Stains of color on the floor have always existed in the studio. I do not know how, suddenly, one day, I saw them, not as“picturesque” mess but as painting; a painting on the floor; extensions of the painting beyond its edges. I photographedthese paint stains like other phenomena peripheral to the painting. Photographic practice in the studio generateddocuments that incarnated a way of looking at the painting being made. Today, I think that this photographicactivity greatly contributed to an emerging awareness of my work in painting and what it became thereafter.Recording artworks in photographs is part of what we could call the production of documents for archives.These images are destined to preserve a memory, create files or illustrate websites or publications.I have observed among other painters of my generation that the change to digital not only developed postproductionwork directly linked to recording artworks – most often done by the artist him/herself – but alsofacilitated a parallel photographic activity that certain artists see as similar to note taking or sketching.Photographing one’s own work involves showing both the artwork and the way we look at it. But most often,these images are documents. The archival image becomes artwork in an operation by which, according to OlivierCorpet, the archive prevents the artwork closing in on itself, from degrading itself, or even becoming lost:the archive can thus save it and put it back in motion
