No Title
2007
Zinc Etching                                        

Renaud Allirand                             
Residence: Paris, France 
Birthplace: Antony, France

There are people in our lives that we do not come across by chance, but by appointments without a set date.

After ten years of painting and drawing, Renaud Allirand took to engraving, an art form that offered him endless possibilities to express himself.

The year is 2002. Allirand has no previous experience in engraving, but from his first printed work is encouraged by the printer René Tazé, a copper-plate engraver whose name would form then on be synonymous with engraved artwork.

Allirand, who at the time was working on the theme of writing, launches into the copper plate with gusto, bringing forth words full of force and passion, written upside-down and deliberately illegible. With the copper matrix on the table and dry-point in hand, the adventure is underway. Copper, like mirror, is the meeting place between the engraver’s face and inner thoughts. The words are engraved using spontaneous, unbroken strokes, then transferred to paper by the printer to present the observer with a world displaying the first wedge-shaped, or Arab writings from ancient civilizations, with undulating letters forming never-before-seen patterns. The words cannot be read or understood, they are simply there and somehow transform into common language.

In another work, vertical and horizontal lines are to be found among the words. The engraving becomes more abstract, more geometric, as if seeking a certain balance. The style is concise and methodical. One engraving depicts a seaside landscape, the next one a gate placed above a chasm… From these patterns, from this prison, or from this outward-facing passage, the observer savours the joys of life. Like paintings, and unlike drawings, no characters can be seen. The landscapes are bleak and thick with imagery. Among the evenly-engraved landscape, however, an almost human-like dune can be seen. The colour black has been added with both passion and hope. It is often to be seen, in flat surfaces, open spaces, and in shadows from which light filters out. Black is not a single colour, it is all colours…colours hidden deep within us, which are often inappropriately used in engraving, as they are perhaps too emotionally-charged.

Allirand’s etching technique, on the other hand, arrived later on, through a thin-nibbed paintbrush dipped in hydrochloric acid. The engraver uses this with a zinc matrix. The process resembles that used for Indian inks. Renaud Allirand, who also produces drawings under the pseudonym ‘Dip’, revels in using a bright felt-tip pen in the fluid motions of his sketches. The brush caresses the plate, bites it, and, after inking and having been put through the press, displays irregular, almost invisible lines, a sort of soft monochrome shade in a transparent grey.

In Les Haubans [‘The Bridge Supports’], Allirand, inspired by the suspension bridges, rediscovers architecture, a recurring theme in his work. The tubes criss-cross and blend together, leading us into a world of turmoil and confusion. It is an exhilarating sight to behold. The main theme branches off, setting out on a sharp, oblique line. This change, which is barely noticeable, marks a turning point for the artist. The artwork has a more sparse style and is therefore more rigorous. Radiating lines appear, like a solar star that can be seen in the Egyptian low relief. The ploughed land can also be seen, portraying nature as a refuge and unending source of inspiration. Finally, the engravings get bigger, as Allirand finds that full-size artwork offers him freedom which has so far been unattainable in his paintings.

Renaud Allirand is an artist with a fertile imagination who likes a certain amount of confusion in his paintings. The observer should appreciate, absorb, and sometimes even listen to them. On approaching some of his paintings, melodic music and a tuneful voice seem to permeate from within, perhaps due to the influence of an artist who sings and listens to music while working.

-- Lise Fauchereau [Département des Estampes, Bibliothèque nationale de France], April 3, 2007 [Translation: Jana Maria Woltermann]

2008
14ème Beinnale Internationale, Musée du Petit Format, Centre Culturel Regional Action Sud, Viroinel, Belgique
Maison Les Remparts, Pithiviers, France
Ecole nationale des Arts et métiers Bab Oqla Tétouan, Morocco
Salon de l’estampe Graver Maintenant, Espace Renoir, Rueil-Malmaison, France
XI Exposition Collective, Galerie Prodromus, Paris, France