Return to the Plane
1968

Shortly before the dissolution of GRAV, Yvaral returned to painting, reviving the research begun in 1959 and 1960. The construction of kinetic objects has its own limits, which can be summed up in a few variations on certain optical effects. The canvas is a much larger abstract space. Anything is possible.

Yvaral returns to a surface organization based on unitary elements. Colors are used in systematized series. His problem is to make the surface more complex by always using the same module: equilateral triangle, square, hexagon, rhombus. The simplicity of the starting element is essential, as Yvaral’s aim is to create organizational systems that can be used directly by industry. 

The invention of new structures is conditioned by several factors. Firstly, Yvaral seeks to solve the problem within a surface, i.e. he doesn’t propose a combinatorial structure that can be developed ad infinitum, but rather seeks to inscribe the grouping of forms in such a way as to be able to close the composition. Secondly, the proposal must not recall an already memorized configuration: snow crystals, floral forms… Finally, he doesn’t want to be trapped by complexity: the optical effect must always remain under the creator’s control.

Based on these principles, Yvaral develops his research, which encompasses several directions: experimental work, applications to architecture, and pedagogical extensions. In the manipulation of simple, verifiable, and combinable elements, Yvaral eliminates all inspiration. There is, admittedly, an initial intuition, but it is a research direction rather than the sudden illumination often claimed by classical painters. From this intuition arise a number of arbitrary decisions: dimensions, color series, and structure. Once these elements are determined, the work develops in a mathematical manner.

For Yvaral, the painting is the revelation of a visual phenomenon; it is a spectacle, a Chinese puzzle, a labyrinth, but never a state of mind. The work carries no message, but countless propositions.

Otto Hahn