CLARA CHAMPSAUR
ARTIST
What a strange way did Garnier & Linker and Clara Champsaur meet : although they are all French and live in Paris, it was in Kyoto, Japan, that the meeting happened.
At that time, Clara was studying urushi lacquering at the KCUA, the Kyoto School of Fine Arts, and Garnier & Linker was working on several collaborations with Kyoto workshops, including one specialized in urushi lacquer. The shared taste for matter and craftsmanship started the dialog and gave birth to the desire of working on a common piece.
"I USUALLY WORK ON MY OWN, IN THE DARK ROOM OR THE ENGRAVING STUDIO. IT IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ARTISTS."
Clara champsaur
Chemigram, 120 x 100 cm
Back in France, the work together naturally began with experiments in lacquer. But a visit to Clara's studio at the Beaux-Arts de Paris redirected the research towards another axis. In parallel to photography, Clara has been conducting research on engraving for several years. After several attempts, the project was changed and the idea became to create a series of black monotypes on white paper.
The working method is built around the repetition of the same gesture on a plexiglas plate. The meeting of the ink, the binders and the solvents being impossible to control, from this gesture repeted hundred times, hundred different and each unique monotype are originated. The idea of presenting the selection under the form of a folding screen seemed quickly obvious to them, the black lacquered wooden windows serving as a frame for the engravings.
Oil and casein on paper, 18 x 15 cm, 2019
Pigment on paper 57 x 66 cm, 2018
"WORKING WITH FLORENT AND GUILLAUME CHANGED MY WAY OF WORKING
AND LED ME TO NEW TERRITORIES, WHICH ENRICHED MY PRACTICE."
Clara champsaur
