Antoine Puisais (1975 – )

Antoine Puisais (French, b. 1975) is a mixed media artist whose archaeological approach to art consists of looking at elements within the past to question the present. Puisais acts within a logic of construction, destruction and restoration to reveal the symbolic representations marked by the duality between the forms, materials and tackled issues. Working largely with painted plywood panels, Puisais’ work is about the discovery of seemingly disparate links, and the assembly of diverse mediums. In the artist’s words, “For me, creation is a binary act…I add and I remove and what interests me it is what remains, what survives this soft war between the manifest and the hidden.”   Who are you and what do you do? My name is Antoine, I work in Paris. I grew up in a small and famous place called Cannes in South of France. I used to do mainly skateboard and now I explore my primitive part using plywood, screen-printing and carving tools. What inspires you? Simple and fragile things, used materials, found objects, printed papers and emergency solutions. What themes do you pursue? It is an almost archaeological approach which consists in looking from the past of elements useful to question the present. I act in a logic of construction, destruction and restoration to reveal symbolic representations marked by the duality between the forms, materials and tackled issues. Panels of plywood painted and engraved as so many playing fields testifying of a passage on whom remain tracks, imprints. Here the forms are dug up and lines accentuated in furrows, it is not about painting strictly speaking but about constructions, about assemblies. Why art? I think it’s the best way to discover, evolve and learn. You know, you have something in mind and it’s perfect and you want to realize that thing, so you confront your idea to reality. In that battle, you have to give up  things and take new directions. My art is about losses and find a balance. Name some artists you would like to be compared to.     ~Phinery.net