Pascal Hachem

15 Oct-27 Nov 2010

Overview

Pascal Hachem's work involves displacing actions, not the actions of video, but those which are real, in the moment and are performed by the artist himself or the objects he constructs. These constructed objects, due to his engineering background, are highly mechanised and composed of seemingly complex processes, yet these movements can only be described as sublimely simple. This background also allows him to perceive things from a very particular angle. He picks details from daily life and alters their nature by reinterpreting their function, leaving the viewer feeling threatened and insecure - a hammer that mechanically destroys a wall, slowly but surely, with precise rhythmic movements; a t-shirt that is gradually ripped asunder by the weight of the progressive accumulation of sand. Although the objects employed are familiar, Pascal challenges that familiarity by transforming their purpose and so rendering them foreign, thus taking both object and viewer out of their comfort zone.