stéphane barbier

works on paper: meaningful drawings

2012-02-03T11:27:00.001-08:00

The term "meaningful" is ironic here. Or rather, it was ironic in the original approach, and of course isn't in the end result and in contradiction with the sibylline titles. Each drawing contains a series of small clues that add up and tell a bigger, intimate story.
He wouldnt say, mixed media on graph paper, 40x65cm
His current status, mixed media on graph paper, 40x65cm
I realize he's there, mixed media on graph paper, 40x65cm
the closest, mixed media on graph paper, 40x65cm
he used to smile to everyone, mixed media on graph paper, 40x65cm

work on paper: dancer #11

2012-02-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

Dancer #11 (detail), marker and acrylic on paper, wooden frame, 100x65cm

preparing new work on canvas

2012-02-03T11:17:00.001-08:00

screenshots: from "Charlotte Rampling, Susan Sarandon, Isabelle Adjani, Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving."

2011-12-16T04:40:00.001-08:00

video: Charlotte Rampling, Susan Sarandon, Isabelle Adjani, Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving.

2011-12-16T04:27:00.000-08:00

I'm now working on the second part of the Beauty Icons videos and paintings (see posts of february 2010 and december 2009) and this is a first video fragment which I will be using as raw material for a new series of large paintings. As much as the first video was soft and transitional, this one has a much creepier undertone. Some of the portraits resulting from the first video turned out pretty scary though, so these one could be exactly the opposite and have a soft, gentle quality, depending on the stills that i choose as a base.

video: yarn unit spring 12 photoshoot

2011-12-09T08:16:00.001-08:00

some screenshots of the last video I made for Yarn Unit spring 12 season. You can soon watch the full video at www.yarnunitman.com

drawing: assignment for Headmaster magazine.

2011-12-09T07:58:00.001-08:00

Red sox, crayon on newspaper, 32x61cm

exhibition invitation

2011-12-09T07:55:00.001-08:00

life drawings

2011-12-09T07:35:00.001-08:00

Four more drawings from the life drawings series exhibited this month in Amsterdam.

Avertissement, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

Islande, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

Laponie, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

Norvege, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

works on paper: dancers

2011-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last July I set up a photoshoot for YARN UNIT and YARN UNIT MAN, the two fashion labels I am designing in Amsterdam. I had those amazing Martha Graham pictures in mind, and I always wanted to work with dancers. I cast two young Dutch dancers, Sabrina Vis and Raoul Dumas, and hired Ewoud Broeksma, a fantastic Dutch photographer who makes beautiful work with athletes. We shot in a small theater in Amsterdam, and I watched those two amazing performers dance, jump, pull, push, stretch for an entire day. Such a privilege. The experience stayed with me for weeks, and when I returned to my studio last month I started to work from scratch with those feelings, and the energy that they produced.

Other pieces from this series will be exhibited in Amsterdam later this month.

Dancer #1, India ink and gouache n arches paper, 100x65cm

Dancer #2, India ink and gouache n arches paper, 100x65cm

Dancer #3, India ink and gouache n arches paper, 100x65cm

Works on paper: dancers series preparatory drawings

2011-11-10T11:58:00.001-08:00

works on paper: life drawings

2011-11-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

I just worked on a new series of life drawings, small formats, that will be exhibited later this month at the Pop Up wine Bar in Amsterdam (http://www.thepopupwinebar.com/).

femme allongée ou presque, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

maroc, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

table, India ink on paper, 20x17cm

The cock project: terminated

2011-11-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Although I'm busy now with other erotic drawings, I'm putting The Cock Project on hold. This called for a celebratory picture in my studio.

special project: digital work for carpet design, early proposition

2011-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Frank ter Horst of East Village Concepts asked me to work with him on a great interior design project of his. His South-African client is re-doing its Holland-based offices, and Frank has suggested that I come up with an exclusive design for their carpet. I came up with 3 propositions, two of which Frank wanted to use, but merged into one. The crazy cosmonaut, Japanese wave, origami and South African cat all rolled into one to litterally illustrate the "merge and acquisitions" concept of the client.Needless to say, a second briefing took us to a quieter place.

video project: yarn unit spring 2011 redux screenshots

2011-10-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

See below post to play video.

video project: yarn unit spring 11 redux

2011-10-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

The video I made for yarn unit's spring 2011 collection was a combination of images that I filmed and of movie clips, cut with text mentioning the season, website details etc. I always wanted to make another version without those commercial imperatives. This is a first new edit, using a simple overlay of different sequences that were all filmed at the same place on the same day. With Marlijn Swan.

new secret project

2011-09-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

I have just started working with my interior designer friend Frank ter Horst on a secret project which is super exciting and a little crazy. All I can say now is that, for one part of the project, I'm inspired by a collage technique that I've always loved. The process is reminding me of some very old work of mine, like this one collage above which I made when I was 17 and working as an au-pair in England. Time flies!

works on paper: imprints and drawings

2011-09-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new series of imprints coupled with line drawing, on big sheets of "sun-stricken" Arches paper which I left in the sun in uneven piles. The black imprints defined the space in which the line drawing could exist.

drawings: assignment for Headmaster magazine. Unpublished drawings

2011-08-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

drawings: assignment for Headmaster magazine

2011-08-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

drawings: assignment for Headmaster magazine

2011-08-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last March I was contacted by Headmaster magazine (see links), a great new publication based in Providence RI, to be part of their second issue. This is the assignment that I received from them:

Document your upcoming travels to China and Spain.

