LIQUIDATION

Veiling a risen Christ, scratching out and scribbling on reproductions of masterpieces in a concentrated silence, the man is engrossed in a task that is as destructive as it is creative. The camera follows each of his gestures, which transfigure and disfigure faces and bodies from the history of art. Is this outsider art or a post-modern approach? The relentless and repeated artistic attack remains a mystery. As does the “liquidation” of the title, which suggests the elimination of the scratched-out figures, but which may also allude to paint as a liquid substance, as conveyed by the almost abstract shots of multiple pink brush-strokes. Two fades-to-black later, this strange activity strikes up a dialogue with more familiar shots – the endless flow of tourists in one of the Louvre’s galleries, who partly block the camera’s view of the masterpieces. The time-strapped visitors unwittingly obscure the view of the paintings – an interference intensified by the surrounding hubbub. “Yet, doesn’t this double disappearance give rise to something else? Something that cannot be obliterated, perhaps? Herein lies the secret optimism of this film.” (Charlotte Garson)