Soloeil - 1996

A solar work. Produced and realised with the help of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

A wine rack containing bottles and other baubles lays in an empty space. A ray of light squeezes through a dormer window and hits a strange object. After a few minutes, the entire installation is lit with sun light allowing the viewer to observe that the image formed on the opposite wall results from the encounter of the wine rack and the sun beam. Indeed, during the passage of the sun´s rays over the rack, the image of an eye ball takes shape in silence, it emerges first as a series of arabesque motifs, then appears in all its fullness before slowly disappearing. The passing of the light across the work happens in real time, the sequence lasts about ten minutes: the time it takes for the light of the sun to cross a giant rear view mirror situated outside the room. The appearance and disappearance of the image are totally subordinated to the rotation of the earth. The act of drawing has here been delegated: the sun is now in charge of this task, not the artists.

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