BLACK RUBBER: an unusual material, a personal adventure / 1990-2020
From the rubber tree drip to synthetic rubber and then to elastomer, the material carries the memory of its history as rich and diverse as its qualities. If its development is linked to the incompressible need for elasticity that gripped the West in the era of industrialization*, it came into my studio by chance at the end of the 1990s without ever leaving it.
Since then, I have become accustomed to its deeply black colour, which makes any presence or chromatic association futile and maintains a specific relationship with light. A ratio that goes from reflection to total absorption, depending on the direction of the light and the quality of the material, opaque or shiny.
At the same time, I try to understand its elusive properties, its own inner mood.* Solid and unstable, both metal and fabric, it presents different reactions to each manipulation according to its weight, thickness, elasticity, composition. Thus, over the years, this unusual and deeply enigmatic material has become my favourite material, it resonates with my need to eliminate all trace of narration in my work, to be satisfied with a minimal pictorial representation. Finally, leave room for silence and, perhaps, for the spectator to invent his or her own story.
* ÊTRE CAOUTCHOUC, Anne Varichon et Carlo Roccella, éditions du Seuil, 2006.
