foraging

i don’t know

after the disenchantment you look at lichens

you look at stones,

you try to renew contact with the most elemental things

if you choose to live, you look at what clings

what clings is the lichen, the moss

the things that are there, invisible

you start by clinging to these little things

and you try to rediscover a form of wonderment

rediscovering forms in matter that are elementary

finding the intelligence of matter

matter has its own intelligence

using paint is also letting yourself go with the intelligence of matter

and it’s by looking at things outside

by looking at how they grow, how they function

that you can find, or try to find in painting

processes that are close to that

something that clings on

working on the skin of painting

like lichen is a skin on things

working on skin

skin being what links us to the world

and at the same time separates us and protects us

working on this surface

so sometimes it cracks

there are crevices, wounds, flaws

working on this skin, on painting like a skin

i don’t know … i don’t know

sperm, blood and shit

that’s all we’re made of

so, i don’t know, i saw in a psychiatric hospital

someone jerk his arse off till it bled

he was all covered in blood

saying you’re going to kill me, you’re killing me

and he painted

that’s the relation there can be between shit and painting

at some point in life

that’s all you can feel

… you become …

… you become only organic

shitting, pissing …

… ejaculating, …

… drooling, …

… bleeding

there’s a moment when that’s all there is, everything is reduced to that

maybe that’s when, yes, when your skin doesn’t feel right

precisely because there is no skin

you can’t feel the contact with the world

you can’t feel what separates you from it either

there’s just …

… what’s organic

there’s neither separation with the outside

nor contact

you’re completely imprisoned in excremental concerns

to find your skin again is finding that

and working on the skin of painting is about that

finding a relation to the world

something that at the same time separates

… connects

and i think

that being thick-skinned, being raw

to be skinned

all these expressions can be taken literally

when you arrive in a certain state

you really are skinned