Peter Henri STEIN French, b. 1947

These are silver prints, hand-printed by myself following traditional methods, on baryta paper. Prints are mounted on Dibond aluminum, which ensures their rigidity. Then, there's a graphic intervention on the image, writing with a marker, partially erased: the text is not meant to be read but to signify. Finally, I finish with an airbrush, projecting ivory black acrylic paint to bury the letters and reinforce the image.

The prints are presented in black wooden frames. They can be presented individually or as polyptychs.

All prints are unique: the artwork can only be unique.

My work always refers to art history, poetry, literature.

The crosses that sometimes appear in the image are not Christ-like crosses (the branches of the cross are equal), but a tribute to Tapiés, an abstract painter who sprinkles his works with crosses and letters that have always fascinated me.

Reference to poetry: the poem by Jean Noel Vuarnet, "Where are the ladies of yesteryear". This poetry is a tribute to all those who were, these madwomen of God, these mystical women in search of absolute love who demanded that the body be reached, afflicted, dislocated, almost annihilated, where suffering was no longer feared but hoped for, where suffering in imitation of Christ became necessary to reach the divine lover. The delirium of the mystic is a delirium of union with Christ. Hadewijch: "mouth to mouth, heart to heart, body to body. He advanced towards me, took me in his arms and held me close to him."

The revelation of the divine occurs where everything collapses. In ecstasy, loss of self through the breaking of body and spirit, in this collapse arises enjoyment, spiritual enjoyment, but also bodily: "spiritual pain, not bodily although the body is very much involved" (Theresa of Avila). Paradox of mysticism which, forbidden any sexuality with men, enjoys in her body a pleasure superior to any feminine pleasure: power of the spirit over matter.

These women have excess in measure, and the artist can only account for it by also going to excess. These are not vulgar nude photos; I photograph not the body, but the disturbance with which it is agitated. My models, or rather my accomplices (they no longer pose, they perform, with strength, going to the end of themselves and even further) are no longer chosen based on aesthetic criteria, but on this sole possibility of mise en abyme. They have no age anymore, therefore all ages, they have all bodies. And you may have noticed that the works are signed Stein but also Lili, Pulchérie, Lola ... in all complicity.

It is not reality that we apprehend, but a view of the mind.

Haunted by the thunderous experiences of Artaud, Genet, Bataille, I create with the hope of "creating works as poignant as crucifixions" (Bacon), hoping to be able to say like the poet "I have loved women who do not exist and whose caresses still haunt me" (Jean-Noel Vuarnet).