Jean-Philippe Paumier’s work develops an object-based consideration on the singularity of consumer products into the field of contemporary art. His body of work mainly consists of sculptures and installations. Light, as a substance and a powerful symbol, also plays an important role in his art. His work refers to Marcel Duchamp’s concept of the ready-made, but diverges from it at the same time by his means of expression and the way he combines elements. Paumier uses common objects chosen for their deep inner qualities. They all are direct products from our consumer society and are therefore selected to emphasise, as a counterweight, their hidden aesthetic and conceptual potential.
The negation of the use-value should allow one to consider the primary qualities of one given object: form, colour, texture…By distancing oneself from its practical aspect, one could possibly pay more attention to its poetical content and subtle eloquence. Contemporary art often questions mass production and consumerism in terms of radical sociological criticism. Paumier’s work proposes to examine the object at another level, and establish a more intuitive contact with it. Breaking the object’s obviousness should allow the viewer to refresh their look on it and give rise to new mental associations.
