Olivier Kosta-Thefaine acts as a filter. He observes, collects, then transforms, sometimes ever so slightly…

Bits of asphalt, found here and there in the city, suspended in a delicate balance in the gallery, seem to evoke a mountainous landscape (1)… While a series of details (degradations or spontaneous alterations), seen and collected throughout the city, are isolated then reactivated to compose a strange collection of abstract paintings (2).

The work of Olivier Kosta-Thefaine is double; it is as much a strategy of appropriation than diversion of the characteristic elements of the city. By isolating these various details, (might it be the garden fence of a working class house in the suburb in Turin (3), or the metal frame of a window seen in Poznan (4)) the artist makes them work in a completely different register: OK-T keeps the proportions, the material, even the chromatic scale while reducing it to its essence. Once diverted from their original function, these pieces become minimalist aesthetic artworks

A piece of wood, photographed in the streets of Paris, reveals nothing of its utility; it is listed, archived and then later reactivated in order to become a bas-relief (5). The deterrent effect of an anti-intrusion ‘profile’ spotted in Rotterdam becomes a fragile minimalist sculpture. Or a painting found in the street on an early Sunday morning offers a bucolic vision of a suburban landscape.

OK-T creates his work instinctively, inspired by a poetic observation of the details of the street; a work that invites the viewer to dawdle and that enjoys the beauty of everyday life.