1. Obtain a daily newspaper each day during your travels.

2. Produce a portrait daily on each above acquired newspaper.*

* The portrait should act as a reaction to that day's experience(s)

I must say I ignored the term "portrait" in favour of simply relating each day's primary impression, instinctively. I was in Hong-Kong for work for a week, and I happened to stay in the same hotel as 10 international Rugby teams competing in the Hong-Kong Sevens, blissfully sharing overcrowded elevator rides with gorgeous young sportsmen wearing very little clothes (Hong-Kong is warm in late march).

The following week my boyfriend and I were on vacation in Gran Canaria, where there is not much to do except fuck. In between the two, a missed Lufthansa connection flight was equally inspirational.

This is my favourite drawing from the published series.

video project: "the three faces of", screenshot

2011-08-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

video project: the three faces of

2011-07-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

drawings: flowers

2011-07-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

untitled #28, ink on Arches paper, 100x65cm

drawings: flowers

2011-05-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to the flower park Keukenhof in Lisse, near Leiden. It's a huge place, full with tourists from all over the world, and incredibly well taken care of. It looks so neat and tidy, you might actually overlook the quality of the hundreds (thousands?) of floral species. I almost went there 5 years ago with my parents, but that very morning I had a sudden appendicitis which turned into a peritonitis. I almost died alone in a miserable hospital room while my parents and boyfriend were gazing at tulips. I am not overdramatizing.

Anyway, not holding a grudge over anyone, I was delighted to finally see the zillion tulips ofKeukenhof, and it reminded me how much I always enjoyed the intricacy of flower shapes, and the pleasure of drawing them.

While in Hong-Kong last month, I bought those amazing long brushes used for Chinese calligraphy.

untitled #32, ink on Arches paper, 65x100cm

untitled #29, ink on Arches paper, 65x100cm

untitled #31, ink on Arches paper, 65x100cm

drawings: flowers

2011-04-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

untitled #26, ink on Arches paper, 100x65cm
untitled #27, ink on Arches paper, 100x65cm

drawings: flowers

2011-04-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

untitled #24, ink on Arches paper, 100x65cm
untitled #25, ink on Arches paper, 100x65cm

video project: "yarn unit fall 2011: THE ARTIST"

2011-02-03T13:51:00.001-08:00

video project: "yarn unit spring 2011: Splendor in the Grass"

2011-02-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

installation: shop window

2011-02-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

Here's more images of the "on the skin" series, and one image of the installation.

installation: shop window

2011-01-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

I'm working on an shop window installation for the launch of the YARN UNIT MAN collection at the Tenue de Nimes store in Amsterdam. These are some of the pictures we'll use in the window, printed on transparent film. This is a series called "on the skin", each picture is actually made of two images, one of a fabric/yarn detail and one of a body part close-up.

drawing from India: Udaipur

2010-11-25T15:49:00.001-08:00

a man's work, pen on printed paper, 21x 27cm

drawings from India: body parts I

2010-11-25T15:34:00.001-08:00

In october this year my beloved and I went to India. I always pack paper or a notebook and something to draw with. Sometimes I'm extremely ambitious and I pack a tiny watercolour case and a two brushes. This time I grabbed a black pen and then some old thin brown paper that must have been used for wrapping, because it reminded me of the "papier boucher" (literally: butcher's paper) that we used to draw on in life drawing class in Art school in Paris. Usually I try to come up with a plan of what I want to achieve during the trip, and this time my goal was: 1 drawing a day, and only live things. I failed miserably of course, but I had fun. I drew cows, goats and feet. Cows and goats were hard because they kept moving and eating. Of course the still ones stay in the middle of the road, so you'd have to risk your life to approach them. Luckily my feet didn't move so much when I drew them.

cow and goat #2, pen on brown paper, 29,7x21cm

a cow's head, pen on brown paper, 29,7x21cm

a cow's body, pen on brown paper, 29,7x21cm

cow and goat #1, pen on brown paper, 29,7x21cm

drawings from India: body parts II

2010-11-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

This second batch of drawings is about feet, my own and my partner's. It's a familiar subject: 10 years ago I drew a series of 24 feet as I was grounded home with a broken heel. I remember feeling so miserable not being to walk for two weeks that I had to draw the source of my troubles. Of course I ran out of brown paper at some point, so I drew on the pages of the book I'd just finished, Michel Houellebecq's La Carte et le Territoire, which I thought was terribly disappointing.

a man's foot #3, pen on printed paper, 21x13cm

a man's hand, pen on brown paper, 29,7x21cm

a man's foot #2, pen on printed paper, 21x13cm

a man's foot #1, pen on printed paper, 21x13cm

video project: "yarn unit spring 2011", screenshots

2010-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

The first collection I designed for the Dutch brand Yarn Unit is coming out next month. I am currently working on a (very) short film which will introduce both men's and women's collections on Yarn Unit's webstore. Here are some screenshots of an early version.

video project: "Ten Indian landscapes and a sore ass"

2010-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last month my ass was sore after sitting in the car for so many hours, being driven through Rajasthan. I started making short videos of our daily trips from my window (I always sat on the right side), in order to re-compose my experience of the Indian landscape.

