Boris Cojean

La Maison Jaune
Let us step through the door of the Yellow House. Inside, an enveloping scent, furniture that seems to undulate, chalky colours. At the centre of the modest room, a single unoccupied chair, and a large table on which a few colourful objects are scattered. A vase made from a sheet of wax filled with sunflowers, a plate awaiting the return of its owner. As in an unfinished painting, the space seems suspended. Who is the inhabitant of this house of wax?
Slowly, the surfaces acquire a patina, the blocks of matter stir at the touch of the Provençal sun, which awakens the scent of wax and fades the yellows, ochres, and sage greens. A large yellow door appears to open onto an adjoining room. It is closed. Let us leave this still life before losing ourselves within it. The great columns already seem to have swayed, the perspectives distorted, the scent intoxicating. Let us pass back through the curtain that conceals the entrance.
The Yellow House is a narrative interpretation of Provençal Impressionist painting, drawing in particular on the work of Vincent Van Gogh around 1889. Natural wax is employed as a structural material; moulded, applied in flat sheets, and used as a textile coating. I imagined an ornamented room, like a scene of life inspired by broad strokes of coloured paint. Here, it is the marks left by moulds, the brushstrokes on coated surfaces, and the white cracks of oilcloth that lend this blurred, vibrant quality. Wax is also chosen for its ephemeral character and its cyclical nature. The material acquires a patina, warps, and melts to give life to other objects. It is this unresolved, unfinished quality that inspires this scenography. Like a canvas in progress, the objects wait, slightly suspended in time. A flower on the table, slowly wilting, will remind us that the painting is alive.