I still have the feeling that over the course of all these years, we’ve produced some genuinely innovative work. And we all know the importance of an innovative approach to artistic practice. All we need to do is look at art history.

I think we can add a few words here about the technique of screenprinting.

While it’s relatively recent and was poorly perceived for a long time, it has evolved considerably over the past sev-eral years. It can be used to print on almost any kind of material and with a great variety of inks.

The artistic adventure that Pierre and I have shared thanks to screenprinting is testimony to its modernity.

“Reuse”, “the art of almost nothing”, “the bottom of the drawer”, are a first series of keys for understanding Pierre Buraglio’s work. But they’re insufficient. We must also mention the relationships that Pierre maintains with other artists: painters (“Dessin d’après…”, “Avec…”), poets, writ-ers and musicians–with a preference for jazz. Works of art by others constitute a second series of keys which are just as essential.

Pierre has always had an interest in mul-tiples: lithography, books, and now digi-tal prints, or in my case, screenprinting.

We quickly realized that screenprinting, given its versatility in terms of print-ing surfaces and inks, would become for both artists and printer-publishers such as myself, a unique territory for experimentation.

Our first editions were printed on paper or cardboard, but Pierre quickly grasped the adaptability of the process and pro-posed projects which, looking back, I still find to be highly innovative.

Beginning in 1994, we printed editions on recuperated materials. In 1996, En TGV was printed on galvanized steel. En 2 CV, a particularly successful proj-ect, was published in 1997, and it should be mentioned that only one color was necessary, given how well the expressive quality of the image was adapted to the printing surface.

We also made monotypes – Avec Boudin…, Avec Delacroix… – , as well as one-of-a-kind works from screenprinted elements such as Avec Courbet…, and most recently Avec Georges Michel…

Far from simply reproducing images, Pierre has found a true means of origi-nal expression through the screenprint-ing process. I had the privilege of being both witness and participant.

Éric Seydoux

Éric Seydoux’s speech for Pierre Buraglio’s exhibition Au reste… at the Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie de Valence (Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology of Valence), October 2005 – January 2006.