3 new pieces for a special occasion

2010-09-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Frank ter Horst is starting a new company together with his friend Elvira Wilthagen. They just had a two-days opening of their new office, as part of the Inside Design Amsterdam 2010 event. A few weeks ago Frank offered me to show some work during the opening, so I made new work that would fit in (both physically and thematically). Last year I started working on the Corporate Wealth series, and although I got very excited in the beginning, the ideas and the desire seemed to be narrowing down as time passed and I focused on other works. Well, it's all changed thanks to Frank and Elvira. Because of the context (launching of a new company) and because their company is specialised in Hotel consulting (I'm not sure that sums it up properly), I started thinking about corporate rules, hotel rules, codes of conduct etc....I remembered this picture I'd taken during a professionnal trip when I was a corporate boy myself; a picture of a framed, oversized company policy text in the hall of a factory in China. Its size, the attempt/intention to show it as a "work of art", its place and most of all the fact that it was written in Chinese characters except for the logo of the American company (so in fact it could have been saying just about anything) caught my eye and made me take a photograph.

I started toying with the idea of using real company rules texts, only to give my own interpretation, both in shape and in content. I found several texts in French, English and Dutch, and originally I wanted to use the 3 languages (in the end I used Dutch only, which was interesting because it made me look at the language in a different way: Dutch words can be visually attractive).

Below are a couple of pictures from the three pieces before and after hanging, and the photograph I kept coming back to while I was making the work.

I will post pictures of each piece separately soon, and more content too.

My parents visiting the studio

2010-09-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

In july my parents came over to Amsterdam to visit. I took them to my studio on a sunday morning, feeling maybe a wee bit nervous thinking of all the cocks drawings that I'd left lying on the ground there. I was floored by their reaction: they liked them, and if anything wanted to know more; they weren't trying to avoid the subject, and they werent embarassed in the slightest. Or they put on a really good act? Anyway, I took this picture of them and my boyfriend holding one cock each. I did notice that they were hiding behind them though.

The Cock Project: hanging in there

2010-09-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Cock #6, acrylic on paper, 100x65cm

The Cock Project: first part

2010-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

I love drawing cocks. From memory, or life drawing, and from pictures: it's all good, and the possibilities are infinite. For this specific Humongous project (I don't see how I could grow tired of it), I have asked 217 men to send me photographic material of their genitalia, with only one prerequisite: the cock and balls have to be whole, no cropping. As preparation, I started to draw a few memorable penises from memory. Here they are.

Cock #3, pen and gouache on paper, 65x50cm

Cock #4, gouache and tape on newspaper, 60x40cm

Abandoned: back to the studio after a long absence.

2010-07-22T12:09:00.001-07:00

I found this apple today in my studio. It tells you exactly how long I haven't been there!

I just started working on a new project for which I have done a lot of research over the years:

The Cock Project. After the cock drawing in South Africa last january, I've decided to make it a series, and I have requested some photographic material from a number of male friends, in exchange for bizarre sexual favours of course. I have to say, the response wasn't great, I must be getting old. Nevertheless I have started on this project today, and I will be posting images of the first pieces soon!

Drawings from Roland-Garros

2010-06-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

I didn't go to Roland-Garros this year. I was home, in Amsterdam, and I watched a lot of matches on television. The day of the women's final I was rooting for the Australian Samantha Stosur, but she played a tight match and lost to Francesca Schiavone, who did play a clay court game close to perfection. I got so caught up in the tension of the match that I started scribbling and drawing to evacuate my own nervousness, and I did remember that I used to do that with my sister Sophie when we where still living at our parents'. We'd make funny drawings, or caricatures of the players we were watching. We'd try to make the other laugh the hardest. I remember Monica Seles was always a good target for easy caricature, as flamboyant and loud as she was.

untitled#23, ink and pen on drawing paper, 29x21cm

untitled#21, ink and pen on drawing paper, 29x21cm

untitled#22, ink and pen on drawing paper, 29x21cm

Video project: "Kom maar", work in progress.

2010-03-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

"Kom maar" translates from Dutch to "Come here", or "Come over here". It is the most endearing phrase I know in this language, particularly if addressed to me by my partner when I feel emotional. Ever since I started working on the "crying videos" last year, I put aside images of men crying in order to build a male version of "all teared up" (see September 5th 2009 post). I've also been obsessed by this song "closer" by Kings of Leon, but didn't want to use it on its own. Here it's mixed with a piece George Delerue wrote for the film Agnes of God in 1985.

Paintings from South Africa

2010-03-04T09:59:00.001-08:00

As much as we enjoyed our vacation in South Africa, I could never shake off a feeling of discomfort as we drove in and out of Cape Town and other cities surrounded by townships. We read about a guided tour of townships, but the idea seemed awkward and unreal. When you go there, what happens in your head as you drive off in your airco-ed flashing new rental car and into your protected guesthouse? There is one vision in particular that stayed with me, of shacks with corrugated iron roofs held in place with large stones. The contrast, between what I could imagine of their inhabitants' lives, and our own trajectory, driving from one picturesque little village to the next, inspired me the piece "The road that doesn't meet the house" here.

To be continued...

Township unit, mixed media on newspaper, 59 x 39 cm.

Head #6, mixed media on newspaper, 63 x 42 cm.

