Monograph entirely dedicated to the drawing production of the artist Alan Fertil, who died prematurely in 2015.
"When you look at them for the first time, some of Alan Fertil's drawings stand out from the body of unknown sketches presented in this book ded- icated to his work. The drawings have in common the recurring figure of a central void, out of which appears an image or a memory, caught off guard or seen through a keyhole. They bear inscriptions that seem to point out the motives of their silent magnetism: 'The Whole Room', 'The Memory Lagoon', 'The Smoken Ridge'.
The locomotive roaring out of the primeval forest evoked by André Breton in Mad Love as a potential illustration of convulsive beauty, a spyglass cut- ting out the landscape and a microscope scrutinizing the infinitesimally small—these are frames broken down from the same scopic drive. You will inevitably think of 19th-century illusionist shows, as well as Marcel Duchamp and his famous cryptic work: Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage [Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas.]— appreciated through two holes in a wall—the ultimate peeping Tom of twentieth century art."
Louise Grislain
Born on April 8th, 1982 in Quimper, Alan Fertil grew up in Brittany and Tennessee, USA (1991–1993). He soon became interested in drawing, board sports, and urban culture. His passions began to blossom in 1997 in Nottingham, England, where the importance given to artistic teaching gave him confidence in his choices. He began his studies there at Clarendon College, followed by l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts in Paris from 2001, where he studied in Anne Rochette's studio. He obtained a scholarship to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SFMA) in Boston in 2005. Following his graduation in 2007, he moved to Berlin to pursue his artistic practice, working principally in drawing and sculpture.
Alan Fertil moved to Brussels in the end of 2009, and soon after met Damien Teixidor. Together they developed a collaborative practice around a common outlook on certain objects and cultural phenomena. Through analogical manipulations, they transposed underground narratives into communal, familiar ones. Fertil & Teixidor borrowed, appropriated, and diluted objects, aesthetics, and approaches adopted from DIY (do it yourself ), skate culture, urban landscape and public space.
Alan Fertil was also a co-founder and active member of the curatorial collective "The Ister", with Constance Barrère Dangleterre, Hugo Charle, Olivier Douard, Marie de Gaulejac, Vincent de Hoÿm, Bitsy Knox, Lila Pérès and Damien Teixidor. From 2010 Alan Fertil also worked as a freelance technician and translator for galleries, art centres, and artists. In 2014, he renewed his focus on his solo art practice. He passed away in Brussels on August 7th, 2015 after an accidental fall.
