CLAUDE PASQUER

Born in 1937 in Le Mans, died in 2024 in Marogues (18).

The artist constructs his pictorial space according to a network of horizontal and vertical lines, subdivisions supported by a pre-established digital scheme based on the principles of permutation, repetition, and translation.

Thought thus guides execution; the work cannot be different from what has been previously conceived, a postulate faithful in this sense to the principles of concrete art. These different spaces are first painted, then sufficiently covered with a layer of black, or white, or another color so that only marginal linear traces remain visible, punctuating the surface of the painting. Their colored presence at rhythmic intervals creates an optical illusion where motif and ground tend to reverse. This effect of animation, of back and forth, of movement, is further accentuated by the imperceptible presence of the concealed surface, which alters the luminosity of the background color.

These variations encourage the eye to follow the movement of the colors, to follow their progression within the limits of the painting and even beyond.

Movement, theme, rhythm, progression—these are all terms from the musical sphere that one finds oneself using to describe the works of Claude Pasquer. Like a composer, he takes hold of a theme and explores its variations methodically. His numerical combinations systematically construct the score. And from this rigor, unhindered by emotion, arise harmony and a contemplative dimension.

Laurence Fasel

“Following the strict logic of erasing the gesture, Claude Pasquer’s painting is applied with a roller to eliminate any subjective effect of the brushstroke. The forms are geometric and treated in flat planes. The entire surface of the canvas is taken into account. The planes, sometimes black and white, but more often colored, shift without ever leaving a void. The conception of the painting as a set of independent frames—treated as so many modules—allows for the continuation of the composition in a complex way by transferring the permutation to the fragmentation of the painting into a polyptych.”.

While the modules are constantly being recomposed, the series always project new plastic combinations. Consequently, the work generates its own dynamic. It is in perpetual becoming. What does it matter, then, if, of all the series conceived, premeditated, calculated, drawn, and catalogued, only a few figures or arrangements of figures find the opportunity to be implemented? The visitor who comes into contact with it quickly understands that they are entering a game that engages both the eye and the mind

Hubert Besacier