P. T.: While specifi c visual references are absent, are there analogies between your own work and that of the African objects you have studied? G. M.: The similarities lie in gestures that are the most archaic in artistic creation. The 70,000-year-old pattern incised on a stone block discovered in the Blombos Cave is an example of a universal “string” linear design that accompanied the migrations of Homo sapiens from Africa throughout the rest of the planet. This tradition can be found among the Aborigines of Australia, the Inuit of the Arctic, and the Mbuti of the African equatorial rainforest. It is a creative exercise requires concentration, coordination, and imagination. It consists of a reworking of contours into the heart of a closed structure. It is based upon a strand of fi ber or gut that two hands (or maybe four, sometimes with the help of the feet as well) subject to a series of changes, each differing from the preceding in a striking way, using a succession of simple operations that form algorithms. These operations are mathematical and geometric insofar as they are the basis for the modifi cation of spatial confi gurations, resulting in the redistribution of contours, which is the essence of fi gural induction. My painting exploits permutations of forms on an orthogonal grid through contours. Contour fragments associate themselves with those of other forms resulting in fragile aggregates, which are dislocated when new perceptions bring new aggregates. It is interesting to note that a deeply incised orthogonal grid in a Gibraltar cave is the only artistic creation known by Neanderthal man. 128 FIG. 5 (left): Pipe bowl. Tshokwe, DR Congo or Angola. Early 20th century. Wood, iron. H: 13 cm. Ex Robbe Vervoort; Pierre Dartevelle. Photo: Bernard De Keyzer. FIG. 6 (right): Standing female fi gure. Vili, Congo Republic. Wood. H: 15.8 cm. Ex Martial Bronsin. Photo: Bernard De Keyzer TRIBAL people
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