Romain Vicari — À propos — Slash Paris

Born in Paris in 1990, Romain Vicari leaves settling down with his family to São Paulo at the age of 6. In 2009, he returns to France and enters the graduate school of Art of Dijon then the Fine arts of Paris. Since his return in France, he is interested in the language of the construction site and the civil engineering works and leads an observation of colors, forms and noises of the urban space in transformation. His observations shoot to question on the reactions which can cause this urban surgery. The objects that he created, inspired by the urban space, approach the change of origin, and the décontextualisation, so creating movements.

Movements

I develop my practice in places that I consider as dead architectures, like construction sites. The artworks I make are ephemeral because sharing the same transitory aspect with these sites in perpetual mutation.
The scale of these works is very important as resulting from a physiological relation of my body to the space. Their presence thus possesses a certain human energy. The notions of scale, architecture, ruin and precarious balance play essential roles in my approach. Therefore, a great part of my production is made in situ.
These urban places are in transformation, because they have to be privatized. The first step of my approach is to implant there the function of a studio. The chosen construction site thus becomes my workspace. In my opinion, it is a laboratory where experiments are practicable. In this way, materials, forms and colours of the chosen site influence my production. Melancholy and energy which follow from it give rhythm to my way of working within this place.
From this work in the public space, I transferred my researches in other spatial contexts, more suited to their displaying as works ipso facto. It is about clean and spotless spaces, such as galleries. My work thus gains another visual dimension, their meaning becoming more or less distorted. The scale ratio I elaborated previously continues to be a remarkable aspect towards this new architecture container, the occupied space being more significant. Moreover, this invasion mobilizes the spectator more.