The wise ones know white: A reflection on the work of Dominique Chapuis by Eugen Gomringer

Without doubt, the sages know it. But they are not the only ones. From the moment when concrete poetry became closely associated with concrete art, the knowledge of the sages has been concrete poetry’s first and authentic message. Concrete poetry’s message has certainly been influenced by a major phase in art, monochrome white. The most well-known monochrome artists were colleagues at the Art Academy of Düsseldorf, and, before them, Heinz Mack and Otto Piene wrote their manifesto in the 1950s.

Nevertheless, works in white are not a fashion. White is always present: It contains all colors. Moreover, anything white must be seen in relation to the white that surrounds it, in calm and even anticipation. A white surface is therefore never white in the absolute. The knowledge of a sage is therefore never dull or lacking spirit. This is why monochrome art repeats structures and intonations. Faced with a white surface, the imagination can run wild.

This describes exactly what is going on in the works of Dominique Chapuis, whose shows are known for white surfaces that force observation. Her white canvases are perfect because she builds them with very smooth white paper. Underlying white layers hint at the characteristic construction of her structures, and are noticed by the eye and hand that lightly brushes them. Horizontal strips, generally of irregular and narrow width, are placed in a certain order. These strips stretch across the canvases and even extend beyond their edges. Measuring the width of the strips and the spaces that separate them is worthwhile. Taken together these measurements comprise a parameter of the whole. Let’s take one work as an example: six groups of strips are placed horizontally across a vertical surface measuring 80 x 80 cm. First we notice that each group forms one unit and that the strips are stretched one on top of the other in the same way in all but one of the six. In three groups, the bottom strip is the widest, measuring 45 mm, a 20 mm strip lays on top of it, and then a 10 mm strip on top of that to complete the surface. The other groups have an additional strip of 35 mm. Each succeeding strip sits a little off center, rather than exactly centered on each underlying strip—with the exception of one of the last 10 mm strips, which is centered on the strip beneath it—such that each group has the effect of completely changing the canvas. The spaces between the groups of strips open other possibilities, with vertical margins ranging from 125 to 65 mm or from 45 to 20 mm. And all of this in a strictly white piece! The esthetic order offers the naked eye infinite possibilities.

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions

Selected Public and Private Collections

• Mondriaanhuis – Museum voor Construktieve en Konkrete Kunst, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
• Sammlung Grauwinkel, Berlin
• Collezione Private A&M, Bologna
• Marienhospital, Darmstadt
• Forum für Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt
• Ernst & Young, Wirtschaftsprüfgesellschaft, Eschborn
• Städtische Kunstsammlungen für Geschichte und Kultur, Görlitz
• Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi
• Museum Modern Art, Hünfeld
• Museum Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt
• Mazoweckie Centrum Sztuki, Radom, Poland
• Sammlung Gomringer, Institut für konkrete Kunst, Rehau
• Museum Pachen, Rockenhausen
• Sammlung Dr. Bozéna Kowálska Nationalmuseum, Warsaw