Philippe Cazal

The Works

DESORDRES / DES ORDRES
(DISORDERS / ORDERS)
2009
Diptych, multiple work of 3 copies (no. 1)
80 x 80 x 0.15 cm each sheet
2 sheets of red and black plastic, laser cut

In French, the words desordres and des ordres are confused because they are pronounced identically. Their meanings are antagonistic: disorder and order. And so are their results: disorder pulverizes order.
Placing both words side by side emphasizes their semantic proximity but also their social distance.
The black and red colors, typical of traditional anarchism, on the plastic sheets used as a negative support are not accidental.

Wordplay in the French literary tradition encompasses various techniques and forms of expression that use language in a playful and creative way. They can range from simple puns to more complex structures, such as the literary constraints of the Oulipo group, OUvroir de LIttérature POtentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature), or language games in specific works. They often serve to entertain, enrich meaning, create comic or poetic effects, and above all, question language itself.

LA SOLITUDE DE LA PENSÉE
(THE SOLITUDE OF THOUGHT)
2009
120 x 80 x 1.5 cm
White plastic sheet cut with laser

The reference to the solitude of the act of thinking, inseparable from human beings, is already a classic in philosophical reflections throughout history: Plato, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer, for example. Cazal adds another visual dimension; the words cut out of white plastic and placed on the white wall of a museum, art gallery, or collector’s room almost disappear, becoming invisible and accentuating the solitude the artist speaks of.

The artist

(La Redorte, France, 1948)

Wordplay in the French literary tradition encompasses various techniques and forms of expression that use language in a playful and creative way. These games can range from simple puns to more complex structures, such as literary constraints like those of the Oulipo group, OUvroir de LIttérature POtentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature), or language games in specific works. They often serve to entertain, enrich meaning, create comic or poetic effects, or even question language itself.
One of the most cultivated forms has been to play with the similarity in sound between two expressions or words with different meanings. From Raymond Roussel, through the satirical magazines of the late 19th century and Alphonse Allais, Raymon Queneau, and Georges Perec as examples from the 20th century, this tradition came to art through surrealism, Dada, and the group significantly called Lettrist, from which different branches emerged. Isidore Isou was one of the seminal creators from whom several poets and artists such as Raymond Hains, Jacques Vileglé, and François Dufrêne, among others, split off.

Phillipe Cazal, after studying at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris until 1973, created sets of objects inspired by the city, culture, social problems, the economy, politics, poetry, and the position of the contemporary artist in the city. All of them resonate as a diagnosis and social symptom.
Highly sensitive to the changes of his time, he long ago ceased to limit himself to the traditional disciplines of fine arts to embrace other creative fields (fashion, advertising, communication, marketing, etc.), absorbing the characteristics of his era to better reflect and counteract it.
Since 1984, he has presented himself as an “advertising artist,” transforming his name into a logo and developing his “brand image” by subverting the codes of the world of marketing and advertising.