Bernard Aubertin (1934-2015) - Incombusti

Bernard Aubertin (1934-2015)

"Incombusti"

Archived work
hand-signed by the artist.
Dimensions including the frame: 27 x 27 cm.
Year: 2011.
In good condition.
The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Shipped with express courier, with professional packaging.

Description:
This work is part of an exceptionally rare series in Bernard Aubertin's catalog, in which the artist overturns his iconic language based on combustion.
In "Incombusti", the matches are left intact and arranged with geometric precision on a white background, as if suspended in the instant preceding ignition.

The choice not to burn the material introduces a poetic and conceptual reflection: the potential of energy takes the place of its manifestation. The work thus becomes an act of waiting, a balance between tension and immobility, where the flame is evoked but never lit.

Historical context

Created in 2011, this series represents a radical departure from Aubertin's classic works of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the *Dessins de feu* or the *Tableaux de clous*.
The renunciation of incendiary gesture transforms fire into an idea – no longer in action – and marks a phase of meta-artistic reflection on his own poetics.

Interpretation

The work can be read as a metaphor of restrained power: fire, a symbol of transformation and destruction, is here crystallized in its state of possibility.
Aubertin, master of monochrome and combustion, demonstrates that even the absence of fire can constitute a creative act.