Faced with Untitled (2006), large format square artworks by Laurent Pariente, the first question to arise is that of genre. Thin metal plates of aluminum, copper or brass coated with lacquered colour, are worked on with dry point, a method of intaglio etching. The dense intertwining of delicate lines following the circular movement of the hand produces a regular “all-over” immersive effect. At first glance, these works seem to reconcile painting and the graphic arts. But, at the same time, the structured surface and its way of reflecting the light in the etched lines provoke in the viewer a truly tactile moving gaze, like when one “touches” a sculpture with one’s eyes. Pariente emphasizes the importance of these engraved plates which opened up a luminous space for him and thus inaugurated his “relation to the wall”. The wall which, for the artist, “is also the opening of a new space” and a defining experience for his other work.

Laurent Pariente’s (1962) installation occupying the Grand Hall of Mudam is a logical continuation of his work to date. Nevertheless, this is the first time the artist has introduced the dimension of colour to one of his works in such a decisive manner. In previous works, light was captured on large-scale drypoint engravings on tinted metal plates, while his constructions and passages were realised in opaque chalk powder.