Stratis Rouge (Stratis Red)

Stratis Rouge (Stratis Red) invites you to come closer to a rock that seems to hold more than its own substance. Its folds, fissures and shadowed areas draw the eye, while the red surrounding it gives its forms room to unfold.

The work grew from the patient study of a rock sample brought back from Cap des Monts. Its shades of black, grey and beige, its textures and lines inspired a process in which drawing meets paint applied with a palette knife. On Terraskin paper mounted on canvas, the details of the rock grow in scale and gradually open the way to abstraction.

Begun in 2017 and completed in 2022, Stratis Rouge belongs to a series exploring how rock forms change against backgrounds of different colours. Stratis jaune offers another expression of this idea, softer and more luminous. Here, red sets off the textured forms, emphasizing their turns, hollows and passages.

Depending on its orientation, the forms may suggest a body in motion, a profile or wings; viewed another way, they become mountainous landscapes. Each discovery invites another look. A fissure leads to a passage, one ridge conceals the next, and the adventure can continue wherever the eye wanders.