Orphée ruminait des mots à l’étouffée, sous la pluie fine du
brouillard ardent, anyway les serpents sont-ils sourds et muets,
oubli enfoui au fin fond de l’insomnie
The first thing that stands out about this colourful exhibition catalogue for the young Martinican artist Julien Creuzet is the precision with which it is crafted: a stack consisting of three different types of paper is paradoxically stapled into the spine of a hardcover. The alternating use of paper structures the book into various picture and text sections which stand alone but also interact well. Some texts appear on two types of uncoated yellow- toned paper, varying in format and with almost no images. A series of letters to the artist and a chapter of a book written by André Breton in the 1940s are included in the form of high-contrast photocopies. The five picture sections feature images reproduced entirely full bleed: one with figurative drawings and paintings by Creuzet, and the other four with abstract details from historical paintings of sunsets at sea, which Creuzet photographed from books before editing out all figurative elements. In the exhibition, these abstract sections were inserted into ceiling-mounted lightboxes, helping to light the space, and in the book the use of coated paper brings the fascinating changes of colour to the fore. The design treatment of all the materials is raw and direct and produces both a delightful sense of nonchalance and a strong energy. There is no white anywhere in the book.
