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The language of Art is the language of original man. It lies on the frontiers of our experience, where human thought differentiates itself from matter.
It took courage to set off on a journey outside time itself, a journey from which there was no guarantee of return.
Alone in a world of stone, enveloped in darkness, Io Illy has brought back a ray of light, the light that illuminated the origins of human thought, for our greater visual pleasure.
BOOK #1
When I was a child, Art was an integral part of my everyday life. Because of this, I have always had an emotive, imaginative, dreamlike approach to everything around me.
It was while I was gazing at the cliffs and caves that back the beaches of Finistère where my parents took me to play that I felt most deeply dazzled. The rocks, fashioned by the patience of the water, awoke in me all the imaginati on of childhood. The sculptures that I saw in front of me were created solely through the caress of the waves and the passage of time. I was fascinated by these walls of stone which turned my play area into a shelter and provided protection against everything.
They were quite simply superb!
I was fascinated by these walls of stone...
I sought to find out more about this mineral world and finally learned about cave paintings in my school books. For me, this form of painting could not have been more natural. It was perhaps due to a subtle osmosis between myself and this art form. It was already part of my sensitivity, anchored deep down in my being.
Over the years, I realised that it was possible to use form and colour to describe a range of emotional situations, long before learning to read and write. When, horrified, I discovered the often fairly morbid expression of contemporary art, filled with hatred and revenge, I felt as if I was in an emotional impasse, paralysed by human disdain, by the taste for outward display, by man's inclination for a superficial existence which lacked both depth and truth.
Was this all there was to Art?
I felt a need to retrace my steps, to return to the past and I began to move along the path that took me back through the history of mankind to the first cave paintings. I returned to the purest of artistic creativity, free of any neurotic or alienating language. Instinctively, the fascination that I had felt for caves during my childhood returned to the fore and all the places that I had known still existed, intact, because they were constantly, unceasingly regenerated by the Ocean.
However, I could go no further until I had extended my culture with a little knowledge. I began reading extensively but I learnt nothing from current knowledge in which I had hoped to find the key that would unlock the door to the mysteries of these paintings of days gone by. I was bitterly disappointed. All the doors remained firmly shut. The books seemed to be of outstanding quality yet I remained unconvinced by the authors' way of seeing things. If I had believed what the archaeologists had written, my painting would never have existed. The theories surrounding the genesis of cave art instilled a sense of doubt in me because, in my opinion, the archaeologists look at the problem from back to front.
They approach this form of painting from the standpoint of men and women of today and they eventually turn the cave painters into the representatives of their own existential doubts. There is no preparation enabling readers to apprehend the genesis of cave art. Scientific equipment, which is nevertheless necessary if this wonderful world is to be preserved, codified, studied and divulged, creates a barrier between our thought patterns and those of the painters who produced the works, i.e. between a modern observer and the creator living 30,000 years ago.
It is a form of vanity that encourages researchers to explain the approach of these ancient artists in a rigorously scientific manner, with a total disregard for the physical and emotional conditions of the day. I decided, out of artistic curiosity, to join the world as it had existed at that time. I had to awaken my senses because the countless technical, environmental or practical dimensions do not assist understanding as they are intended to do; on the contrary, they falsify progress.
Only artistic facts will be observed, without any emotional explanation. I therefore took up the way of life of our ancient ancestors, dressed only in animal skins. Freed of vestimentary constraints, there were times when I used nudity to reach the limits of my sensitivity. The world around is no longer perceived in the same way.
The world around is no longer perceived in the same way.
Cut off by the sea which angrily stood guard at the entrance to the cave, I felt really alone in a dark period long ago. It is at times like these that other potentially sensitive areas have to be aroused from previous oblivion. The sight of the sea as it continues to carve the rock, contact with the sand, the feel of rock or drops of water on my skin, the scent of the thousand and one fragrances of the mineral world and the taste of the surroundings were all proof of life in this timeless universe.
When I became aware of my existence in the darkness, I was ready to let my imagination discover the mineral world. It was, I believe, at this moment that the imagination of the cave artists allowed them to "decipher" the rocks. However, between my imagination and that of the artists of days gone by, there was a hugely important difference. Unlike me, they remained attached to what they knew of the outside world and it is more than likely that, eventually, their gratuitous artistry, undertaken for the pleasure of the senses and the mind, no longer fully satisfied them. At this point, they "f orgot" their creations and turned their attention to more useful occupations. However, what was valid for them was also valid for me.
When I became aware of my existence in the darkness, I was ready to let my imagination discover the mineral world.
The discovery, here and there, of recognisable forms which I outlined in charcoal, and the imaginary images of the next stages no longer satisfied me . I needed something more. In their works, the painters of old referred only to the relationship between themselves and the animal kingdom. The rock was no more than a support, a means of revelation. I decided to approach the mineral world as an entity in its own right and study this world by comparison with my own.
This was how I came to discover the immense potential in our contact. Every area of my body became receptive to its caresses. Every sound became a murmur of love. Every drop of water on my skin was a bead of desire. Our contacts were, and still are, a truly ecstatic form of love. They lead me to an intense chromatic orgasm which I reproduce on my canvases once I have returned to my studio.
The discovery, here and there, of recognisable form...
...They lead me to an intense chromatic orgasm
Yet I shall never forget the cave artists of long ago. In order to understand them, they obliged me to undergo a timeless catharsis, an osmosis with their period in man's history.
They helped me to create another style of painting which, in memory of them, I have called :
"Néo-Rupestre" ®
And finally, when the ocean sets me free, I leave the cave feeling regenerated, my body filled with light - not the light of the present but the glow of the past which carries with it the genesis of our beginnings.
