EMILIE HOUSSART
Chaos series
A series of sculptural paperworks considering the interactions of humans with complex natural systems beyond our comprehension. These contemplative works pair geometric shapes with chance-process 'chaos' marks; two opposing elements which cannot be produced by humans unaided. The viewer is invited to engage with an individual interdependent system and its geometric root, and to reconsider the relationship between damage and creation.
Works in editions are made with the same strict set of processes, with a necessarily unique outcome for each print. Pictured are the first prints of each edition.
Chaos I: Variations
This series was made using a 6" circular copper plate in combination with several lightweight Japanese papers. Many of the prints are 'reflexive'; impressions of themselves disintegrating, exploding, distorting and degrading in successive ghost prints.
Using processes that are simultaneously highly controlled and unpredictable, a unique, handmade sheet of paper is marked under tremendous pressure by an inked plate. Crush-scars and negative spaces work in combination with ink marks to gesture at something beyond human limitations - a true absence of order.

Chaos I (theme) Monoprint on Ginwashi, 1/7

Chaos I, Variation II Monoprint on Okawara with pencil, 1/7

Chaos I, Variation III Monoprint on Okawara, 1/7

Chaos I, Variation IV Monoprint on Mura Rokubu, 1/7

Chaos I, Variation V Layered monoprint on Okawara and Ginwashi, 1/7

Chaos I, Variation VI Monoprint on Okawara, 1/7
Paper forms, 2017-18
Objects made from Japanese handmade papers (part of larger series)

Maquettes for Cylinders, set of 4, Okawara


Untitled (after Artschwager), side view
Untitled (after Artschwager), Monoprinted Okawara

Untitled (yellow cream), side view

Untitled (yellow cream), Monoprinted Gampi and found frame
Reciprocals, 2018
These pairs of monoprints are cross-printed on two individual sheets of handmade Japanese paper. Each print bears the 'damage' of the other. The pale, textured second ghost print displays a record of this act of crushing/colliding. They are joined by a hand-drawn line that crosses the space between them, and can be hung separately or together. The placement of the plates is unique for each pair in the edition.


Reciprocals I Pair of monoprints with pencil on Mura Rokubu, 1/5