Roman Signer — À propos — Slash Paris

Since the 1970s, the self-taught artist has been creating works by integrating elementary materials: time, gravity, air, water, fire, ladders, boots, cans, explosives… By introducing the notion of duration into their conception, Roman Signer broadens the classical definition of a sculpture.
In nature as well as in the studio, the artist proceeds by trial and error within the framework of what he calls “primitive physics” or “emotional physics”. Most often, films and sculptures are conceived together: the video is a tool for observing the process of moving from one sculpture to another through natural forces. It bears witness to a transformation that develops in three stages: a long wait in which all the possibilities coexist in tension; a very short event that provokes surprise or shock and in which the metamorphosis takes place; an aftermath, which is
also the discovery of a new state for the sculpture.
Like the phenomena that suddenly modify a given situation or environment, Roman Signer’s works have a sense of tragedy and disaster. They oppose gravity and lightness, seriousness and laughter in a game of resistance.