From June 13th to August 18th, 2002, opening June 13th at 5.00
pm. Vue de l'exposition
Fleuve, Civilisation, Champs, Voyager du regard
by Sébastien Martin
Walking is a solitary act. The walker follows paths
without a set itinerary, often giving himself over to
reverie and finally arriving at a place where no one
but him has ever set foot. By chance in his wanderings,
he may happen upon another walker, also lost in his
own universe. Nevertheless, they may exchange a glance,
a smile, a signal bearing testimony to the brief encounter
of their respective worlds. Somehow, imagination has
brought them together. When Ivan Binet, the walker-artist,
represents nature through photography, it is as if he
is inviting us to contact between bodies – an encounter
that will take place within the fiction of the montages
that he presents us with. Although the collage is practically
undetectable, some details pop out to inform us of the
possible illusory character of the unbroken lines of
pictures. Making judicious use of digital technology,
Binet melts images into each other. He shows us landscapes
that are familiar though unknown, and this is where
the richness of his work is fully evoked. For in the
very notion of landscape, we find the idea of constructions
of the mind, the framing of a given reality. The artist
thus communicates his own experience of reality, including,
of course, the distinct subjectivity involved in the
process of arranging the images. So, we are there, as
spectators, reading these long bands almost as we would
read a book, inventing our own short stories as we look,
and in the end re-creating the walker-artist’s initial
path. Imagination takes form.
