Enemy is in shock
These three works by Claude Closky—Authorities step up, Enemy is in shock, and The world is getting less—are made up respectively of 37, 39, and 40 sheets of A4 orange paper. A word or letter is laser-printed in black on each sheet. Together they form a poem in which the scale of the letters varies. The positioning of the sheets creates figures reminiscent of pixelated characters. Displaying them in space, on gallery walls or city buildings, creates an immersive play on scale. These large-scale collages refer to major communication systems and are reminiscent of posters on city streets. In these poems, the artist evokes the commodification of the world, terrorism, and the public health crisis, but also dreams and the relationships we have with each other, from the individual to the collective. These topical subjects are treated with a certain irony through a simple language that relies on the notion of play, repetition, and rhythm.
Text written by Clara Delettre as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.