ET LE CORPS APPARAIT is more than body painting: it is a photographic, pictorial and animated-video project using the female body as its support, with each work an incarnation of abstract painting.

At first, the surface is flat, uniform and snow-white. A faint outline barely separates the model from the background, revealing the site of the event to come. Little by little, the body emerges from the depths of white. With each brushstroke it acquires form and strengthens its materiality. The body’s boundary is the boundary of representation: the painting does not exceed the frame of the image, yet its bold divisions transgress the imposed form.

Figuration merges with abstraction in a dynamic knot evoking magical ritual. The body becomes an aesthetic suit of armour, a postmodern mannequin, and the world of mythological stories transforms into fashion and lifestyle. It is a purely surrealist gesture, yet strangely, through expressive repetition, the image achieves the precision of a minimalist poster.

Body painting in primitive civilisations has many functions and a symbolism associated with rites of passage, protection, eroticism and therapeutic powers. The artist draws on it with a fresh perspective, adding a modern dimension.

The artist does not claim to be a philosopher and, contrary to current artistic tendencies, does not replace representation with discourse. Nor does he seek to be a craftsman: he no longer conceals his expertise. On the contrary, he reveals the workings of his practice, presents his studio and tools, and deconstructs the universe he has just brought to life. “Et le corps apparaît…” is a self-reflexive exploration of the act of painting—an idea as original as it is paradoxical—rooted not in language but in corporeality.

Every brushstroke is documented by a photograph, and any one of them could be the unique image if it captures the exact moment of fulfilment. Each work is a series of hundreds of photographs which, assembled frame by frame, form a stop-motion animated film. It is a record of each artistic incarnation and of the thousands of decisions leading towards a desired ideal.

This is an excellent basis for analysing the creative process itself, but also for reversing it, abolishing its irreversible nature and taking away the final brushstroke’s power to conclude. Art, as we know, consists of choosing one value from thousands of possibilities. “Et le corps apparaît…” is such a choice, seeking to illuminate all the rejected options and thus give real form to what is abstract.

PIOTR SEWERYN ROSÓŁ