Io ILLY
Artist
COPYRIGHT 1999 Io ILLY
Manifesto 1
"Néo-Rupestre" ®
COPYRIGHT 1999 Io ILLY
PREFACE
I was fascinated by these walls of stone...
The language of Art is the language of original man. It lies on the frontiers of our experience, where human thought differentiates itself from matter.
It took courage to set off on a journey outside time itself, a journey from which there was no guarantee of return.
Alone in a world of stone, enveloped in darkness, Io Illy has brought back a ray of light, the light that illuminated the origins of human thought, for our greater visual pleasure.
BOOK #1
When I was a child, Art was an integral part of my everyday life. Because of this, I have always had an emotive, imaginative, dreamlike approach to everything around me.
It was while I was gazing at the cliffs and caves that back the beaches of Finistère where my parents took me to play that I felt most deeply dazzled. The rocks, fashioned by the patience of the water, awoke in me all the imaginati on of childhood. The sculptures that I saw in front of me were created solely through the caress of the waves and the passage of time. I was fascinated by these walls of stone which turned my play area into a shelter and provided protection against everything.
They were quite simply superb!
The world around is no longer perceived in the same way...
I sought to find out more about this mineral world and finally learned about cave paintings in my school books. For me, this form of painting could not have been more natural. It was perhaps due to a subtle osmosis between myself and this art form. It was already part of my sensitivity, anchored deep down in my being.
Over the years, I realised that it was possible to use form and colour to describe a range of emotional situations, long before learning to read and write. When, horrified, I discovered the often fairly morbid expression of contemporary art, filled with hatred and revenge, I felt as if I was in an emotional impasse, paralysed by human disdain, by the taste for outward display, by man's inclination for a superficial existence which lacked both depth and truth.
Was this all there was to Art?
I felt a need to retrace my steps, to return to the past and I began to move along the path that took me back through the history of mankind to the first cave paintings. I returned to the purest of artistic creativity, free of any neurotic or alienating language. Instinctively, the fascination that I had felt for caves during my childhood returned to the fore and all the places that I had known still existed, intact, because they were constantly, unceasingly regenerated by the Ocean.
However, I could go no further until I had extended my culture with a little knowledge. I began reading extensively but I learnt nothing from current knowledge in which I had hoped to find the key that would unlock the door to the mysteries of these paintings of days gone by. I was bitterly disappointed. All the doors remained firmly shut. The books seemed to be of outstanding quality yet I remained unconvinced by the authors' way of seeing things. If I had believed what the archaeologists had written, my painting would never have existed. The theories surrounding the genesis of cave art instilled a sense of doubt in me because, in my opinion, the archaeologists look at the problem from back to front.
When I became aware of my existence in the darkness I was ready to let my immagination discover the minéral world..
It is a form of vanity that encourages researchers to explain the approach of these ancient artists in a rigorously scientific manner, with a total disregard for the physical and emotional conditions of the day. I decided, out of artistic curiosity, to join the world as it had existed at that time. I had to awaken my senses because the countless technical, environmental or practical dimensions do not assist understanding as they are intended to do; on the contrary, they falsify progress.
Only artistic facts will be observed, without any emotional explanation. I therefore took up the way of life of our ancient ancestors, dressed only in animal skins. Freed of vestimentary constraints, there were times when I used nudity to reach the limits of my sensitivity. The world around is no longer perceived in the same way.
The discovery here and there of recognisable forms...
Cut off by the sea which angrily stood guard at the entrance to the cave, I felt really alone in a dark period long ago. It is at times like these that other potentially sensitive areas have to be aroused from previous oblivion. The sight of the sea as it continues to carve the rock, contact with the sand, the feel of rock or drops of water on my skin, the scent of the thousand and one fragrances of the mineral world and the taste of the surroundings were all proof of life in this timeless universe.
When I became aware of my existence in the darkness, I was ready to let my imagination discover the mineral world. It was, I believe, at this moment that the imagination of the cave artists allowed them to "decipher" the rocks. However, between my imagination and that of the artists of days gone by, there was a hugely important difference. Unlike me, they remained attached to what they knew of the outside world and it is more than likely that, eventually, their gratuitous artistry, undertaken for the pleasure of the senses and the mind, no longer fully satisfied them. At this point, they "f orgot" their creations and turned their attention to more useful occupations. However, what was valid for them was also valid for me.
When I became aware of my existence in the darkness, I was ready to let my imagination discover the mineral world.
The discovery, here and there, of recognisable forms which I outlined in charcoal, and the imaginary images of the next stages no longer satisfied me . I needed something more. In their works, the painters of old referred only to the relationship between themselves and the animal kingdom. The rock was no more than a support, a means of revelation. I decided to approach the mineral world as an entity in its own right and study this world by comparison with my own.
This was how I came to discover the immense potential in our contact. Every area of my body became receptive to its caresses. Every sound became a murmur of love. Every drop of water on my skin was a bead of desire. Our contacts were, and still are, a truly ecstatic form of love. They lead me to an intense chromatic orgasm which I reproduce on my canvases once I have returned to my studio.
They lead me to an intens chromatic orgasm...
...They lead me to an intense chromatic orgasm
Yet I shall never forget the cave artists of long ago. In order to understand them, they obliged me to undergo a timeless catharsis, an osmosis with their period in man's history.
They helped me to create another style of painting which, in memory of them, I have called :
"Néo-Rupestre" ®
And finally, when the ocean sets me free, I leave the cave feeling regenerated, my body filled with light - not the light of the present but the glow of the past which carries with it the genesis of our beginnings.
Io ILLY
Artist
COPYRIGHT 1999 Io ILLY
