Jean Daviot (born February 20, 1962) is a French contemporary artist born in

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Cô ...

. He went to the art school at the

Villa Arson The Villa Arson, also referred to as the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts à la Villa Arson (National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson), is a French art museum, elite school and research institution for contemporary art, located in Nice ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and lives and works in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Work

Jean Daviot distinguishes himself by the exploitation of various ways of intervention: video, photography, painting, but also actions in the landscape or sonorous works. In 1984, he created a fictional character: the artist Walter Pinkrops. From 1994, he realised "Ombrographies" by taking imprints of faces and hands in photocopy and transferring these traces onto white canvas. Since 1999, he has drawn the outline of people coming to his workshop: "The visitors of the self". In these paintings, the body and its shadow join in the same shape: "The shape of the body is the body of the shape". In "Silences", he questions the language of the hands: a universal language of symbols. In "Srevne", presented at "La force de l'art" in 2006 in the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

, he made his voice heard at the place, inside out and upside down backwards. He sculpts the language as an object, which then becomes an off-voice reflection of the palimpsest. "L'écart des mots" are photographs where he inserts words in landscapes, skies, cities, playing on their signifieds and signifiers. With "Vherbe" he really makes words grow in the landscape, words in letters of grass which can measure several hundred meters: "MEmoiRE" near the prehistoric cave of Pech Merle, "ImaGinE" at the Genshagen Foundation in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, or "Lieu et lien" in front of the Palais du Pharo in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Since 1995, Jean Daviot gas created digital paintings, "Ecritures de lumières", where he uses a video camera as a brush. The procedure is simple, in appearance: the camera slows down, he heads it towards planets emitting or reflecting light, the Sun, Venus, Jupiter, the Toon, or towards cities at night and lets, by the movement of his hand, the light deposit itself on the support. It is the very light which deposits itself in bursts of colour, streams of oscillations and of flow on the screen, the canvas, the wall. A work that Marc-Alain Ouaknin calls "The sky at his fingertips",Marc-Alain Ouaknin, Jean Daviot Le ciel au bout des doigts,

Paris Musées Paris Musées is a public institution that has incorporated in the same entity the 14 City of Paris Museums plus staff in charge of management, collection monitoring and production of exhibitions, events and editions, bringing together about 1000 e ...

/ Actes Sud, 2004 the title of a book he wrote on the artist. In his "Bocca del mondo", Daviot makes huge jars speak and discuss; by night they transform into planets. In a work in 2013, "en visage le paysage", points of view on places appear through the contour of his face made of stone or metal. In 2016, Daviot continued his "Wordscapes" around the language and writes words in landscapes in a new form of

Land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

Recent exhibitions (selection)

;2006 * La Force de l'art,

* Distorsions, Institut d'art contemporain,

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; frp, Velorbana) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after tha ...

* L'Homme-Paysage, Palais des beaux-arts de Lille ;2007 * Transformationen, Entgrenzungen, Körperräume Villa Oppenheim,

* L'Homme-Paysage,

Château d'Oiron The Château d'Oiron is located in Oiron, in the Deux-Sèvres ''département'' of western France. It has its origins in the 15th century war with the English for control of France when a victorious Charles VII of France gave the domain and great ...

* MEmoiRE, Nuit Blanche, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, Paris * Propos d'Europe 0.6, Hippocrène Foundation, Agence Mallet-Stevens, Paris * Écriture de lumières, Vidéo K.01, Centre d'art contemporain Le Parvis, Pau * Bocca del mondo, La loggia Montefiridolfi,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

;2008 * Journées mondiale de la philosophie,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, Insistance, Paris * Paris/Budapest, château de Fehérvárcsurgó,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

* Boomerang, Maison des arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc / Maison Daura,

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie Saint-Cirq-Lapopie (; oc, Sent Circ de la Pòpia) is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. It is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The most beautiful villages in France) association. Its position on a steep ...

/ Centre de Préhistoire de Pech Merle * ...Einen augen-blick, bitte Kunstverein-Bad-Salzdetfurth e.V., Bodenburg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

* Mujeres Museo Shcp-Hacienda,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

;2009 * Materialität der Sprache, KunstbüroBerlin,

* Dreamtime,

les Abattoirs Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse, combines a museum of modern and contemporary art (''Musée'') and a regional collection of contemporary art (''Frac''). It is located in the French Occitanie region, in the city of Toulouse. L ...

, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain,

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

* Ecriture de lune dans la grotte du Mas-d'Azil, Ariège * ImaGinE, Domaine de Saint-Jean de Beauregard,

Essonne Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

* Vie si on, Centre d'art contemporain, Saint-Restitut ;2011 * Lieu/Lien,

Palais du Pharo The Palais du Pharo is a palace in Marseille, France. It was built in 1858 by Emperor Napoleon III for Empress Eugénie An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or anot ...

* Bocca del mondo, festival a part, Château royal,

Tarascon Tarascon (; ), sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Tarasc ...

;2012 * The Hidden Mother, atelier Rouart/

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...

, Paris * La plasticité du langage, Hippocrène Foundation, Agence Mallet-Stevens, Paris * Ecriture de lumières, Mathieu Muséum, Gargas * Mot d'elle/ Modèle, Parc de Maison-Blanche, Marseille ;2013 * Avenir, Genshagen Foundation, Berlin * ''Galaxie de Lalangue'', Ile de Porquerolles * L'art au défi de l'espérance, Mairie de Paris ;2014 * ''Lux'', Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing * ''l'île envisagée'', Pierre Salinger Foundation, Le Thor ;2017 *Svet lo, Kutscherfeld Palace, French Institute of Slovakia,

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

Monographs

* Evelyne Toussaint, Jean Daviot, Nowmuseum, 2016 * Marc-Alain Ouaknin, Le ciel au bout des doigts,

/ Actes Sud, 2004 *

Philippe Lançon Philippe Lançon () is a journalist working for the French satirical weekly newspaper '' Charlie Hebdo'', who was wounded in the terrorist attack perpetrated against that publication on 7 January 2015. Work Lançon works primarily for other Fren ...

, Jean Daviot, Victoire Éditions, Paris, 1998 * Nathalie Ergino, Hall, Paris, 1996

References

External links

Official website of Jean Daviot
* http://www.documentsdartistes.org/artistes/daviot {{DEFAULTSORT:Daviot, Jean 1962 births Living people People from Digne-les-Bains French contemporary artists