Poised between revelation and destruction, between solidity and fragility, Jean Denant’s work brings to mind architecture in its most primary expression, which consists in constructing spaces (and therefore shaping the world we live in) and, in doing so, our contemporary landscape.
His works, which are neither paintings nor sculptures and result from a process that involves the body and is reminiscent of the labourer’s gesture, rely on a deep connection to the material used, whether it is engraved, carved, manipulated or chiselled. The architectural aspect is never theorised or mentioned as a form in itself, but rather evoked through its tangible materiality – that of the many construction sites the artist visits in his hometown of Sète.
Because of this, the vocabulary that Denant has adopted shares commonalities with the world of construction (plasterboard, polished stainless steel, plywood, construction debris…) and finds an immediate echo in the subjects of his drawings and paintings in the form of urban work sites, buildings under construction and architectural plans.

Translated by Lucy Pons
Biographical notes translated with the support of the Centre national des arts plastiques