Voilence — Revealing the Technique
Between Veil and Violence
In Voilence, the image moves between revelation and concealment. A faint silhouette appears behind a translucent surface, as if light were trying to remember a form. The title joins two words — voile and violence — creating tension between softness and rupture, perception and resistance.
Voilence and the Revelation of Process
With this work, I wanted to show more of the process. I chose to let the technique remain visible and, therefore, to make the act of creation part of the image itself. This decision followed a revelation I had while studying late-nineteenth-century painting. Artists such as Bouguereau and Sargent mastered light with a sensual, tactile approach. Their surfaces breathe. They reminded me that technique can, in fact, carry emotion. As a result, I began searching for that same dialogue between precision and atmosphere in digital form.
Linguistic Ambiguity in Voilence
At the same time, Voilence plays with language itself. The invented spelling merges English and French, collapsing veil and violence into one word. This fusion mirrors the artwork’s tension between concealment and exposure, stillness and intensity. Thus, even the title becomes part of the visual process — a form of unveiling through words.
Light Becomes Substance
Here, light gradually turns into matter. It thickens, accumulates, and moves with the slow weight of pigment. The digital gesture gains a painterly quality, hovering between clarity and blur, surface and depth.
The Emergence Series and Continuity
Voilence extends the exploration begun with Pale Convenant and Cevenant. In the Emergence series, light and form unfold through hesitation. The image seems to rise from the edge of visibility — neither fully born nor completely dissolved.
Voilence in Material Form
Printed as a museum-grade Giclée on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, Voilence reveals subtle layers of tone and texture that shift with each glance. Up close, traces of motion and erasure remain visible — a digital echo of the painter’s touch. Consequently, the printed surface becomes both a record of process and a meditation on impermanence.
A Turning Point in Denis Leclerc’s Digital Art
In the end, this piece marks a turning point in my work — a reconciliation between the physical sensuality of painting and the fluid precision of digital art.
Available in limited edition through the Unique Editions collection.
