“I draw like 36,000 years ago”

“At the end of 2012, I started working on the reproduction of the animal panels from the Chauvet cave, in my workshop in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). That morning, charcoal in hand, I stood in front of the facsimile of the still virgin rock face. It was extremely intimidating. How do you tackle a masterpiece of humanity? I could have copied the drawings using a video projector, but I preferred to work freehand, like the men and women of 36,000 years ago, in order to rediscover the energy of their gestures, the succession of their lines. This allowed me to feel to what extent these distant ancestors mastered their art. The curvaceous contours have a perfect trajectory, without wobble or hesitation.

Why did they depict this bestiary? We can only make hypotheses. The finesse of their observations reveals a strong proximity to the animal world. Humans at the time, we can guess, did not feel superior to the rest of life. But they are forced to take their lives to survive. Perhaps cave art is a way of repairing this attack on the harmony of the world. Perhaps drawing serves as an outlet and restores balance. I prefer to leave it there, I don’t want to fall into fiction. I am only the interpreter of their work. My role is to step aside. »