SIMON BALESTRAZZI

A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore, to warn its listener of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, location, or thing is said to be dangerous. Then, the narrative itself is told: someone disregarded the warning and performed the forbidden act. Finally, the violator comes to an unpleasant fate, which is frequently related in expansive and grisly detail.

"Cautionary Tales" is a work that has slowly developed over 15 years, a work which I returned to every time there was a new story to tell. The seven stories that compose it were born from hypnagogic-like states and were strongly influenced by a surrealist imagery, in particular by the structure of Max Ernst's collage-novels. As in a collage, each time - with every new intervention - some new material were juxtaposed and reassembled with recycled materials from the previous session, until a homogeneous texture was obtained. In essence, this is an album which is both new and old at the same time, placed out of ordinary time and in search of a narrative and fantastic space of its own, a chronicle of events that never happened.

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