Ceci n'est pas un atelier

CECI N'EST PAS UN ATELIER, Rhinoceros (or the antithesis of the artist in their lair)

Performance in six acts, charcoal & ink on paper 136 x 183cm, 2022

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For this performance I painted a self-portrait as a rhinoceros in public, wearing a paper-maché mask. The question of ‘who am I ’ in this work rejoins that of ‘where are we going ’ since the white rhino is doomed to extinction, just as is the human race, if we fail to take adequate measures to protect our environment. How can we still look ourselves in the mirror?

The work addresses themes of ecology and extinction but not without a little humour. However the origin of this performance stems from a provocation. Every time we prepare our studios for the collective studio public openings, many of my artist colleagues reconfigure their studios into impeccable white cubes like a commercial gallery spaces. For me the studio is, above all, my place of work, of sanctuary and introspection and I believe that we cannot, should not, turn it into make it a white cube. Of course I clean and tidy up before receiving visitors on these occasions, but I don't want to completely transform my space. I prefer to allow visitors to discover (at least to a some extent) the 'behind the scenes' of creation during these privileged moments of interaction. You, dear visitor, enter my private world when you enter the studio.

There is no video work of Ceci n'est pas un atelier, that was not my objective. The performance is embedded within the resulting artwork itself, just as the story of the creation of each of my paintings makes up the final work.