Exploring the presence of the brick in the work of Anne Verdier means to return to the evolution of a step-by-step work and, beyond the motif or the parallelepiped subjected to numerous experiments and certain deformations, to approach an artist’s path through a selection of works from different series but linked in time. Although not a central element of the reflection, the brick is nevertheless a recurrent and familiar presence. By regularly returning to it, in more or less strong strokes, it has become more than an element of language or an emblem, a kind of binder.

However all the work is crossed by this question of the binding. Firstly, because the heterogeneity of her compositions often has to do with heap or accumulation, when disparate pieces must not only find a way to cohabit but to aggregate in order to form a whole, to force multiplicity to merge in unity.

Secondly because, through the movements and shifts it provokes, the firing process generates new mixtures at the heart of the material, sometimes unexpected, as shown for example by a flat-looking sculpture, a sort of porcelain puddle with mixed colors, on the surface of which a piece of brick floats in a strange sensation of floating.

However all the work is crossed by this question of the binding. Firstly, because the heterogeneity of her compositions often has to do with heap or accumulation, when disparate pieces must not only find a way to cohabit but to aggregate in order to form a whole, to force multiplicity to merge in unity.

Secondly because, through the movements and shifts it provokes, the firing process generates new mixtures at the heart of the material, sometimes unexpected, as shown for example by a flat-looking sculpture, a sort of porcelain puddle with mixed colors, on the surface of which a piece of brick floats in a strange sensation of floating.

© Jean-Christophe Lett