Démarche

CREATIVE PROCESS

A DETERMINED QUEST TO FIND THE PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN TECHNICITY AND AESTHETICS

THE ATYPICAL DESIGN OF FREELY INSPIRED ARTISTIC PROTOTYPES BY OVERLAYING AND THEN ASSEMBLING (BY BOLTING, PINNING AND CLAMPING) SALVAGED PARTS, THAT ARE EACH RIGOUROUSLY SELECTED AND DELIBERATELY LEFT UNTOUCHED.

A studied combination of figurative or abstract shapes – according to their technical and aesthetic characteristics – resulting in a solid finished piece with consistent (rational) and harmonious lines and proportions.

Through this creative process, the artist deliberately imposes technical constraints and works with them towards the desired aesthetic result, be it freely inspired or suggested by the parts themselves, much like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but in three dimensions.

The challenge is to avoid altering the original shape (or integrity) of the different parts, and rather to use them to construct natural, reliable combinations of diverse objects without resorting to soldering or any such assembly techniques.

Having progressively developed and perfected this leitmotif, it is now a golden rule behind all the works presented.

FROM A LESS PRAGMATIC STANDPOINT, THERE IS A PARALLEL PROCESS WHICH INVOLVES RESSUSCITATING SEEMINGLY ORDINARY OR ABSTRACT OBJECTS THROUGH AN ALCHEMY OF PERCEPTION AND EXPLORATION, FOLLOWED BY A SUBJECTIVE, RATIONALISED INTERPRETATION OF THEIR QUINTESSENCE.

HOW THE PROCESS EMERGED

The history of this artistic process began with the detailed examination of the most ordinary day-to-day objects. As a teenager, the artist had thousands of ideas for turning them into prototypes (of cars, motorbikes, helicopters etc.) in a tiny, improvised workshop of just 1m x 1.50m in his bedroom. When taking apart an old alarm clock one day, he discovered the fascinating inner world of watches and clocks, which he would pick up at flea markets as an inexpensive source of high-quality parts with an assortment of different shapes, all in miniature (hence the size of the tiny “Time Engines”, also proportionate to the size of the artist’s workshop). It was by using these different watch parts that the original inspiration became reality.

Despite the lack of any elaborate machines or tools to produce the desired forms, these hundreds of parts had already been machined with such skill that they proved ideal for creating all sorts of objects.

The initial idea for an overall aesthetic effect would vary according to the shape and technical proportions of the parts available, and whether they had holes, hooks etc.
After a thorough exploration of watches and clocks, the artist moved on to a much broader range of selectively salvaged objects of all kinds. He moved to a much larger workshop, also built from scratch with the same philosophy, bringing his own particular kind of horsepower to a dilapidated old stable in Nice. With more space and new materials, the artist is free to express his inspiration on a much bigger scale through the creation of a variety of larger works.

TODAY, THE ARTIST IS SEEKING OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK IN AN INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT IN ORDER TO EXPLORE NEW HORIZONS AND TAKE THIS CREATIVITY TO YET ANOTHER LEVEL.

Jérome Cem Ispanakçi  2010