Autogenesis 17

THE CURSED ARTIST THROUGH DENIAL OF THE OTHER

The child who became an adult finally adopted himself.

He already knew his suffering without being able to express it. His silence contained my rupture, my anger and my work yet to come. For seventy-eight years, I gave a form of revolt to what remained mute. Through my art—Gommism, my Facettism, my Bégrité, my Surévism—but also through my jewellery in precious metals, my legends, my poetry, my novels and my humanist approach, I struggled against exclusion. Today, the portrait of me at seven, painted by my grandfather, is placed between two self-portraits on the home page of my site: https://mathius-toerau-art.alainmathius.chatgpt.site. The image comes to life: the child speaks. My static film lives fully: nothing moves, but your gaze sets the story in motion. Yes! The child knew, but he never knew how to say it. So, before his silence disappears with me, the child finally speaks to transmit the essence of my work.

I have always been free, and I did not know it. Today, it makes me laugh.

A human being who transmits nothing has lived in their animality.

Mathius TO’ERAU, the Suréviste