Take 1
Autumn 2011
A4 sheet of paper, transparent plastic corners (Panodia), matte photo-coated paper, sealing wax, oak, glass
Overall dimensions: 37 × 113 × 2 cm
Individual dimensions: 1 × (29.7 × 21 cm), 2 × (37 × 28.3 × 2 cm)
Notarial certificate: Gilles Colet and Catherine Dreyfuss, Strasbourg, France
Frames produced by: Encadrement des Bateliers (Mathilde Lebeau), Strasbourg, France
The triptych begins with a pristine A4 sheet, fixed to the wall by four adhesive pockets. It rests there, untouched, immaculate, identical to its billions of silent sisters. No mark, no fold, no blemish: only the mute promise of a universal support.
Three features command attention: the fragility of the paper’s substance, its unbroken clarity, and the insignificance born of endless mass production. Yet beneath this banality lies a riddle: how can this ordinary sheet be recognised as a work of art? How can it be wrested from its functional destiny and raised to the rank of singularity?
The signature, usually the seal of authenticity, would here be fatal — it would shatter the sheet’s virgin state. Proof therefore migrates beyond the paper itself: a certificate of authenticity, sealed, asserts its status. But the demonstration does not end there. A second certificate, drawn up by a notary, doubles the first. By his authority, the improbable is rendered possible: a blank sheet becomes an artwork.
Thus unfolds a play of mirrors. I conceive the object, the notary legitimises it; I create the form, he consecrates its value. The certificate, usually a mere accessory, acquires here a dignity equal to the sheet itself. It does not merely announce the work: it becomes part of it, it founds it.
Where then does the value reside? In the mute sheet, or in the words that sanctify it? And is the sheet still truly blank, when its essence as artwork unfolds not upon it, but beside it?
K.L.
Extract 1 & 2
Autumn 2011
A4 sheet of paper, transparent plastic corners (Panodia), matte photo-coated paper, sealing wax, oak, glass
2 × (37 × 28.3 × 2 cm)
Notarial certificate: Gilles Colet and Catherine Dreyfuss, Strasbourg, France
Frames produced by: Encadrement des Bateliers (Mathilde Lebeau), Strasbourg, France
Left document (Certificate of Authenticity)
‘I, the undersigned, Kim, Thomas, Alexandre Lux, hereby certify that the blank A4 sheet of paper (bearing an arbitrary mark) situated to the left of this certificate is an original work of art.’
Right document (Notarial Certification)
‘Maître Catherine DREYFUSS, undersigned Notary, associate of the professional civil partnership “Gilles Colet & Catherine Dreyfuss, Associated Notaries”, established at the Notarial Office in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), 23 Boulevard d’Anvers,
hereby certifies the signature affixed to the document “Certificate of Authenticity”, dated 27 September 2011, by Mr. Kim, Thomas, Alexandre LUX,
born on 17 April 1973 in Essonnes (Essonne),
residing at 75 avenue de la Forêt-Noire, 67000 Strasbourg.’