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
