Stéphane Ducret is a Swiss visual artist (painter) who explores the condition of the artist by appropriating appropriation. His work brings together three interconnected and inextricable entities that define any artwork: the concept of the work, the technique used to create it and the artwork itself.

While questioning the relationship between reality and imagination, between knowledge and recognition, Ducret explores the role and status of the artist as well as his relationship to the art market. By embodying the audience, the collector and the art maker at the same time, he sets up a kind of multi-sided imaginary dialogue in which he takes up and develops the discourse of the artists he quotes. The selection of these ‘subjects’ corresponds to a perfectly assumed strategic reflection in which meanings and questions intertwine and confront each other both in content and in formal research.

REAL ESTATE (2017 - 2021)

Contemporary masterpieces are combined in imaginary settings in which Ducret creates new narratives, disconnected from their original context. While questioning the relationship between reality and imagination, between knowledge and recognition, Ducret explores the condition of the artist as well as his relationship to the authenticity of this work. By embodying the audience, the collector and the art maker at the same time, he sets up a kind of multi-sided imaginary dialogue in which he takes up and develops the discourse of the artists he quotes. The selection of these ‘subjects’ corresponds to a perfectly assumed strategic reflection in which meanings and questions intertwine and confront each other both in content and in formal research.

The Real Estate series is composed of 11 paintings on canvas, all measuring 208 x 188 cm (81 ⅞ x 74 in.) and of around 40 drawings. The titles quote the names of the authors of the 'borrowed' works, along with the hashtag symbol, as if they were notifications on social networks. As for the title of the series, it refers to real estate but also to the ‘Estate of the Artist’, a term universally used by the art world to designate the heritage of the artist.