SI LE VENT DU NORD ouvrait la porte
ALAIN FREIXE - ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST
In IF THE NORTH WIND WERE TO OPEN THE DOOR , Alain Freixe and Ernest Pignon-Ernest have created a moving artist's book dedicated to Samia Yusuf Omar , the Somali athlete who disappeared in the Mediterranean. The poem, sensitive and fragmented, evokes a shattered spirit and a quest for freedom. Ernest Pignon-Ernest extends this voice with luminous intensity. He chooses pastel, a medium he rarely uses, and from it creates a series of drawings of tragic gentleness. To respond to the vivid memory of the walls on which Ernest Pignon-Ernest affixes his images, a rough surface—reminiscent of city stone—is applied by Bernard Alligand , a virtuoso of materials.
“...Yesterday, when you wanted to run! To run without counting the clear notes of each stride, the fire in your throat, the swelling of your chest and heart. And for your body to follow you! / To run then was to leave. To risk the blisters of summer evenings, to open yourself to the unknown of travel, to risk the stranger, to go towards the child, that dweller of the impossible, whose legs had raised the dust of the trails with all their innocence... ” Excerpt from the poem by Alain Freixe
THE PLASTIC APPROACH
The book includes 6 blue pastel drawings by the artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest, reproduced in very high-quality pigment printing on Awagami Japanese paper by Jean-Yves Noblet, a specialist in contemporary printmaking techniques, in order to faithfully reproduce the density of the pastel, the fineness of the grain and the nuances of the line.
Each drawing is then mounted on sand by the visual artist Bernard Alligand onto 270 g Moulin du Gué rag paper, which forms the book's primary support. This sand mounting process is used to recreate the rough, mineral, and tactile texture of the walls on which Ernest Pignon-Ernest typically intervenes in urban spaces. This technique gives the drawings a three-dimensional presence, a materiality akin to that of his site-specific works, while also introducing a unique visual and tactile dimension within the realm of the artist's book.
Several of the mounted drawings are partially shaped by tearing, using a controlled technique. This treatment lends the works a subtle variation, evoking notions of fragility, alteration, and memory, consistent with the book's theme. The result is a visually vibrant effect and a richness of texture.
Thanks to the combination of these techniques (original pastel, pigment printing on Japanese paper, sand mounting, shaping by tearing), each copy of the edition becomes unique, while remaining faithful to the overall composition. The whole forms a bibliophilic work where the drawing is part of a comprehensive artistic intervention, at the crossroads of printmaking, wall art, and the book.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Format: closed leporello 20 x 29.7 cm - unfolded 12 panels + cover
The text, set in Baskerville type and printed on Moulin du Gué white 270 ga, was completed from printing on the letterpresses of the Montquartiers art workshop in Issy-les-Moulineaux in Spring 2025.
Presentation of the work: ocean blue cloth-covered box made by the Reliure du Centre workshop in Limoges.
Print run: the original edition consists of 50 copies + 1 HC as follows:
- So-called "chapel" copies
For the original edition of SI LE VENT DU NORD…, the artists, author, and publisher wished to give special significance to the term "chapel copy." This designation, borrowed from typographic tradition, refers here to a series of exceptional copies—the first 10 copies of the edition. Each of these "chapel copies" is signed by the author and the artist in the colophon and includes an original drawing signed by the artist. Due to their rarity, these copies represent the pinnacle of the edition.
- Next come the so-called "deluxe" copies, numbered from 11 to 20, which are signed by the author and the artist in the colophon. They are accompanied by a pigment print of a drawing by the artist, signed and numbered from 1 to 10. These copies are at the beginning of the regular series.
- The regular copies, numbered from 21 to 50, are signed by the author and the artist in the colophon.
- One copy not for sale (HC) is reserved for the presentation of the edition.
2026 RETAIL PRICE (VAT included)
Available in specialist bookstores and from FMA Art Editions
L’exemplaire courant : 1 500 €
Numéros 21 à 50 - colophon signé par l'auteur et l'artiste
L’exemplaire « de tête » : 2 500 €
Numéros 11 à 20 - colophon signé par l’auteur et l’artiste - Livre d'artiste accompagné d’une impression pigmentaire signée de l'artiste
L’exemplaire dit « de chapelle » : 3 500 € (épuisé)
Numéros 1 à 10 - colophon signé par l’auteur et l’artiste - Livre d'artiste accompagné d’un dessin original signé de l'artiste