Stéphane Calais

L’herbier (petit Trianon)

L’herbier (petit Trianon)consists of four “realistic” drawings of plants, screen printed on transparent PVC. Relying on drawing as a study, this work resembles many sketchbook drawings of the artist, but also alludes to the series titled “Magnolia”. “The subject is a kind of cultural minimum (the plant) and the herbarium tends to this minimum,” Calais suggests. This work follows the tradition of still life painting, ranging from technical mastery to vanity. The metaphor of the plant as a network and an ornament is recurrent theme in his work as well as arborescent typography, wall painting in the works “Le haricot magique du petit Jack,”(Little Jack’s bean) (1997) as well as sculpture gardens. Evoking a rococo spirit, his drawings surfaces’ shimmer like a glaze, quivering at the slightest breath. One can well imagine that L’Herbier ( the Herbarium) could have taken place in the Petit Trianon at the garden of Versailles, signifying a balance between simplicity and the richness of ornament. In an interview, the artist spoke of this work like a house of cards – everything is visible and transparent, the whole is obvious. Yet, the overlap of the screenprint detailed in a “block sediment” of different sheets alludes (by surprise) to images – the slightly blurred images are not immediate and clear.