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/// ENSEMBLE REEL ///
"Engraving #2"
Etching
printed on BFK Rives 250g paper.
Numbered out of 25 copies in pencil.
There will never be an additional draw.
The work is signed in pencil.
Size without margins: 20x15cm
Size with margins: 32.5x25cm
Certificate of authenticity.
The engravings of the "Fragments" exhibition:
They were made by Hugues and Medy (Ensemble Réel) in Guillaume Guilpart's studio, the Paris Print Club, on a real Dubois & Harrissard engraving press.
These engravings are original engravings. The technique is copper engraving in etching*. The print run is limited. All engravings are signed and numbered in pencil in the margin.
Hugues and Medy made each engraving with four hands; a constraint that they have imposed on themselves because it is inconceivable for them to produce a work without each other. Guillaume Guilpart, who is always enthusiastic about modernizing engraving, loved this challenge!
Then, Julien Roussard, organizer of the "Fragments" exhibition, decided to push the experiment further for an exact rendering of the usual works of Ensemble Réel: mixing two techniques on the same multiple, one in color (the digigraphy), the other in black and white (engraving). The challenge is crazy, never seen, we all say that we absolutely have to do this, it's obvious! Guillaume thinks that with this band that goes off the beaten track, he had to be inventive for it to be feasible, he loves it, and immediately thinks about the means of its realization.
This is how the third multiple presented at the “Fragments” exhibition combines engraving and digigraphy.
* Simplified explanation of the copper etching process:
On a copper plate covered with varnish, the engraver incises his drawing (this is called intaglio) and thus the varnish is removed at the place of the drawn lines. Then, the plate is immersed in an acid bath which hollows out the design and leaves the parts protected by the varnish intact. After cleaning, the plate is inked and wiped, leaving only the ink that has deposited in the grooves. Finally, the plate is pressed, the ink is then transferred to the sheet of paper. This action (inking/pressing) was repeated for each proof. After the draw is completed, the plate is scratched, it can no longer be used, which ensures that the draw is limited.
/// Biography of ENSEMBLE REEL ///
Behind the pseudonym of Ensemble Réel hide two brothers:
Hugues, 31 years old and Medy, 35 years old.
Having grown up in Ris-Orangis (91) with a sculptor father and a mother passionate about manual work, they are immersed in a rich and diversified cultural universe, visiting the capital's museums and regional exhibitions. It is in this context that the brothers, true free electrons, initiate themselves to drawing and painting.
In adolescence, this initially recreational practice evolves into a real passion with the discovery of graffiti. They handle their first bombs, try their hand at lettering before creating characters that they will come to pose between the blazes of their friends of the time.
It was in 2017 that the idea of collective works led to the birth of the duo Ensemble Réel. From then on, Hugues and Medy launched a four-handed production; their two universes bringing nuances and stories to each other. They try different techniques (stencil, acrylic, brushes, bombs) to find their own style. Wild collages in Paris are followed by frescoes. The brothers abandon the stencil, preferring the freedom of gesture that is found in their live performances as well as in their monumental creations.
Their artistic work, both on canvas and in the public space, evolves over the years. He integrates more marked artistic identities, more advanced and experimental techniques with the work of different materials integrated into their works.
Since 2017, Ensemble Réel has participated in collective and individual exhibitions, festivals and participatory urban planning projects. Since they set up their workshop in Montreuil, they have multiplied collaborations (Wekup, Raf Urban, The Mouarf).
/// The Exhibition " Fragments " ///
Life is a complex equation, of which we are the result. Like a hurricane, it takes pieces of us with it, brings new ones. From these missing or new parts, from these cracks which will be consolidated again with the work of time, we are moving forward. We evolve into nuanced beings, with their share of shadows and lights, their lacks and their riches. Some fragments are left out to make room for others or out of necessity; some are kept preciously in the hope of being able to give them meaning, consistency with regard to the whole, as a necessary step to move forward.
How do these fragments of life compose us? How to combine them in harmony? What is our relationship to our own path of life, sometimes full of pitfalls? What is the place of the other, of their gaze, of their support in our construction?
It is in these perspectives that we set about creating, imagining and constructing the FRAGMENTS exhibition. It is also telling our own journey. The story of two brothers with parallel lives who end up resonating through similar and simultaneous ordeals. The duo Ensemble Réel was born out of this period of trial and error, with this quest for self that leads to melancholy, resistance, dreams and ideals.
In the works presented, we play on the superposition of materials to compose or break down various subjects and bring to light new pieces of the puzzle. Memories, or hopes? We do not want to offer a single reading for each painting, but on the contrary, leave room for dialogue and sharing. It is up to the spectator to embellish the story and to appropriate it through the prism of their own experience.
Like kintsugi, this Japanese art that repairs and sublimates broken objects by revealing their fractures with gold dust, we want to offer an ode to the beauty of our stumbling but proud trajectories, an ode to resilience. Here we hope to patch up bodies and heal souls.
