Julien Barriol

Julien Barriol works with a form of asemic writing that is uniquely his own. It draws inspiration from simple geometric shapes and signs found in ancient scripts, books, films, and even video games. This graphic language acts as a reflection of traditional or imaginary scripts, allowing the understanding of the work to emerge through aesthetic intuition and the medium on which it is presented.

He aims to turn the viewer into a kind of archaeologist, provoking them to ponder what they see. Symbols painted in red appear behind the cracks of a decrepit wall. Vestiges of traces are eroded by the waves on a beach at low tide. On the pages of an old grimoire, between an incantation and a grandmother's remedy. A variety of mediums are used—engraved, painted, sculpted—but always inlaid with this lettering.

This unknown and non-verbal language is open to any interpretation. The viewer is free to choose their preferred meaning: a forgotten language from ancient times, a mystical and magical script, glyphs from another world, or symbols from the edges of the universe…