Pierre Fouché

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RECENT WORKS:

Pierre Fouché
Viering (Celebration). 2023
Canvas Needlepoint in WW2 parachute cords (Rayon)
41,5 x 40,5 x 5 cm (larger panel) & 20 x 16 x 5 cm (small panel)

Viering, which means celebration in Afrikaans, is a needlepoint tapestry created on a canvas using parachute cords from World War II. The tapestry is made in an abstract expressionistic way on a scroll tapestry frame, allowing for a free-form and intuitive design. The rayon cord used in the tapestry gives it a silky sheen that highlights the subtle complexity of the geometric stitch patterns, creating movement and shadow. Despite the heaviness of the medium’s provenance, the dynamic sensory experience and fluidity of the complex and dense design celebrate life, beauty, and human ingenuity. The tapestry serves as a subtle reminder that our resourcefulness can be both beautiful and terrifying.

These two works feature similar iconography to the dice piece below: a solitary male figure in a landscape, but without the explicit biblical reference.  Instead, this "Adam" is based on a photograph taken by German photographer Timmi Taubenschreck with whom I'm embarking on a collaboration of a series of works based on his photographs, often featuring South African male nudes, often at a prominent Cape Town nude beach, Sandy Bay. Timmi and I share a love of this beach, and an aesthetic of homoeroticism.

I came of age in the late 90's and to some degree, my generation is the first to experience a (tenuous) acceptance of homosexuality in Western Metropoles. Despite this, I experienced first-hand what it feels like to feel utterly isolated and unrepresented with no role models. My oeuvre's stubborn focus on queer representation is a direct result of the desert of representation of my pre-internet youth. This "Adam" is merely the latest, yet he represents two decades of experience, skill, technical innovation for me, the lacemaker. The work represents a personal arc of history, but it also represents a couple more general historical arcs:

Bobbin lace probably evolved out of macramé, and both techniques represent thousands of years of textile evolution. The work, made of thousands of knots and stitches, represent the knowledge of all the knots and stitches that preceded it in the evolution of both techniques.

For the photographer, This image is one of hundreds of other, quite similar images. (Timmi is a prolific artist.)

For society, this is one of the thousands of similar "Adam"/"Apollo" images/symbols throughout history. The collective unconscious is activating this archetype at this particular moment, because we are sending young men off to war... 

PF2023

Pierre Fouché.
Voor die Val (Before the fall). 2022.
Acrylic die on laminated aluminium.
144 x 90cm

The piece is based on a colourful illustration of Adam, appropriated from a Spanish Bible App.

My angle about the work is that there is currently some speculation that a "way out" for humanity is a return to primitivism. The Bible story of Adam in the garden represents our prehistoric past in the collective unconscious, in my opinion (my evangelical mother in law disagrees vehemently, so this is not a generally held opinion). So I guess this work asks the viewer to consider the implications of what it means to be a part of nature, innocent. Our hominid predecessors weren't even human, so beyond the pretty colours there's always a can of worms. Every Utopia comes at a price.

The link to textiles is very visible here from a technical perspective, weaving, tapestry, mosaics. Again, all the things that have been with us for nearly forever.

And then the luck of the draw for existing in the first place. Dice in this piece represent the insane probability that our world and very existence might not have emerged at all around our star.

`PF 2022

Pierre Fouché.
The Procession. 2021.
Mercerised cotton.
120 x 60cm

The Procession (2021) is a figurative panel constructed with a novel bobbin lace technique that requires only one pair of bobbins, which I learned from Czech-American artist/lacemaker Dagmar Beckel-Machyckova. The technique opens possibilities for expressive and intuitive work that is hard to achieve with bobbin lace using hundreds of bobbins. The enigmatic source image, appropriated from a popular photo blogging platform, is the only instance of this image on the internet, and it is completely without references. As such, it casts a shadow on utopian views of our digitally connected cultures. Iconographically, the image of young men walking into the woods from a body of water from an angle reminiscent of urban surveillance cameras conjure narratives that pose more questions than can be answered by the image alone.  

PF 2021

Pierre Fouché.
Charlotte & I & a piece of Robot Binche. 2021.
Bobbin lace design, pen & ink on paper, linen bobbin lace made from this pattern (by Charlotte Keen)
38 x 27cm & 83 x 28cm

Pierre Fouché. Siren. 2018-19.
Bobbin lace in cotton as hand stitched insertion on even-weave embroidery fabric. Framed in Kiaat.
54 x 65cm (lace size 18 x 25.5cm).

Pierre Fouché. My Pragtige Pa. 2020.

Acrylic die on laminated aluminium. 185 x 1134,3 x 4cm. 

Pierre Fouché. Die Drie Gawes. 2019.

Acrylic die on laminated aluminium. 200 x 125cm. Private collection.

Pierre Fouché. Net Ons. 2019.

Acrylic die on laminated aluminium. 250 x 200cm. Private Collection.

Pierre Fouché. Simon & Pieter. 2018.

Acrylic die on laminated aluminium. 200 x 125cm. [Based on a photograph by Christoff van Wyk, with kind permission] Private collection.

Pierre Fouché. The Judgment of Paris (after Wtewael) III. 2018.

Bobbin lace and macramé in polyester braid, wood. 208 x 80cm. Private collection.

Pierre Fouché & Pierre Le Riche. Untitled (2018).

Cotton, Merino, Wood. Installation dimensions variable. Collection: Trenery

Ashraf Jamal, Werner Ungerer, Pierre Fouché. Europa... Europa. 2016.

Pen and ink on Munken Pure, cotton- and industrial sports socks thread on cotton.
74cm x 47cm.

[Text by Ashraf Jamal, calligraphy by Werner Ungerer, embroidery by Pierre Fouché.]

Hanlie's Sons (2016).

Bobbin lace in wool and acrylic twisted yarns. 64 x 112cm. Private collection.

Pierre Fouché. Brett posing for an imaginary portrait of Raymond Buys (2015).

Bobbin lace and macramé in polyester braid. 265 x 140cm. Private collection.

Pierre Fouché. Die Omhelsing (2013).

Bobbin lace in cotton on wood. 120 x 100mm. Collection: Benetton

Pierre Fouché. Portrait of Guy Nardy (2009-2012).

Bobbin lace in polyester floss. 570 x 400mm. Private Collection

Pierre Fouché. Fred and Denis. 2011.

Domestic sewing machine embroidered lace, tulle, chiffon & bull denim in six panels.

(Based on a photograph by Jérôme Le Goff, with kind permission). 1660 x 1380mm. Private Collection