Les Bruits du Monde
It's difficult, if not impossible, not to be moved, immediately and literally, by Joel Person's drawn work, so much so that his charcoal blacks, applied with force or delicacy to his various media, seem to come to meet us to tell us about the world around him, the universes that fascinate him.
Today, this graphic rendezvous by the renowned author of sensitive horses, whose material reminds us of the precious heliogravure-printed English editions of the 20s, plunges us into a magma of images whose simple ambition is to make our eyes shine, our ears throb and our hearts beat.
Les Bruits du Monde, what a formula! Like the title chosen over thirty years ago by Peter Greenaway for his superb exhibition at the Louvre entitled Le Bruit des Nuages (The Noise of Clouds), the title of Joel Person's Images is intended to reflect a completely different kind of sky.
Meeting in « Kaleidoscopie Chorus Achromata »*
In the studio, over a cup of coffee, I come face to face with the artist as draughtsman, but above all in front of a large white wall on which, with the touch of a finger, subjects of all kinds cohabit. Unfinished or impeccably finished (implacable?), his drawings have been inspired by various databases. The creative spirit is set in motion.
The overall effect is really striking.
You don't know where to look...
It's like being in a TV surveillance booth, responsible for a multitude of images that you have to see and then scrupulously decipher.
This masterful kaleidoscope leaves no doubt as to the quality of the artist's workmanship.
A further paradox is that this graphic ensemble emanates a sort of muted sonority. Before our very eyes, we feel the sensation of a crackling sound, preparing us, without a moment's hesitation, to feel our own emotions.
Although colorless, the source of emotions according to the ancients, drawing nonetheless has that uncanny ability to speak to the soul of the layman who ventures into sacred land shaded in black. Joel Person's pencil strokes, like so many lines, form his personal alphabet, with which he builds his narratives, composes his stories. What seduces us sometimes also disconcerts us. How do you go from an overtly violent street scene to a sublime portrait of a thoroughbred Arabian stallion? Any answer to this question is futile. The best thing to do is not to sulk in pleasure, but to take these plural images as they come, in good company, the company that, thanks to the artist's talent, allows us to open our eyes and appreciate...his new Sounds of the World.
If Person is an artist in the literal sense
Joel is an artist in the figurative sense.
- Edwart Vignot, Art historian
« Kaleidoscopie Chorus Achromata »* neologism specially coined to describe part of Joel Person's artistic work: relating to a diversity of things, people, multiple situations without color...