Mathias Tujague

Mathias Tujague bases his work on everyday objects, which he reproduces with different materials and scales, thus immediately rendering them useless and ridding them of the original significance of their functionality, which therefore only remains as a trace on a level that is no longer practical, but rather looks into their cultural intelligence.” […]

Caroline Bissière and Jean-Paul Blanchet

“I associate these objects, which are not quite themselves and which I use as starting points, with laboratory explorations. These mineral and vegetal hybrids, whether they come from the living world or are my own creations, then contaminate the surfaces and interstices of the rooms they are shown in, hijacking their tranquillity by giving them new hypothetical perspectives.
In an empirical way, I am interested in manufacturing techniques – especially artisanal –, which I use so as to better apply them to inadequate mediums. However, while the act of making and shaping are key elements in my work, my hands generally leave very few visible traces.
I have become increasingly interested in materials; I am drawn to the idea of a gesture disappearing in favour of a material, which is to be understood as a catalyst, a way of putting time into perspective in order to combine all sorts of actions, chain reactions, and gravitational effects. It is also a way of redefining ancient techniques and skills, vicissitude and the creation of forms.”

Mathias Tujague
Translated by Lucy Pons