The road that doesn't meet the house, India ink and gouache on newspaper, 63 x 41 cm.

Works on paper: Beauty Icons

2010-03-02T08:31:00.000-08:00

Beauty Icon of the sixties #1, mixed media on paper, 100 x 175 cm

Beauty Icon of the eighties #3, mixed media on paper, 100 x 175 cm

Work on paper: Beauty Icons

2010-02-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Beauty Icon of the eighties#2, mixed media on paper, 100 x 154 cm

Works on paper: Beauty Icons

2010-02-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

This new series of works on paper is derived from the video project "Jessica Lange, Sharon Tate, Theresa Russell, Faye Dunaway, Kathleen Turner" posted on december 16th. These are fairly large formats because I wanted to refer to the original source of the material (the movie screen, even though the images have since been manipulated through video work) as well as achieve an quasi-abstract point of view when you are standing close to the pieces. One of the starting point here was to work from images of stereotypical beauty into images of horror, or at least images that have a disturbing, aggressive quality to them. The last three of the series work on a different level because te original images have a quieter, more peaceful persona.
Beauty Icon of the seventies#1, mixed media on paper, 100 x 161 cm

Beauty Icon of the eighties#1, mixed media on paper, 100 x 155 cm

Drawings from South Africa

2010-02-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

In January I spent three weeks in South Africa with my partner. We Went from Cape Town to Storms River Mouth and back, through Swellendam, Plettenberg Bay, Oudtshoorn, Prince Albert and Tulbagh. My original goal was to make one drawing a day, but of course it turned out to be more like 5 drawings in one day then nothing for a week, and so on....So here I am, back with a dozen drawings, some of which are posted below. The idea was to get completely free of any pre-defined theme or direction, and just let myself get inspired by the surroundings and impressions of the places we'd go to. Very early on I had this recurrent vision of African faces, not completely unlike masks but real black faces, simplified and outlined, and bearing different contents. I also started working on some penis drawings, and it made me want to experiment further with male erotica.

Work on paper: going vertical

2009-12-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

The first piece I worked on vertically was all about layering, and how much (or how little) the viewer perceives of what's hidden behind layers. I also wanted to experiment with lightness, still through layering and texture, this time allowing the layers to structure and expand the surface instead of colonizing it.
Untitled #20, acrylic on paper, 150x111 cm.

Work on paper: going vertical

2009-12-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Untitled #19, mixed media on paper, 150x112 cm.

Work on paper: Corporate wealth

2009-12-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Technical drawing #4, oil pastel on paper, 150 x 150cm.

Work on paper: Corporate wealth.

2009-12-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Technical drawing #3, India ink and oil crayon on paper, 150x 106cm.

Going vertical

2009-12-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

For the first time in months, (years!) I started to work vertically again. It defines the way you work, the way you move, the way you think. I found the difference from working on the floor-or on a table-and the adjustment refreshing. And yet it reminded me of old times!

I worked on a very textural piece today, it was interesting to work with the dripping too. I will post a picture tomorrow or over the week-end.

Video project: "Jessica Lange, Sharon Tate, Theresa Russell, Faye Dunaway, Kathleen Turner", work in progress.

2009-12-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

In film or television, there is nothing more fascinating than a face. Providing it's an interesting one. You can watch so many bland faces on any televised fiction around the world (they are over-using close-ups in hope that something relevant-or unexpected-might happen), but the very nature of staring at somebody else's face with their permission can become addictive, or even hypnotic. In this piece, the faces have been cropped to an extreme, almost abstract black-and-white closeness, and seem to morph into each other repeatedly, in cycles of five: five film actresses whose features have once defined aspects of American female beauty. This is for me the starting point of a visual research which I'd like to conduct across several media: video, photography, painting.

Video: Graduation project #2, 1997. Screenshots.

2009-12-13T13:59:00.001-08:00

My graduation project was primarily a womenswear collection. I showed that collection at the Festival International de Mode in Hyeres in 1997. The finalized project was however broader than just a collection of garments. It was also made of video work, photography, prints, and an installation reuniting all these elements. My video work both inspired the collection and allowed me to present it, in the shape of screenshots and video-installations.

Below are screenshots from two of the installations.

Video: Graduation project, 1997. Screenshots.

2009-12-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Works on paper: spilling my guts

2009-12-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

Random t-shirt, acrylic on paper, 173 x 150 cm.

Works on paper: more random clothes.

2009-12-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to work on bigger formats ever since I started using garments as painting tools. This piece finally allows me to begin exploring the potential of this technique and its consequences on composition. Here I wanted to work as a textiles designer, using the various shapes of bizarre flowers and motifs produced by the garments to assemble an "all-over print". What often attracts me in textiles prints is the depth achieved by layering. Here I've used three pieces of clothing, each in its own colour and on a different layer.

3 random pieces, acrylic on paper, 150 x 318 cm

Video: Part of the Process. Screenshots.

2009-12-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

I filmed myself working today. This is the largest piece I've been working on so far, it's roughly 1,50m x 3m. I am still experimenting with garments as brushes/tools, this time also with more colour, and a "textiles" approach to composition. I will post a picture of the finished work soon.

Scale of my work

2009-12-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Picture taken today at the studio.

Video project: "all teared up #2"

2009-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

I began working on all teared up in september 2009. This is a shorter, alternative version.

