la tiens à bout de bras devant
moi. C’est en fait une caméra, une surface
photosensible à travers laquelle je regarde et
filme en même temps la cour, les salles.
J’effectue des mouvements très lents et flottants,
tout en regardant à travers la feuille.
Au détour d'un couloir je découvre des photos de
classes punaisées au mur. Je suis présent sur
plusieurs d'entre elles, je dois avoir autour de
5 ou 6 ans.
Je comprends alors que la feuille de calque est
ce qui permet de filmer mon passé.
74,5 x 40,5 cm
Taking up the rules used in the building of Micronesian stick charts, Carte mémoire (Memory Card/Map) offers a primitive and personnal cartography of the city of Montreal. Built on an oversimplified pattern, with no respect of distance, it sets up a support to the memorization of space and it flows, representing the remembered spots as islands of an intimate achipelago.
80 x 80 cm
These maps representing French Guyana have been produced by the French national geographic institute. In some areas the map shows lack of information where it is written 'nuages' (clouds). These blank spaces have been cut, as the inverted representation of the cumulus passing over the rain forest, the day the institute took aerial pictures.
Image: 35,4 x 23,6 in
Frame: 36,2 x 24,4 x 1,6 in
A thousand Mississippi series is based on elevation datas, in other words topography. They show real areas of the Mississippi valley, from which we can observe the infinite curves and former bends. Thanks to a subtil color grading, the picture reveals the former paths of the river, engraved in the ground of the valley.
Exhibitions:
- L'air vibre du bourdonnement des insectes, Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart, 7th october- 17th December, Rochechouart, France
- Le Souvenir des pierres, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou, 21th May- 23rd July 2016, Paris, France
Image: 35,4 x 23,6 in
Frame: 36,2 x 24,4 x 1,6 in
A thousand Mississippi series is based on elevation datas, in other words topography. They show real areas of the Mississippi valley, from which we can observe the infinite curves and former bends. Thanks to a subtil color grading, the picture reveals the former paths of the river, engraved in the ground of the valley.
Image: 69,8 x 46,8 inch
Frame: 74,2 x 52 inch
Inverted Sates series have been created thanks to elevation data files and show monochromatic landscapes, rivers and mountains from the United States territory. Unless here after changing the light direction and so relief shading, the artist created an inverted landscape. Valleys became crests and mountains became depressions. So instead of offering the classic bird-eye view these maps gives us an exclusive view from underneath.
25'59''
Sediments shows the double journey of an isolated young men, walking around a small town which seems to be abandonned, on the ocean front. Through his investigations in this landscape, he discovers a peculiar object which leads him to continue his researches, across remains of the past.
With Antoine Loubry
Director of photography: Charles Devoyer
Sound engineer: Alexandre Lemore
Director of photography assitant: Rémy Peslouan
Script: Amélie Forestier
Production management: Thomas Merret
Color correction: Richard Pelmar
This film has been produced thanks to DRAC Île-de-France and Direction des affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris.
©2013 Julien Discrit
25'59''
Sediments shows the double journey of an isolated young men, walking around a small town which seems to be abandonned, on the ocean front. Through his investigations in this landscape, he discovers a peculiar object which leads him to continue his researches, across remains of the past.
With Antoine Loubry
Director of photography: Charles Devoyer
Sound engineer: Alexandre Lemore
Director of photography assitant: Rémy Peslouan
Script: Amélie Forestier
Production management: Thomas Merret
Color correction: Richard Pelmar
This film has been produced thanks to DRAC Île-de-France and Direction des affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris.
©2013 Julien Discrit
25'59''
Sediments shows the double journey of an isolated young men, walking around a small town which seems to be abandonned, on the ocean front. Through his investigations in this landscape, he discovers a peculiar object which leads him to continue his researches, across remains of the past.
With Antoine Loubry
Director of photography: Charles Devoyer
Sound engineer: Alexandre Lemore
Director of photography assitant: Rémy Peslouan
Script: Amélie Forestier
Production management: Thomas Merret
Color correction: Richard Pelmar
This film has been produced thanks to DRAC Île-de-France and Direction des affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris.
©2013 Julien Discrit
25'59''
Sediments shows the double journey of an isolated young men, walking around a small town which seems to be abandonned, on the ocean front. Through his investigations in this landscape, he discovers a peculiar object which leads him to continue his researches, across remains of the past.
With Antoine Loubry
Director of photography: Charles Devoyer
Sound engineer: Alexandre Lemore
Director of photography assitant: Rémy Peslouan
Script: Amélie Forestier
Production management: Thomas Merret
Color correction: Richard Pelmar
This film has been produced thanks to DRAC Île-de-France and Direction des affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris.
©2013 Julien Discrit
The exhibition's title "Le Souvenir des pierres" combines notions that seem to be opposed in every way. First, a temporal opposition between an immutable time that rocks embody and in an other hand, what is always dissipating, the fleeting, the memory that trying to keep us in the precarious form of remembrance.
But also a material opposition between the stone commonly representing a material devoid of life or at least, fossilized life and the memory, involving on the contrary, life and activity.
It is from this association apparently paradoxical that Julien Discrit created the artworks of its first personal exhibition at Anne-Sarah Bénichou's gallery.
In fact, each one tries, in its way, to highlight the rich and vibrant link binding us to stones : recording the world memory as our own, and presenting forms whose necessity fascinates us.
The exhibition covers the artist's important areas of investigation as the mapping, the memory and the relations of scale. Through a set of works, combining, video, photo or sculpture, the exhibition tries to reveal what is binding our existence to mineral as custodian of our memories or when the stones itself remember...
Julien Discrit is born in 1978 at Epernay, France and works in Paris.