Eight custom-made wedding bands, in matte and polished silver
LOVE and HATE, a set of eight letters, each mounted on a silver ring. Christophe Pichon’s work draws heavily on the history of cinema. The wedding bands here are a direct reference to the tattoos worn by the pastor character played by Robert Mitchum in the film *The Night of the Hunter*. For the exhibition Echos – Graphies, Love and Hate Rings was presented as a performance. The artist wore the eight wedding bands on the evening of the exhibition’s opening and during all his visits to La Criée.
Beyond the reference, by wearing the LOVE and HATE wedding bands, Christophe Pichon raises the question of borrowing and imprinting. He draws upon a universally recognizable symbol—the image of two tattooed hands that belongs to the collective imagination—without assuming that everyone is necessarily familiar with the film’s story. Bearing another person’s mark also means reproducing and reenacting the film, and testing a possible identification with the character of the greedy fake pastor, playing on the ambivalence of both the character and the words. The meaning of the gesture is put to the test by the word: the right hand signifying love, while the left hand signifies hate. Shaking someone’s hand or holding an object takes on a particular symbolic meaning. This meaning is then nullified when Christophe Pichon crosses his hands, one over the other, in the photograph Love and Hate Rings, 2001.
Alexandra Gillet
Production : La Criée centre d'art contemporain, Rennes