Works on paper: Designer/Random clothes

2009-11-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Now that I have the space, I finally got around to making more pieces in the Designer/Random clothes series. There are two new elements that I have discovered making these two larger pieces: their primitive quality when I combine several shapes in one surface, and the almost visceral result of using knitted fabric with the colour red.

A.P.C. sweater x5, mixed media on paper, 100x198cm.

Random outfit #1, mixed media on paper, 203x100cm.

Work on paper: Corporate wealth.

2009-11-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

I chose a slightly different process for this piece. I first laid out nine pieces of paper in 3 rows or three, forming a rectangle. Then I sketched a technical drawing using the entire surface, on all 9 pieces. I then applied black paint with a thick brush on every line previously traced, and used the 9 pieces separately and randomly to make imprints on a white background I'd prepared earlier. Every piece was used twice, on different places and in different directions.

Technical drawing #2, acrylic and gouache on paper, 121x100cm.

Work on paper: Corporate wealth.

2009-11-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Another tool which visual properties I'd like to explore is the technical drawing. As a fashion designer, It has become more important to be able to sketch on computer than to hand-sketch (although not in the luxury segment). Those often cold, flat drawings are the fastest mean to communicate all specifics about one garment to a factory, a pattern maker, a vendor-especially if they're 9,000 km away. Even in the flattest, most unflattering drawing, I choose to see aesthetic potential.

On this piece, many standard drawings have been blown-up then hand-sketched in layers on fragmented sheets, to be finally re-united in a complete (and unlikely) proposition.

Technical drawing #1, acrylic, gouache and ink on paper, 100x105cm.

Work on paper: Corporate wealth.

2009-11-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

This is the first piece of a series of works inspired by my corporate background. Working in fashion for 14 years, I have accumulated a lot of different experiences, and I have always been interested in the processes set by fashion designers, on a visual level; more precisely, the tools that we use to communicate our work internally in order to make clothes. In this particular case, I am focusing on colour cards. There aren't two fashion companies that work in the same way on colours: from Pantone references to original fabric swatches or hand-painted chips. Strangely enough, the finalization of that tool is often very disappointing on a visual level, because too often it is a result of (for the actual colors) endless, personal-based discussions between too many parties, and (for the object itself) hurried disregard.

Also, I have always struggled with the depressing lack of humour or perspective in the making of these tools, sometimes prompting me to (wrongly) withdraw myself from the discussion.

This piece looks like a jumbo-size sectional replica of a colour card from a company I recently worked for. While making it, I became more and more aware of its numerous flaws: the weak composition, the over-use of outlines, the hazardous alignment....and was tempted to change them at many stages. Instead, I give a new interpretation of inspirational colour terminology. Listing the colour names, I realized that the terms I'd chosen-first as a twist on typical fashion colour lingo-was also a catalogue of symptoms seen too often in the corporate world.

New colour card, Acrylic, ink, pen on paper, 141x100cm.

Work on paper: found architectural blueprint

2009-11-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Untitled #18, detail. Ink and Pencil on paper, 54x42cm.

Work on paper: found architectural blueprint

2009-11-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

In the same portfolio (see post of November 10) I found these architectural blueprints, apparently all of the same rotunda, with various inscriptions in blue or normal pencil. It's hard to make anything from the inscriptions, but the handwriting seems to be quite old, at least visually it belongs to my grandfather's generation. I have started a series of "re-works" on these blueprints. This one focuses on the handwriting, which I highlighted by reproducing a part of it, out of scale and out of frame, leaving most of original drawing and inscription visible. I love the contrast between the pale, almost disappearing school-like sketch, and the ruthless, loud and incomplete graffiti-like addition.

Untitled #17, Ink and pencil on paper 54x42cm

Works on paper: B-NUDES.

2009-11-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I found some anonymous life drawings in a cardboard portfolio on the street. Looking at them again lately I was struck by the beauty of the support (old faded brown paper: rough) and intrigued by the clumsiness of most pencil drawings, and I decided to include them into a new series. My first thought was to use them strictly as paper, regardless of the drawings on them, but I liked the idea of giving the awkward human figures a second life, first through a wavy, liquid outline, and then by re-working each subject with a quick spontaneous wash that would work with the existing lines without trying to conceal them. Recently I also found some small wooden printing blocks with the initial B, this time not on the street; they belonged to my grandfather Andre Barbier. Although I haven't used them in this series, it gave me the idea of a kind of automatic branding, as though each piece had to be validated one last time before completion, using a letter/digits formula always beginning with a B, and drawing a cruel parallel to another second-best category, the B-Movie.

The series includes eight different drawings.

B-005, Ink and pencil on paper, 42x54cm

B-010, Ink and pen on paper, 54x42cm

B-004, Ink and crayon on paper, 54x42cm.

My studio, inhabited.

2009-11-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

I have started working in my studio yesterday. On sunday Maarten and I bought a wooden board and trestles, and I've tried since yesterday to make it as homely as possible, resulting in a mess way too quickly. Having my own working space away from home changes everything.

