BLASE b.1980 (FRA)

Blase became known for his work on old canvases, which he modifies, distorts and transforms. His anachronic play confuses the viewer, manipulating the mind to convoke doubt and then to finally re-arrange one’s very own perception.

He is not affiliated to any school, he spent his youth rummaging with his antique dealers parents, trying various trades before becoming a professional restorer – part-time forger.

Blase dreamt of creating his own works, to expose his singular vision of existence to the face of the world.

Blase’s old-school approach keep him in a form of perpetual discomfort. He frequents antique shops and auction houses, examining all the destroyed canvases, until he finally falls in love with one of them and the bud of great idea is born.

A long and delicate work, he then restores the entire canvas and adds that final personal touch, humourous and infectious, which establishes its new identity.

Through his experience and methods, Blase has gained a prominent reputation in the traditional art market, but his opus is firmly contemporary. These radically conflicting worlds, so often closed off to one other, are thrust together.

Blase works instinctively but nevertheless exposes his lineage with numerous art-history references. He aims to reinterpret and re-evaluate existing objects, to renew by the prism of a contemporary thought (Pierre Francastel) like the Dadaists at the beginning of the 20th century and later on the avant-gardists such as Guy Debord, Asger Jorn (CoBra) and the Situationist International.

Passionate about technique and nostalgic of an era of artists “grands gestes”, Blase playfully parodies and provokes.

His modern smirk-worthy satire points the finger at an obvious reality to which only he could draw our attention. His actions are always subtle and respectful of the protocols of classical restoration. They may scandalize, but they incite deep reflection. The veil of omnipresent irony, the attention to detail and the thirst of cosmetic beauty betray a deep sensitivity that in itself questions the passage of time.

Blase’s goal is above all to put back good sense in a society corrupted by increased consumption and to repeal a form of system that bores and abhors. By the reappropriation of old paintings, Blase both refuses the facility and denies the culture of “image”. He contests the idea of human relationships that would only be restricted to those of representations (Ernst Gombrich).

Denouncing the American White Trash, he is seduced by provocation’s different forms; he is as much influenced by Serge Gainsbourg’s extraordinary charisma as by the absurd universe of the French entertainer Alexandre Astier or the remarkable collections of the British creator Alexander McQueen.

A cousin of urban art activists such as Banksy and the dissident artist Maurizio Cattelan, Blase injects a new layer of complexity to the time/image relationship which questions and finally imposes a different perspective.

With a liberty that frees itself from political correctness, his work suggests a raw thought, potentially even prophetic in these tormented times.

Thanks to his radical methods he has no difficulty in delivering his strong message.

BLASE insists and only signs-off on works that can “locate the unique detail that will metaphorically sucker-punch his audience”.