LAURENT DESSUPOIU
Writing is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, enabling our languages, learning and communication to be recorded for future generations and shared across cultures. Handwriting reveals not only our unique personality, but perhaps also our age, where we’re from, even the onset of some illnesses. In an increasingly digital age, while the handwritten word is used less often, it is becoming the subject matter for leading contemporary artists.
Laurent Dessupoiu lives and works in the south of France. I first came across his work in the public library of Aix-en-Provence. An inspiring quotation, philosophical reflection, a call to protest, an affirmation of humanity, a line from a song is repeated over and over again in layers of vibrant colour. The ‘auld alliance’ between France and Scotland is revived in this exhibition, Dessupoiu’s first in the UK. He has exhibited widely in the south of France, of course – Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Nîmes, Aubagne, Valbonne, Sophia-Antipolis, Cannes – as well as in Paris, Geneva, New York, Beijing, Brussels, Monaco. The exhibition was timed to run throughout StAnza 2018, St Andrews’ annual festival of poetry. Beth Junor, Gallery Director
