Pierre Tilman

The work

Don’t argue, there will be unhappiness for everyone
2007
286 x 21 cm
Adhesive letters on Plexiglas

Tilman’s poetry works from linguistic aphorisms and images. He uses sayings, either his own or inspired by readings of classical figures, anonymous ones, or from popular tradition.
These phrases become a unique “painting” that appears on the walls of galleries or museums. Instead of spray paint, a neat graphic where each word in a different color appears on a thin plastic plate attached to the wall. The artist’s hand is hidden in all of this, and the irony or sarcasm of the phrase’s meaning contrasts with the neatness of its elaboration.

The artist

(Salernes, France, 1944)

Since the 1970s, Pierre Tilman has used various supports and media in his visual work. He installed small objects and figurines, soldiers, and plastic animals on wooden panels for Arranged Landscapes (1978) and The Theatre of Operations (1984). In this way, he created “situations of desire, aggression, and spectacle,” to demonstrate “that the twentieth century had truly taken a wrong turn, that reality had been wounded.” He plays with words, combining them with wooden pallets (Baguettes de bois et ruban dymo, 1982). He stages himself in series of photographs (Salud, 1991; Le singe à l’œil, 1998), takes up his poems again in other forms, in numerical prints (Poèmes trafiqués, 2003) or puts words on bars, on cardboard, on walls (Le mur des mots, 2006).