Laval Arnaud

The admirers of Arnaud Laval’s work say that he “constantly amazes” them, which implies a real capacity to renew his artistic proposition, others that he “fascinates” them, in this sense the artist has a real power of seduction, others still that: “it is charming” while comparing him to Jacques Callot (1592-1635) whereas this designer engraver is especially known for having engraved The Great Miseries of the war. And they are all right, Arnaud Laval’s creations indeed generate both astonishment, fascination and enchantment as they are lovely, meticulous and made to please, while emanating from a great sensitivity. of heart and mind. Of course, Arnaud Laval knows how to entertain his audience! He excels in the art of directing. See its miniature theaters with artfully set up on a black background. Yes, Arnaud Laval aspires to beauty, to dreams, to escape to imaginary and refined lands. He has the patience of a Lotte Reiniger (1899- 1981). He has a taste for technical precision. “I have a perception of theatrical volume and sculpture. “

Arnaud Laval knows how to put the world of the theater in an abyss and manufactures boxes of objects which bring to life a whole small world of actors made of paper, silhouettes drawn, engraved, cut out. He creates a language while waiting for the performance to take place. The artist senses the emotion of his viewer and seeks to awaken him. The in-depth design of the decor anticipates the potential of hide-and-seek situations and, as a result, the enchanting and disruptive effect of agreed “vanishing lines”. He is fond of classic works: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear by William Shakespeare, folk tales such as Alice in Wonderland novel written by Lewis Carroll (which was not originally intended children), and the Circus. Based on masterpieces, he explores the fantastic and the unreal that he creates through his imagination and his capacity for transposition. Guiding the viewer to the essential element of the composition requires intuition and experience. The perfumer understood it well, who chose Arnaud Laval as his staging magician, the viewer could not be abandoned to the exploration of the void. On the contrary, his gaze must be captured by the image staged in the black box – in turn evoking that of the photographer – in order to apprehend the space and be carried away by the magic of secrecy. You are spellbound, hypnotized. You escape reality for a moment.