(born in Chatillon-sur-Seine, France in 1949)
Express, 1998, signed on the reverse “Express” Bertrand Lavier 1998, acrylic on mirror and painted frame, 113 x 90 cm

Provenance:
Sotheby’s Paris, 12/12/2007
Galleria InArco, Turin (with certificate) there acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, Italy

The relationship between reality and the instruments of its representation, both verbal and visual, is the focus of the architect Betrand Lavier’s research, who asserts „that it is language that determines reality and not viceversa“.
Since the early 1980’s the artist has covered everyday objects with paint, using the same colours that characterise the chosen object. The result nullifies the boundary between painting and object. This becomes more evident when the artist extends his action to architectural details, as in the case of „Fenêtre“, 1982-1996, in which the glass of a window in the Castle of Rivoli (which hosted an exhibition of his in 1996) is covered by a transparent varnish; or, as in the work presented here, where the silvered surface of the mirror and its reflections are cancelled and transposed, as it were, through the layers of silver paint spread in a multiplicity of waves.