décal'âge is a manuscript, reproduced here in facsimile, between intimate writings, working reflections, and diaries of thought.
We find in it Claude Rutault's style, his familiarity with literature, the meditative density of his daily reflection.
Since 1973, the French conceptual painter Claude Rutault (1941-2022) has used a simple method to create new artworks, using statements which he calls "definitions/methods", later abbreviated to "d/m", then, more recently "dm". A definition/method is a text, describing a procedure that makes it possible to realize a painting by the artist.
Using the original statement: "a canvas, stretched on a frame, painted the same colour as the wall on which it is hung", Claude Rutault has produced a large body of written work which argue for the specific nature of painting through an analysis of its materiality, its history and its different functions.