My studio

2009-11-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

I found a studio. It's in Amsterdam, in the Houthavens, 20 minutes biking from home. My friend Alex Hijmering saw an ad and sent me a picture of it last August, and it's taken me that much time to make up my mind (and see other places) and get the keys. I went there today and took pictures. I can't wait to start working in my own space, without having to worry about tidying our home study all the time, or looking for other things to do in the house (laundry, dishes, porn) in order to keep me from working. :-)

Older work: ink and pen on paper, 29x21cm

2009-10-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

I was recently going through early works, and I found this in between pages of a fashion project I did in 1994. By far my favourite find. It could be the torn page of a diary, or a failed watercolor turned angry. I can't recall what the inscription "Road movie" refers to, but most of the writing (as in my recent series handwritten and some of my older work from 1994-96) was always spontaneous and unprepared, more in the tradition of Surrealists' automatic writing than "message pieces".

Works on paper: research

2009-10-14T08:43:00.001-07:00

While working on the big formats of the Designer/Random clothes series, I missed the intimacy and the different approach of more precise handwork on smaller pieces. I also felt like working with the support instead of covering it with layers and layers of paint (as I do in the clothes series). Ink and Tempera on Arches paper, for me there's a delectation in those words alone, and the process they suggest; the cleanness of the medium, the combination of dedication in the fine, study-like lines, and spontaneity in bigger, bolder strokes. There's also something very nerdy in the choice of making little diagrams, although their absurdity confuse you more than teach you. In science class, I never cared if the charts I made or copied from books were accurate, I only enjoyed their pure aesthetic value, and the thrill of making something that couldn't exist (needless to say, I often got poor grades).

Work on paper

2009-10-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Prada pants x74, mixed media on paper, 153x99cm

Work on paper

2009-10-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

Random polo shirt x93, mixed media on paper, 152x99cm

Works on paper: bigger formats

2009-10-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Levi's t-shirt x159, mixed media on paper, 144x99cm

This piece is to me a great example of how one process leads to a thousand more. When I finished the first series of Designer/Random clothes, I put the three items of clothing-wet with paint-in a shopping bag for me to wash them later on. When I picked them up again, the bottom one had left a distinct imprint at the bottom of the bag, but a very different one from the actual imprints that I had just made, because only its hem had been in contact with the surface. I made a mental note to remember that other way of using garments as painting tools. On this piece, a simple Levi's t-shirt has connected 159 times with the paper. What I'm looking for here is a plastic translation of a garment's significance through its sense of ownership. The thing is, I'm only using my own garments: they are old or damaged pieces of clothing with which I can work here before washing them again and giving them away to charity. This work only has meaning to me if I'm using my own or other people's already worn clothes, because in their re-invented utilitarian function they transfer their history and connection with the wearer to the canvas (or paper). I would love to use somebody's worn clothes (which for some reason he or she can not- or will not-wear anymore) and sell him/her back a painting, having incorporated their history with a garment in the process of finding the exact way to use it as an instrument.

untitled #12, mixed media on paper, 144x99cm

More of the handwritten series. I had to find the proper tool to write on a bigger scale; I found it in the kitchen. I realize that I am so under-equipped, but it's a great way to be inventive with the process too. I think that, if I owned hundreds of brushes and knives, I would waste half the time choosing for the right instrument.

Video project: "Women incredibly in love with one another"

2009-10-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

When I started collecting film clips, I realized that I always went for the same types of moments, mostly those fugacious shots of faces, often silent, where the slightest movement indicates meaning and emotion. You can tell all the stories in the world by combining these images in multiple ways, because their versatility make them prone to bear the emotional charge/narrative path of your choice. In this piece in its original form, their combination repeatedly suggested a great sense of longing and sexual tension, thanks also to several spoken words which began to articulate a dialogue of seduction. The transformation of these images to their current state, where you can only suppose an expression, leaves us a with minimal amount of information, thus giving far more room to create our own synopsis. In each shot there are different details that project us to something we know or own, or crave: the curve of a nose, the twinkle of an earring, the white of an eye or teeth. These elements, paired with fractionated pieces of dialogue, come through with great simplicity, adding up to create a personal version of this insanely complicated love story.

Works on paper: more random clothes

2009-10-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

After working on the garment imprints (and before continuing with that series in bigger formats), I felt like exploring the other possibilities of using clothes as a tool rather than a finality. I formed this mental image of dipping jersey t-shirts entirely in thick, liquid paint, and drawing with them as if they were giant brushes made of knitted fabric. I also had in mind the large, amazing Franz Kline pieces from the early 1950s, where the black strokes seem to have been made by massive brushes. I always liked the idea that his work was not made on a human scale. On these two pieces here there is a combination of clean strokes and areas where I used the whole width of the garment, so you can see the folds and the movement of the fabric as it's connecting with the surface unevenly.

2 random t-shirts, mixed media on paper, 87x58cm

random v-neck t-shirt #2, mixed media on paper, 86x72cm

Video project: "recently visited"

2009-09-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Empty spaces in movies are hard to find. I have scrolled through dozens of films searching for moments where there is no actual physical human presence. What I love about these shots is that they're contradictorily full of meaning, both material and emotional (sometimes they're devoid of any material things, but then just as full of sensations), like photographs. One of my favourite books of photographs is Diane Keaton's Reservations; it's a collection of black & white shots of empty American hotel lobbies, which she seems to have taken in passing, along the course of film shoots, promotion tours and personal travels. Most of her pictures show near-empty rooms with a chair, a wall decoration or a lamp, and some of them display an absurd detail, such as a dangling electric cord, a lonely table, etc...It's one of the most narrative and pleasurable collections of images I have seen, because everything lies in the subtext (there is no foreword, any explanation is left to the reader's own interpretation). In this video piece, spaces which obviously bear the imprint of inhabitants or visitors are shown one after the other, allowing viewers to shape and recreate a human presence through their analysis of visual components, and tainted by a soundtrack that takes them through a stereotyped emotional journey.

