Abécédaire de campagne (campaign primer)
2012
Jean-Yves Jouannais . Art critic. Author of “Encyclopédie des guerres” at the Centre Pompidou and former editor-in-chief of art press.
Editions Galerie Laure Roynette
“An aspiration to consolation:that is what we seem to decipher in passing through the stages in the work of Anne Cidric, an artist both ascetic and desirous, with the matt flavour of a requiem and a rococo free of pedigree.An aspiration that is distinctive in never giving way to lyricism.An austerity that is truly martial, poetic and dramatic, somewhat reminiscent of the effect sought by Stig Dagerman and which speaks in its way of our insatiable need for consolation.”
“The fantasy and invention are creatures without an explicit pedigree.What at first sight would seem to resemble decorative interpretation proves to be the most realistic possible translation of the phenomenon of battle, or at least some of its moments.While battle, as an object, is certainly matt, it is never short of pink.The wide blocks of that colour, sometimes stretching to the borders of purple, reflect a concern for naturalism here that is marvellous in its ambiguity.
“It seems that Anne Cindric’s painted work prompts us to ask similar questions [as does the work of Gérard Gasiorowski ].
Is a painted war simply a painting of war?Does this mean that we are dealing exclusively with the exploitation, the exploration of a theme, or more with the spectacle of painting at war with itself, its history and its contemporary state?Does not any work conscious of the history of its discipline express itself naturally under the impulse of a wish to attack, to denounce the established models?When the painting of history ceases to be a genre in its own right, does not war cease to be a subject, and instead come ultimately to characterise the relationship of the artist with the act of creation?In this case, Anne Cindric is not painting battle, but has entered a campaign, with alternating offensive and defensive phases, against painting itself.”