Thomas Broomé, a Swedish artist whose work is presented in France for the first time, renews with his “modern mantras”, originally ink drawings on paper, but this time as paintings.
With a level of precision bordering on obsession, Thomas applies his mastery of perspective to draw or paint imaginary interiors, made of words.
Words here have a vital and autonomous existence. They are used to designate, but also to delimit the space, the surface, and even the materiality of the object. Their function is essential. Their repetition generates the different forms, which in turn create an image : a narrow superposition between the sign and the represented object.
The fundamental singularity of these “modern mantras” resides in their duality, both writing and image, and in the simultaneous presence of different levels of comprehension. A duality that could be described as a form of interplay between the pictorial quality of words and their linguistic meaning, between the letter and the spirit.These multiplied words, individual and indistinct, both substance and form, have thus contradictoryfunctions, which invite to contemplate and explore different perspectives.
Whereas his ink drawings represented domestic rooms, luxuriant, artificial and empty spaces that seemed to be virtually generated; his dark colored paintings represent meeting places, confined, deserted and often plunged into a disturbing darkness.
Are we looking at a drawing, a painting, or a work of calligraphy or writing? The artist enjoys blurring the boundaries and mixing genres. «What is right, is a mirror image of what is wrong».