Video project: "face to face"

2009-09-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

I have always been very sensitive to the notion of performance. Whether in sports, film, theatre, music, art, or fashion, the timeless idea of an individual or a group being tied to a certain place and time to perform is to me the ultimate thrill. And when, in the moment, something unexpected and spontaneous (and good) happens, we are in for a treat. I went once to a play in Paris where we were told that one of the two lead actresses had become suddenly ill and the other actress would play both roles. Watching that performance was the most intense moment I have ever experienced through art. The pure electricity and pleasure coming through the actress' body and speech were priceless gifts to a watchful, expectant, empathic audience.

I find there is often a tremendous dramatic quality to sports events. Around the age of 12 I became obsessed with tennis, and I made myself so involved in the process of watching matches that I often ended up completely exhilarated or extremely upset, depending on the result. In any case, the rush induced by the experience always makes me come back for more.

In this 2-screen piece, I have used every close-up of two notorious sportswomen from one cable television boadcasting, cutting out the actual "sport" to focus only on the faces, the expressions (or lack thereof), and repetitive movement. Stripped from their instrument and purpose, the athletes become raw performers of an unknown, almost ritual sport/art form; the game becomes a frenetic dance, a duel.

Play the two videos simultaneously, with a 5 seconds lapse.

Video projects: "$53 movie #1", "$53 movie #2"

2009-09-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Right when I started working on "$53 movie #1" (see 5 sept 09 post), I thought it would be interesting to show variations of it. The purpose of the original piece is to take the viewer through an arc of various emotions by juxtaposing selected film clips taken out of context, so the possibilities suggested by the material are infinite. I started to re-edit, using exactly the same sequences (only a few shots have been lightly lenghtened or shortened only in order to match a different score) and re-arranging them according to a different scheme, to offer an original histrionic trajectory. Ideally these two pieces should be shown facing each other, making each viewer their unique axial interpreter.

Video project: "failures", excerpt

2009-09-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this video in parallel to the "$53 movie #1" piece. Most of the sequences used in both videos come from the same films. What I found interesting here is that although the material used in this piece is somewhat the antithesis of the other (here all the faces have been edited out), the emotional reaction from the narrative contents that we are fabricating is as strong, if not stronger. There is so much context in their surroundings, their speed or the sounds accompanying those hands, that the viewer's own storyline develops effortlessly and with a great subjective power, allowed by those very elements and his/her personal interpretation. There is also a great frustration never to be allowed exploring those contexts, where the usual "next frame" would show a face, a reaction, a consequence. Scrolling through the material I had gathered, I was amazed by how much darkness these hands are projecting, and this has dictated my arrangement of sequences according to a personal system (the idea of death, self-inflicted pain and struggle coming back in cycles), hence the title, "failures".

Works on paper: research

2009-09-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

There is one more of the garments series here: Random polo shirt #1; I started working on it right after I made the other ones (see previous post) but kept on going as it first turned out too pretty. I plan to go further with this series in bigger formats once I find a proper studio to work in. The two other pieces are research material on processes and various techniques: overlaying, playing with our perception of abstract/figurative, imprints, repetition. Strangely enough I often find myself changing the orientation of the piece once I've begun working on it. I am naturally drawn to vertical formats ("portrait") but it's happened here and there that they've instinctively become horizontal ("landscape", which descriptive term I find much better suited to their content: the first piece here especially, which suggests a poetic landscape with hypothetical floating objects).

Untitled #8, mixed media on card, 42x59cm

Untitled #9, mixed media on card, 59x42cm

Random polo shirt #1, mixed media on card, 54x35cm

Works on paper: Designer/Random clothes

2009-09-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

A few years back, I made these huge black&white prints of garments' pictures. The garments were photographed flat or "standing" against a white background, in order to give a 3D feeling thanks to the transparency of their material and the way they were positionned on the floor or against the background. In this series, I am trying to reproduce this feel with paint, using an imprint technique, and using bought clothes as stencils or printing blocks. The idea is to transform these iconic or simple products of fashion into painting tools, in a way that they produce a shape that's still recognizable, and yet is an alien form that is distancing them entirely from their original context and usage. So far I only used relatively small formats (those are 42 x 59cm) and I plan to make bigger ones where the shape of the entire garment is visible, and where several shapes can interact/overlay on the same space.

Random v-neck t-shirt #1, mixed media on card, 42x59cm

Prada pants #2, mixed media on card, 59x42cm

Prada pants #1, mixed media on card, 59x42cm

Video project: "Eureka-cropped"

2009-09-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

In this piece I used Nicolas Roeg's movie "Eureka", cropping the image to a very small area with the same proportions as a 4/3 image. A rough black&white treatment has been applied to the picture, emphasizing contrast and outline. It is surprising to discover how much of the initial image we can still comprehend within such a small part of the entire screen...The corner of an eye, the barrel of a gun, the outline of a human silhouette. The choice of Pino Donaggio's track from the 'Carrie" score initially came because of its exact same length as the video, obviously it is also bringing tremendous drama to the piece, mixing up with the shouts, the grunts and gunshots of the film's soundtrack.

