BERNARD PRAS
The human being behind the master of anamorphosis
Author of masterpieces made from recycled objects.
Text ADRIANA KORTLANDT
Dez 2018
English version Bruna Auyagui
About my meeting with Bernard Pras -
Paris, 18th november 2018.
Paris, in a Sunday morning, 10:30: I’m standing there, in front of the number XX of a postcard street in the district of Montreuil. The simple fact of being in that neighborhood already stirs my emotions, because it was there where the firsts cinematographic workshops were built by the Lumière brothers, as well as the first movie studio of the world, the Star Film, creation of the pioneer filmmaker, Georges Méliès. These 'happenings' of the threshold of the industrial age still invites me to imagine how artistic life flourished in the city of lights, and from there to the world.
Now I’m the who’s here, this time to photograph another artist who allowed himself to be welcomed by this charming neighborhood: Bernard Pras. I stop in front of his house, take a deep breath and ring the doorbell. Whenever I rang doorbells I get a little nervous if nothing happens. The doubt: I repeat the attempt, risking being inelegant; I wait for hours, but without losing my composure; I try to spy if someone comes running, drying the hair, anyway ... I feel insecure. None of that was necessary, because just above the doorbell was written "insist on ring." I insisted.
Before entering in the universe of Bernard Pras, it’s worth remembering the word Montreuil originates from "small monastery". I’m telling this not just because of the house’s door, but because of what comes after. The door is very old, heavy, wooden unpainted, and it catapulted my imagination into the old, middle-aged movies I liked to watch as a girl, with pretty doors, opening up to mysteries and adventures.
I ring and wait a little, traveling in the old movies, in the history of the neighborhood ... and the door opens. Bernard Pras himself wishing me welcome. There I stand before the great master of anamorphosis, the art of reversing form.
The warm welcome from his wife and collaborator, Anna Kache, makes me feel at home in two minutes.
The entrance gives direct access to the atelier, and I get caught glancing, trying to see his geniuses, while he invites me to come in, asking if I got bottled, these things. I follow his steps towards the center of the play. The satisfaction of being there, in the studio of a world-renowned artist like him, doesn’t prevent my nervousness from making my heart jump through my mouth, in a way I can listen to the beat of the heels and the heartbeat while my mind tries to get calm so that the work can gets done right. If monasteries are blessed places, then I’m in one.
At one point, I share my thoughts with Bernard: that place, everything that was there, it was part of what I call the "photography's sacred" – those things which we have the impression that we should only admire with eyes , tasting with the soul, but which are not meant to be photographed at the risk of desecration.
He smiles and reassures me, saying that I can photograph whatever I want.
Bernard Pras and the recycling
The ecological impact on his work and the pedagogical influence
As expected, his studio is filled with recovery material. I observe a predominance of toys. Later, he explains that his style was defined when he won a large box of used toys from a friend. He also says that he grew up in the interior, in a place where everything was reused, an experience that impressed on the artist the principle through which he materializes his creations. In his hands nothing is lost, everything is transformed: The ordinary gains colors, volume, forms. Through him the past revives, the objects reincarnate in a new life, new cycle, tell a new story. Bernard gives light to the extraordinary. He doesn’t skimp on details, contours or gradients. Everything is underlined by the invisible poetry emanating from the artist, who recreates extra prospects with what he recycles.
"Folie Bergère" - 2017
His way of construction proposes a visual system which produces in the spectator an optical mixture, releasing it from its old function and directs it to the unusual of a new composition. The result is a process of contemplation, a timeless mystical moment in the midst of the 21st century.
Soon I realize the weight of being there, the responsibility of doing a photo-report of a personality like Bernard Pras, already so well portrayed in books and specialized magazines.
What can I show about this artist that hasn’t been presented before? I ask myself, already responding myself in a snap: The human being behind the artist. That’s it. My proposal here is to make a completely organic article, without bombarding him with pre-made questions nor leading him to an unnatural photo shoot.
I explain all this to Bernard, who smiles at me with his eyes.
With my Canon Mark III in fist, I begin to photograph him. No. I don’t shoot like a machine gun in hope of catching good pictures. I’m in a sacred place, the very act of clicking my camera is different than if I were photographing, I don’t know what, outside of that space. I look at the human being who looks at me telling the stories that motivated his creations, and I position myself to take photos, guided by the sensation that that dialogue gives me.
"Wait for me" por Anna Kache
In his room, a loft well illuminated by skylights, several objects call my attention, among them his first creation, the sculpture "The Gardener" of 1996 and in another corner, sheltered in a glass showcase, I contemplate the installation "Love” from 2016.
"Love" - 2016
He offers me coffee while discussing the shopping list with Delphine: Sunday is fair day. Everything has to be organic, "biô", as the French say.
I still photograph as if I’m stepping on eggs. I want to step on eggs while I photograph. This gives me the idea of fragility, and this idea helps me to move in that diaphanous and concrete space at the same time: concrete, because the works are there. Recompositions, recycling. Diafan, because the resignifications tell me all the time, how one thing can be another, another, another, a kaleidoscope if spinning all the time.
Bernard continues his count. His naturalness, simplicity and spontaneity contradict the complexity of his compositions, his particular taste in reproducing great works like the portraits of Dali, Einstein, Louis XIV, Gauguin, Descartes or the magnificent Venus of Botticelli, among others.
Time seems to fly and I prepare to say goodbye to the couple, when Bernard surprises me with the invitation for Sunday lunch along with his family. And it’s with a glass of rosé champagne in hand, whose label shows the illustration of one of his works - "Cat Woman" 2005, that I discover another talent of the artist – the chef.
Bernard Pras, Anna Karche, Christiane Pras, Gerard Pras and his wife Laura Michelino.
Table book "Bernard Pras" compilation - Edit SOMOGY EDITIONS D'ART - 2017. My ver precious gift.
The moments spent with the family gave me the sense of timelessness that true encounters usually give. I still feel this taste in my mouth, that’s why I’m writing this text in the present, because that day is present in my memory, which rewinds and rewinds it, making it happen in parallel in my actuality. It inspires me to continue photographing.
Two words to define this artist - Talent and generosity.