Laurent Septier

I had to go to great lengths to find what was within me. Very far in time: forty years of work. Very far in space: in China, to an extreme destination. One would think there was a running theme to it, but there isn’t: Laurent Septier’s work isn’t “about China”. I see things and situations in it; I receive them, I remember them, and I choose to share them or not. I am not on the lookout for anything extraordinary. Things just go without saying; they simply happen. And they become photographs or books.
The return journey opens up to another space and another time – closer –, and finds its place, among other things, in small scale models that pertain to the spirit of classical Chinese painting – one walks around in them; to photography – it is a question of point of view; and also to sculpture – one circles around it.
A great deal gravitates around and beneath: playing with references is a fertile part of art.
Gérard Genette said: “A work of art is an artefact with an aesthetic function.” And that is precisely what I do and love to do: making artefacts with aesthetic functions.