Fabienne Verdier- Retables, Waddington Custot, London - Flipbook - Page 21
II
GESTURE
AND
THE UNIVERSE
Shitao
Self-Portrait: Supervising the Planting
of a Pine Tree (detail)
1674
In the act of creation, the body draws the world into its movement, or
vice versa. To familiarise myself with the foundations of Fabienne Verdier’s
practice, I revisit precepts gleaned from Sayings on Painting by the Monk
Bitter Gourd, a treatise written by Shitao (1642–1707). This book, a constant
companion during the young artist’s extensive stay in China, serves as an
atlas for someone wishing to find their bearings in this vast and mysterious continent. Central to the Chinese pictorial system is the infusion of
cosmic energy into the painter’s gesture, serving as the cornerstone from
which the creative process unfolds. Fluidity arises from the interconnectedness of all existence, where phenomena perpetually circulate and sustain
themselves due to the inseparability of space. However, there is a crucial
condition: the line, symbolising the unity of the universe, must be drawn in
a single stroke – a daunting task to teach and master. Mastery transcends
mere technical proficiency; it requires tapping into the profound drive that
animates all life. To embark on this journey is to leap guided by the sound
that orders matter. How can one gauge the accuracy of their aim? It lies
not in imitation or reproduction but in initiation, in becoming a transformative force springing into full effectiveness. As I contemplate this, I envision lines and bold brushstrokes emerging from the void with exemplary
plasticity. Shapes blossom in my imagination as though overflowing from
a boundless source. I am reminded of curves and meanders, zigzags and
hatching, weaves and swirls, all kinds of lines: single, double or multiple,
arched or folded, fused or dislocated, that tear space apart.
ALPHABET
OF LINES
During my visit to her studio, I asked Fabienne Verdier how she goes
about her work. Outside of the essentials, I imagine that the methods she
uses can be varied and adapted. In response to my ingenuous questions,
I learn that the brush can move from left to right or right to left. Architectonics has no prescribed meaning in the way that writing has, whether
Persian or Latin or made up of ideograms or words. In the language of
the brush, there is no retraction or misinterpretation; only the tension
in space matters to the birth of forms. As far as the splotches of paint at
the edges of the primary line are concerned, they are not the outcome, as
I had imagined, of the uncertain start of the stroke but of its final jerks.
As part of the fiftieth-anniversary edition of the Petit Robert dictionary,
Fabienne Verdier systematised her approach by cataloguing her alphabet of lines. Each line type was paired with opposing forces that harmoniously balanced each other. Each principle aimed to transmute chaos
into harmony. From “arborescence-allegory” to “voice-vortex”, “waveorder” and “sinuousness-wisdom”, she compiled twenty-two types of lines
that recur in her work. To understand the development of this aesthetic
universe, I had to depart from the Chinese tradition: this panoply of forms
was not the legacy of her teaching but the fruit of what she had derived
from her apprenticeship. It was through her practice and attunement to
the living world that Fabienne Verdier crafted her own lexicon, where the
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