Over the course of the last few years, the work of Eric Aubertin has been considerably transformed. An overview of the questions that have punctuated his work would prove to be quite confounding. A single element, collage, appears as a constant, but is that enough? Collage, like painting or sculpture, is simply a pretext. If one considers choice, method and color, can Eric Aubertin be deemed a true collagist?

From the Magazines Life series to Lignes et Bordures, through Tape Art et Ornementations, paper gave way to tape. Narrative constructions were cast aside for color. What started as a jab at popular conventions and media madness, has progressively become an optical play of color on the surface, and marked interest in light. Eric Aubertin has expressed a preference for the controlled manipulation of adhesive tape to meticulous scissor cuts. In his more recent compositions, he introduces phosphorescent adhesives. However disparate his choice of medium between his early and recent work, his rigor remains the same; the lines and calculations are precise and so the process of production has not changed much.

Now dedicated to “tape art”, he leaves as much room for improvisation of shapes as he does the studied rhythm of the colors. If it is possible to be at once strict and permissive, this is the goal Eric Aubertin has set for himself. With Lignes et Bordures, he numbers the primary borders of a piece and by means of an arbitrary system, determines the master lines that will divide each piece. These lines are foundational and once they are established, they dictate the totality of the collage. Once in motion, the mechanism is irreversible. The logic he imposes is the only rule. The artist chooses an unpredictable path and paradoxically chooses chance.

By developing a method of work comparable to automatism or even improvisation, Eric Aubertin has freed himself from the prevailing censorship of his earlier series, where every scissor cut and each manipulation endures an often over-calculated scrutiny. Eric Aubertin has taken on a singular struggle: how to find a balance between the desire to have absolute control over a medium while retaining a composition as free and autonomous as it is precise.

Text: Émilie Renaud-Roy
Translation: Marc St Louis … Read More