Le Decoratif

Few aesthetic notions have been the subject of positions as negative as those inspired by the decorative. Supported by remnants of the notions of propriety and convenience inherited from the Classical Age, this concept derives its identity from the formation of architecturally inspired anti-decorative modernist utopias. Neither ornament nor décor, the decorative is a parasitic concept whose acknowledgement calls not so much for a configuration of things but heralds the emergence of a fantasy linked to the three social peripheries: illegitimate actors of culture, of sex (women) and of the exotic (the primitive). From Kant to Mendini, the decorative dilemma redoubles and weakens the certainties of the visible.Jacques Soulillou has developed an original theory of the decorative in his two works, Le Décoratif (Klincksieck, 2000) and Le livre de l'ornement et de la guerre (Parenthèses, 2003). He also authored L'Impunité de l'art (Seuil, 1998), which examines the bases of the issue of art's penal autonomy in the modern age. He has translated from German works by Gottfried Semper and Heiner Mühlmann and, from English, Joseph Masheck, the author of Paradigme du tapis [English title: The Carpet Paradigm: Integral Flatness from Decorative to Fine Art]. Currently, he is a cultural attaché in South Korea. His latest work, Esthétiques du déplacement has just been published by Sémiose éditions (2015).