Cédric Alby

Cédric Alby was born in 1978 in Paris (FR), where he lives and works

“What interests me is the threshold, the disjunction we feel between what we see and what looks back at us, between what is there and what we believe to be absent. I aim to create a sense of unease, to orchestrate this ‘absence’ in order to direct the viewer’s gaze toward a hypothetical ‘off-screen’ space.

I draw on a wide range of interwoven forms (geometric, organic, mineral, mechanical, architectural), and on ‘textures’ developed through numerous experiments, weaving together references to art history, science fiction literature, theater, cinema, and manga.

Within this approach to my work, I place great importance on the notion of making — the act of shaping, the praxis — while ultimately guiding the viewer beyond what is physically shown. The material, though heavily involved in the fabrication phase, tends to vanish through systematic covering processes, in order to possibly produce images. The sculptures — and the spaces they inhabit — seem to obey different rules and lose some of their ‘reality’.

These methods of fabrication, borrowed in part from theatrical set design, also influence the way I conceive exhibitions. Highly scenographic, these exhibitions form immersive images, which close in around the viewer. The viewer finds themselves in an ambiguous situation — at once distanced, and absorbed into an inert scene that unfolds in suspended time.

I strive to turn the exhibition space into the threshold of a separate world, a place for an unsettling encounter with both the self and the Other.”

– Cédric Alby