Video project: "the impalpable"

2009-09-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

In a moving image, I am always interested in what's not the central focus point. The background, the edge, the frame, the side, the transition. In this video, I have used recordings from different media (i.e. a motion picture, a television show, a documentary, a sports program, etc..) and changed the focus and scale to random positions within the image itself. The colours and habitual aspect of the images have been changed and uniformised to the simplest black and white treatment, thus allowing almost no identification of the subjects and/or situations we are actually watching. Figurative becomes abstract, intelligible becomes impalpable

Video project: "five objects on my table today", screenshots

2009-09-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

This series of videos works as a continuous visual inventory of one's material environment. When you walk into somebody's living-room or bedroom, the objects you see or touch lead a life of their own. They are placed there, moved, replaced, returned, broken, borrowed, sold, sent, hidden or exposed. Their presence and their connection to each other and their owner is subject to a great number of factors. If we made and updated a perpetual inventory of all our properties, What would its course tell us about the way we live, the way we own? When we list the objects on our desks and night-stands, are we making a catalogue of our way-of life, or are we simply relishing an object's poesy?

Video project: "all teared up", work in progress

2009-09-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Video project: "$53 movie #1", excerpt

2009-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

I started making videos in 1997 when I was working on my Art School diploma in Paris. I collected film clips and edited them together according to a new imaginary scenario, which was both very simple and yet vague. My final project was a collection of garments, but I used the video medium to show it, and made several videos of the garments, in order to use the video itself, and screenshots as "stills" as a tool of communication. Later, in 2002, I became familiar with the work of Canadian video artist Aleesa Cohene. In some of her pieces, Cohene uses exactly the same process; I remember seeing this one piece from her at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, in which she uses a lot of movie shots involving phonecalls, re-creating her own unlikely multiple-voiced conversation.
Here the process stays the same, only the choice and arrangement of the shots, although starting from a simple concept (actresses' close-ups re-creating a continuous- and mostly silent- visual dialogue) has been dictated by the score, sometimes playing against its rhythm and intensity.

Works on paper-August 2009

2009-09-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

In this series of works I have been working more on the process than the content or the concept: handwriting, overlaying, constructing/deconstructing the space with colour and layering.

Untitled #6, mixed media on paper, 114x76cm

Untitled #5, mixed media on card, 59x42cm

Untitled #4, mixed media on card, 59x42cm

Untitled #2, crayon on card, 59x42cm

Untitled #1, crayon on card, 42x59cm

WORKS ON PAPER 2009

2009-08-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

for details, please contact stephanebarbier@hetnet.nl

short biography

2009-08-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Born in Amiens (France) in 1973, studied at L'Ecole Superieure des Arts Appliques Duperre in Paris for five years, majoring in fashion design (B.A in 1995) then in applied arts&fashion design (master degree in 1997). The diversity in disciplines taught there helped me develop a deep interest and skills in drawing, painting, video, and of course fashion. The following 12 years I worked as a fashion designer (and later on design manager) for luxury ready-to-wear labels such as Rochas and Emanuel Ungaro in Paris, and then commercial brands the likes of Turnover and Tommy Hilfiger in Amsterdam. During my years of training in Paris I was influenced by American Abstract Expressionists (Morris Louis, Sam Francis, whose work I first came across at the Maeght Foundation in Provence), Pop Art, Film and Photography (especially early 1980's portraiture by Annie Leibovitz and Helmut Newton). In the summer of 2009 I decided to dedicate myself again to painting, drawing and video Art.

works on paper 2010

2007-03-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

DRAWINGS 1995-2001

2001-08-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

2001-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

Born in Amiens (France) in 1973, I spent a year in England after graduating from high school in 1991, then studied at L'Ecole Superieure des Arts Appliques Duperre in Paris for five years, majoring in fashion design (B.A in 1995) then in applied arts&fashion design (master degree in 1997). The diversity in disciplines taught there helped me develop a deep interest and skills in drawing, painting, video, and of course fashion. The following 12 years I worked as a fashion designer (and later on design manager) for luxury ready-to-wear labels such as Rochas and Emanuel Ungaro in Paris, and then commercial brands the likes of Turnover and Tommy Hilfiger in Amsterdam. During my years of training in Paris I was extremely influenced by American Abstract Expressionists (Morris Louis, Sam Francis, whose work I first came across at the Maeght Foundation in Provence), Pop Art, Film and Photography (especially early 1980's portraiture by Annie Leibovitz and Helmut Newton). Graphic design has always attracted me, and I took the opportunity to produce a lot of work at Rochas from 1998 onwards, working on trendbooks, advertising layouts, fashion show invitations and artworks. I taught myself to work on various design softwares, with great help from my sister Sophie Barbier, who is a bona fide Artistic Director working in the publishing industry near Paris. In my subsequent positions I focused on fashion design and management, but I've been working on personal graphic design projects on the side: logos, t-shirt designs, flyers, and I will continue to do so because, let's face it, I'm hooked!

WORKS 1989-1996: heterogeneous selection

1995-01-01T16:00:00.000-08:00