Une silhouette dense, à l’expression tourmentée, impénétrable. L’individu est à la fois ramassé sur lui-même,il se protège, il tente de faire de son corps une sorte de carapace, il se garde, se défend. Mais ce qui frappe l’attention, c’est qu’il n’est pas vraiment à genoux devant la menace, comme on pourrait à première vue le croire, il est sur les genoux, misérable sans doute, éreinté, seul, mais il ne se retranche pas, il résiste. Voyez comme son corps est tendu. Et tandis qu’il est entravé, il donne une étrange impression de force. Sa douleurle cuirasse, elle en train de le confirmer. C’est un colosse endormi, un bloc, l’Humanité ensevelie en elle-même,momentanément bâillonnée. Regardant ce puissant dessin de Ronan Barrot, il me vient cette phrase de Victor Hugo : « O peuple, noir dormeur, quand t'éveilleras-tu ? »
A dense silhouette with a tormented, impenetrable expression. The individual is both hunched in on himself –protecting himself, attempting to turn his body into a sort of shell – guarding, defending. But what captures the eye is that he is not truly kneeling before the threat, as one might initially believe. He is on his knees –miserable, no doubt, exhausted, alone – but he does not surrender; he resists. Look at how tense his body is. And though he is restrained, he gives off a strange impression of strength. His pain armors him; it is in the process of shaping him. He is a sleeping colossus, a block, Humanity buried within itself, temporarily silenced.Looking at this powerful drawing by Ronan Barrot, a phrase by Victor Hugo comes to mind: “Oh people,dark sleeper, when will you awaken?”
Éric Vuillard, on drawing, 2025
Ronan Barrot, born in Vaucluse, graduated from the Beaux-Arts in 1998. He has been represented by the Galerie Claude Bernard, which has dedicated numerous solo and group exhibitions to his work since 2007.In 2017, he exhibited at the Avignon Festival, for which he painted the official poster. His works are part ofthe collections of the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, the Fondation Maeght, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg, as well as the FRAC Île-de-France and the FRAC Auvergne.