Par-delà les aquariums, 2022

Louis-Paul Ordonneau  

Signed on the back by the artist.

Louis-Paul Ordonneau "To paint is to descend into oneself".

"When one comes to an exhibition, one expects to discover something new and to see where the artist's progress is.

This time for my exhibition at the Claire Corcia Gallery, there is no contemporary novelty, no affirmative overkill, no confirmation of belief, no certainty or coherence, no theory.
Because the surface of the lake is full of dead leaves, there is a plunge into deep waters.
Today I present a work of deconstruction that I have carried out to return to the essence of my anima in creation, to extract it, and to see where it took me in painting.
To expose my shortcomings, my contradictions, my attempts, my wanderings, in order to share what can be learned from putting myself in danger, this is what I propose in this exhibition where those who know my work since the beginning will not find themselves.

In my process, I stopped my paintings when I no longer understood them. I wanted to paint the unknown in the strongest sense. By focusing on this misunderstood, I believe I am getting closer to myself. There is no more accumulation of references, no more "look for Charlie", no more demonstration of know-how or pareidolia. There is no more will of progress or coherence.
Clearly I give to see difficulties. It is also a form of ethical requirement. It is perhaps naive, but I see there also a form of re-enchantment.
To ask oneself why one keeps memories of meadows, rivers, seaweed, depths printed in one's memory.

To paint, for me, is more than ever to go down into oneself, because the surface of the lake is full of dead leaves and so one must dive deep, where the imagination is no longer condemned by ridiculous torments, even if it is at the risk of encountering a neutrality that could well make one think of nothingness.
In my paintings, one may think that I am repeating types of landscapes with variations. This is the case. Everything remains to be done and everything will always remain to be done. It is a way of opposing the idea of a total theory in painting that often satisfies today. That such a fantasy can be born in minds says a lot about our time.

Any new artistic proposal is inevitably a mistake. So of course I am wrong, but I am surprised that this can surprise.
To make painting is to accept to be wrong. In a positive version it is to know that what you think you will find one day will be replaced the next. I agree with this nice idea. In fact, tomorrow we will go to see a new exhibition. I like anomalies and I hope my paintings are anomalies. The anomalies we like best are always the ones we would like to know the explanation for first.