Whether drawn, photographed or sculpted, David Coste’s propositions always follow the same process in order to create what are, in essence, images. His works, which require a great deal of research, result from a combination of elements borrowed in some cases from cinema and music, and in others from painting and architecture. The artist weaves together these various components – including the iconic images of the mountain and palm tree, among other stereotypes of the standardisation of landscapes – into complex spaces that leave palpable room for unease. Reality and fiction intertwine to create a story with no narrative, in which the believability of the scenery is challenged by the visible fakery and artificiality. Our perception of the space depicted remains an unresolved question, which the artist is comfortable with and claims as an area of uncertainty in which the injunction to understand everything and to think straight is hidden away… behind the scenery. “Despite being able to project ourselves in images, we will always remain outside of the image,” he says.

Martine Michard

Translated by Lucy Pons, 2022