Marcelle Alix, Paris

“To Our Driving Forces”

“A single person’s hands, capable of building an Ideal Palace.
A single person’s hand, drawing continuously for three years, three months and three days.
The glove a worker discarded, that still seems to be empowered.
The baker’s hands replaced by those of the artist.
The painter’s hand, creating an infinite landscape out of the blue.
The architect’s hand, convincing other hands into using rock dust and molded earth to create an utopian city where one could live under “one roof”.
Those of a pedagogue who invents simple manipulable objects to explain the complexity of our intricate world.
The joined hands of the Saint-Simonian fellowship, propagating its creed through work, speech and song.
This presentation is an opportunity to take a transversal look at some of the references behind the creation of a group of works. If there’s no shortage for formal analogies, what we want above all is to take advantage of a selection and of its display to better understand what connects the artists we defend, from the point of view of work and our relationship to it, be it considered an isolated activity or as the sharing of ideas and forces.”

Text by Cécilia Becanovic