PAINT'TUBE
The Paint’Tube came into life in 2006 after a long process of research, field experience, and creation. This innovative concept offers a real original support: a transparent tube composed of a plate measuring about 6ft h X 9,5ft w (3,2ft diameter when rolled). The participants, who are often confused and uncertain about their artistic abilities, must then interact directly on this particular and specific support. Outside the Tube, guests take part in creating a mural by sticking adhesives, cutting concrete or abstract forms: all participants are free to imagine what they want.
They express themselves and invent freely in a climate of confidence, allowing them to create an essential backdrop for the artist. Actually, aNa inside the cylinder interprets the forms simultaneously, and then follows the principle of pareidolia*. She lets the drawings come to her and paints them with her brush dipped in black ink.
“At the center of the artwork, I try to immerse myself in each drawing, to magnify it, to transcribe it, to emphasize it, to transform it, to marry it to its neighbor. I remain attentive to the world outside my bubble, and I laugh, I create, I feed on everything I can see or hear, and the maieutics is no longer a pain but becomes a shared pleasure with my painters.”
This unique performance is only understandable at the very last stage of production during the opening of the Tube. Once deployed, the final piece must be observed on the other side as the black lines must appear in the foreground. At this point, the participants are stunned and amazed by the final result: the association of their work and the one of aNa.
This artistic performance is part of a real approach of Contemporary Art. It stands out from the traditional art productions by the instantaneousness of the creation which gives a true authenticity and veracity to the painting. The experience is tenfold since it directly takes place under the eyes of the participants involved in the process. This again illustrates aNa’s desire to rethink Art as an accessible field even if the public has no knowledge of the conventional Art codes.
“Contemporary art is not just about that [codes]. To include people in the creation of an artwork, to put their hands in the paint, to make them cut adhesives, to let them express themselves by different means [...], it allows them to have a different apprehension of the work and that’s what interests me.”
It is very important to highlight the sharing aspect of the experience. During this burst of artistic creation the guests share the material, but also their ideas and space regardless of their age, culture, social level or position. Being able to integrate any type of audience into the conception is one of aNa’s main motivations. She wants to offer a timeless moment thanks to a unifying concept that invites people to participate and meet without being strained or judged. Each time aNa creates an artwork in which everyone has an active place, and where the roles of the artist as author and the public as audience can be rewritten.
Knowing that aNa wants to bring art where is it very unexpected, aNa’s mobile Tube is the perfect tool to achieve this challenge. Its design, and especially its transparency allow it to adapt itself to different decorations. The immaterial aspect of the plastic support creates a real collaboration between the outside and the inside. It also built a synergy around the Tube between the participants who keep the visual link, communicate, help each other, and assemble together.
These features allow aNa to move and bring out her transparent totem in eclectic locations. She sometimes installs it in the middle of a street, on an industrial site, in a shopping mall, a prison, co-working spaces or even in health facilities. Passersby, customers, patients or employees, surprised at first sight by this incongruous object, are, afterwards, seduced by the participative concept and get caught up in the game. They cannot imagine what will be the final result, nevertheless they are already subjugated by the originality of this collaborative painting.
When aNa opens the mural the surprise effect is always successful. They do not expect a harmonious outcome, and are particularly surprised, especially given the little esteem they had for their work at the beginning. The participants are proud, and amazed by the artistic achievement of aNa, which has been able to exploit the surface to the maximum in order to offer them a little piece of her own world.
This concept is in perpetual evolution, since different technical transformations have emerged in recent years thanks to the multiple observations of the artist and her team. This trajectory thus allowed the dimensions to be progressively changed to be easily exported abroad so the concept can be done worldwide.