François Morellet

Relâche N° 5, 1992

In the Relâche-series, dedicated to Francis Picabia, François Morellet addresses the conventional canvas, breaking it down into a multitude of parts and defining it anew in deconstructive terms. The inflexible rectangular picture is taken apart and its boundaries loosened in a variety of directions by different layers of frame. The focus of the picture and at the same time its empty heart is a square turned on its side. The angle of inclination, but also the positioning and color of the eight right angles are identified by random numbers taken from page 313 of the Maine et Loire telephone directory. This gives rise to an open convergence of system and coincidence, here playfully interwoven.