Michel François

Michel François often draws inspiration for his work from everyday sources: found objects, chance situations and things that tend to be overlooked. He then organises, manipulates and transforms these ‘raw materials’ in order to create new meaning. While François considers himself first and foremost a sculptor, his artistic practice moves freely between sculpture, installation, photography and video. Whatever the medium, his most ephemeral works can take on the most monumental significance.

The artist has compared his method to a rhizome, a type of root that burrows deep into the ground and branches out in many directions at once. And indeed, his oeuvre emerges organically over time, with works continuously transforming and exerting mutual influence on one another (see Niet Vallen! / Pas Tomber!). The meaning of a particular sculpture or image can shift depending on the context. Time and random chance may have as much of an impact as the artist’s hand.

Recurring themes include the opposing pairs of convex and concave, interior and exterior, as recording in countless photographs of circles, holes, hollows and rounded protrusions (see Echelle 1/1). Everyday objects such as a ball of twine, a bar of soap or a sponge suddenly take on new meaning when given monumental form, even temporarily (see MF/2013/scu/12861). Another typical aspect is the documentation of movement and change, as seen in mutable materials, bottles that fall and shatter, or objects arranged in mirror-image (see Autoportrait contre nature and Déjà Vu (Hallu)).

François himself describes his method as an ongoing search for ‘the beauty of the experience’. He subtly activates the viewer’s senses – just as a poet uses existing words to formulate a new language. His works convey a fragile tension and invite us to look at the world with a sense of wonder.