the unknown world: the knot

We are now at the Node, the nerve center of the Unknown World. It is extroversion, the quest for meaning and the pursuit of obsession in its sharpest sense. Between the infinite perspectives of the oceans, of the land, where striped masses emerge or submerge, it is here, feet perhaps in sulfuric acid, that we appear. It is the quest for one's place; we strive to find our place, it is uncertainty that reigns here. Everything is beautiful, but at what cost?
     Incomprehension is the engine, our engine, that of rage and chaos. The stripes of these enormous masses refer to the "Razzle-Dazzle" camouflage developed during the First World War by the artist and officer Norman Wilkinson, meant to conceal ships and deceive radars. The polysemy of stripes is fascinating (zebras, barnacles and other corals; striped clothing, to which I am emotionally attached; its military evocation, etc.) and constitutes a semiological foundation in this arc. War, the military, conflicts, are all analogies to the absurdity of life. They are the consequences of our weaknesses, and demonstrate to what extent we are ready to confront one another over our differences instead of contemplating them together.
     Turning toward the oceans is an obvious direction for me: it should be the major preoccupation of our era, it is the great force of our planet. Diving into the ocean becomes introspection, a central theme in my work. To this are added military codes, which I have been able to experience. The whole then becomes tense, and twisted between love and hate, traumas and loves. It then becomes urgent to set priorities; my work moves from nihilism to pure existentialism: one must act now.
     And then, if we lend an ear, our eyes, we see that nature, the horizon, whispers something to us, typography then takes on its full meaning, the signs are there, somewhere, one simply needs to take the time to decipher them. This time is also a marker of ambition in our society. It is revealing of our curiosity, of the porthole we decide to leave open to the child who has lived within us. There is an ancient message we strive not to listen to, just as deep down we do not listen to ourselves. Incomprehension reigns, opinions polarize and the divide deepens still, as history tells us so well. These landscapes then act as a theatrical synthesis of the global situation: people lack the motivation or the slightest open-mindedness to go and discover something else, a vision other than their own.
     Finally, what do we know of our oceans? How do we explain our lack of curiosity? What lies hidden in the depths of our vast plains of salt water? A final section of this cycle is dedicated to its exploration. It serves as binoculars, to point to certain factual phenomena so as to awaken consciousnesses, but also to certain paranormal phenomena. We think extraterrestrial life hides in space; and why would it not hide in our oceans, in our unknown, in what we do not know, in our own blind spots, we humans?