Locus Solus

Locus Solus is an artist’s book Jean-Michel Othoniel dedicated to Raymond Roussel’s mythical work.

The band enclosing the boxset holding the book was realised by the Atelier du Livre d’Art et de l’Estampe of the Imprimerie Nationale, with a hot stamping on the title and letterpress printing of the photograph.

Raymond Roussel’s Locus Solus

Published in 1914, as the world is about to sink in a bloody war, Locus Solus is the enigmatic masterpiece of Raymond Roussel (Paris, 1877-Palerme, 1933). Throughout this guided visit in the property of the researcher Martial Canterel, the narrative evokes fantastic inventions, installed in the park, automats or “bachelor machines,” with the glittering poetry of this story full of symbols, lexical games and recurrent pictures.

Othoniel’s Locus Solus

Sewn in the book, seven ribbons with rainbow colours point out the seven chapters, like an echo of the seven inventions created by Canterel. One of Jean-Michel Othoniel’s great virtues is to reveal, by graphic interventions or pictures borrowed to artists he perceives close to Roussel’s aesthetics – from James Lee Byars to Gabriel Orozco or Martial Raysse –, the secret imagination of the novel he uncovers, as a diamond buried in the sand.

Just as Canterel welcomes his guest in his property to introduce them to the seven wonders it hides, Othoniel guides us through the arcanes of Roussel’s world. Besides this delicate disclosure, Othoniel has also hidden surprises in this book-object, where the reader will find a tarot card, stuck photographs or precious pendants.