Le sommeil
Le sommeil (2005) is a watercolour on paper, a medium that Pierre Ardouvin has worked with extensively. In it, he represents only the head and feet of a figure in profile lying on his back. The title tells us that he is sleeping, but is his body covered or has it disappeared? The artist challenges our idea of the blank sheet of paper covered by the drawing by reversing the roles. He leaves it up to us to imagine this body that is hidden from us, reminiscent of the exquisite corpse game invented by the surrealists. However, the work gives rise to a feeling of unease, the head and feet without a torso evoking a morbid universe where the void becomes a shroud. Perfectly immobile, frozen, eyes closed, has this character sunk into a deep sleep from which he will never awaken?
Text written by Justine Grethen as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris (France)
from 14 Jan to 11 Mar 2006