In the early 2000s I vaguely knew his name. I had never met him, I did not know anything about his production. One day, a mutual friend suggested that I come to his workshop, a shed on the outskirts of Sète. I remember an eclectic bric-a-brac: cutouts, drawings, collages, gouaches, such as one would expect to find in an artist's lair. In a bazaar, the accumulation makes you feel like a discoverer when you come across a coin that speaks to you. Me, that day, it was little "booklets" that caught my attention. They were placed at the end of a long work table. On a few pages, Campos tells short stories, with a somewhat surrealist poetry and at the same time childish and “cultivated” graphics.

The delicacy, the subtle mystery, the designs and the themes, seemed to me to agree with the personality of the artist that I perceived instantly: discretion, modesty, elegance. He did not hesitate to explain his creations, he did so with reserve, like a singer who would not let go of all his power. In his presence, I remember having thought of this sentence of Nietzsche: "Art does not need certainties". Alain Campos seemed to me, with each of his words, with each of his gestures, to personify the affirmation of the philosopher. He put no pressure on the gallery owner that I was, he seemed to trust his work and time.

Years have passed and, long after this first meeting, I found him in his new studio on the Quai du Maréchal De Lattre de Tassigny. I started to acquire pieces that I liked: works on paper or on tarpaulin. It was only much later that he finally visited me in my gallery. We got into the habit of meeting every now and then to chat about things and other things but he never tried to convince me of anything. He continued his trajectory without certainty and without pressure. This strength of character naturally led me to offer him an exhibition at home. I have the feeling that he has known it all along, but in his particular way he let time do its work and its work settle in time. This wisdom, this power all in reserve, ensures its duration, which for an artist is the ultimate goal.

Yves Faurie