Eric Vernhes

Eric Vernhes creates kinetic, visual and sound devices and installations whose behaviour he programs according to self-generative, interactive or hybrid logic. Initially an architect, and later a scriptwriter, filmmaker and musician, Vernhes has developed a career as a multidisciplinary artist with a resolutely humanist approach. The digital processes he uses are extracted from their technical context to serve a timeless discourse inspired by literature and philosophy. The demanding aesthetics, as well as the use of noble materials, move us away from the manufacturing processes of engineering to bring us closer to the humanity of the gesture. Vernhes thus lends existence to anthropoid creations: the proper movement of the works, by marrying that of our conscience, also seems to embrace our own humanity and allows us to witness the spectacle of it.

Eric Vernhes' work is shown in international exhibitions, art centres and foundations. He also creates scenographic and visual creations in live performance and teaches technological arts.

His work is part of several private collections and foundations, including the Hermès Foundation (FR), the Frankel Foundation (USA), BEEP collection (ES), Artphilein Foundation (CH).

Blueprints and L’Idée (The Idea) are two artworks by Eric Vernhes exploring the birth of an idea in the mind of the creator, its translation into writing or drawing, and later in its constructed form.

Blueprints was created using two generative software programs. The first, designed by the artist himself, transposes music into an abstract score or blueprint (right half of the screen). This dancing, linear pattern is then interpreted by a second software program using artificial intelligence, over which the artist has only partial control. The result is a moving image featuring stylized representations of architecture, construction sites, sports equipment, athletes and crowds (left half of screen).

This work speaks to the abundance of projects born out of the Olympic Games. Generative AI is deliberately used here to signify this extraordinary number of ideas and images.

L’Idée is a series of seven digital prints inspired by a text by Robert Musil from The Man Without Qualities (1932). The Austrian writer was 16 in 1896 at the moment of the first, modern Olympic Games. His work is marked by multiple references to the body and an interest in sports.

The text quoted in the digital prints of Blueprints attempts to describe the blossoming of an idea, its relationship to the flesh as well as to the mind, even to something greater, and how the words to describe it can escape us. Musil also evokes the suddenness and the marvelous, brilliant, almost magical, nature of an idea, and then the moment when it is finally tamed and organized in the mind, ready to be used. Then, it seems, the idea is compromised by contact with reality, making it impossible to return to its original state.

Eric Vernhes interprets this text using three kinds of images. A text-image, based on Musil's text, illegible for the first few pages, as the characters are grouped into compact shapes. This represents the first moments in the life of an idea. Gradually, these shapes break down to become legible and comprehensible.

Next to it, a seemingly simple drawing, made up of a few geometric elements - squares, lines, dots, rectangles - develops, seeking the ideal composition as the text-image becomes clearer. Finally, a computer-generated silhouette starts out abstract, before becoming increasingly human-like, realistic, "compact", to quote Musil.

By the seventh and final page, at the very moment when the idea has been expressed, when it has reached its greatest clarity, when the text is perfectly legible and the diagram has found its point of balance, even becoming integrated into the space of the silhouette, the man removes himself: the idea, now alive and in the flesh, continues on its journey, henceforth autonomous.

> Web site of the artist

Editions

Press

My1st

Press Release & Details

_ eric-vernhes-galerie...pdf ( PDF, 1.33 MB )

Blueprints

by Eric Vernhes

Generative animation
2021-2024

L’idée (7)

by Eric Vernhes

Serie 7 pieces
Impressions numériques
15 x 21 cm
2021

Spirit

by Eric Vernhes

Video NFT
Unique

Interview with Eric Vernhes

by Eric Vernhes

Watch Eric Vernhes speak about himself and his artistic practice

Fantasmata

by Eric Vernhes

Metal, screen, computer, specific programme
Edition of 1 + 2AP
170 x 40 x 10 cm
2021

Sur la ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Print
58 x 35 cm
2019

Horizon Négatif 1

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
Ed. 1/10
58 x 35 cm
2019

Horizon Négatif 2

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
Ed. 1/10
58 x 35 cm
2019

Horizon Négatif 3

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
Ed. 1/10
58 x 35 cm
2019

Horizon Négatif 4

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
58 x 35 cm
2019

Horizon négatif

by Eric Vernhes

Steel, 4K screen, computer, camera, loudspeaker
210 x 60 x 120 cm
2019

Horizon Négatif

by Eric Vernhes

Steel, 4K screen, computer, camera, loudspeaker
210 x 60 x 120 cm
2019

Red

by Eric Vernhes

« Red » is part of a research about the writing gesture and musical notation inspired by the Brion Gysin’s work on calligraphie. The program I’v...
Generative art - NFT
Unique
2023

Autochrome desert

by Eric Vernhes

The nft «Autochrome desert» is a part of my research around the «autochromatic pictures» which was the first process of color photography, invente...
Mouvement génératif - NFT
Ed.1/5
2021

Seeds of lights 12- Tuy Hoa

by Eric Vernhes

Generative movement - NFT
Ed.1/5
2022

Seeds of lights 1- Almeria

by Eric Vernhes

Generative movement - NFT
Ed.1/5
2022

Ligne de fuite 2

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
58 x 25 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ligne de fuite

by Eric Vernhes

Installation. Steel, plexiglass, 2 screens, computer, camera, loudspeaker
220 x 200 x 170 cm
2019

Ektachrome

by Eric Vernhes

Digital Print
58 x 43 cm
2019

Ektachrome

by Eric Vernhes

Video or Installation. Steel, loudspeaker, computer + projection screen
210 x 60 x 50 cm
2019

Ektachrome

by Eric Vernhes

«Ektachrome» Video or Installation. Steel, loudspeaker, computer + projection screen
210 x 60 x 50 cm
2019

Silent words

by Eric Vernhes

Generative video
Computer, screen, frame, specific program
1/5 + 1 AP
Variable dimensions
2017

Silent words

by Eric Vernhes

Generative video
Computer, 4k screen, specific program
5 copies
Variable
2017

Bashô

by Eric Vernhes

Generative video
Computer, screen, frame, specific software
10 copies
19 x 25 x 5 cm
2017

Bashô

by Eric Vernhes

Generative video
Computer, screen, frame, specific software
10 copies
19 x 25 x 5 cm
2017

Résistance

by Eric Vernhes

Random installation
Steel, wood, LCD screen, computer, motor
5 copies
160 x 50 x 20 cm
2015

Resistance

by Eric Vernhes

Random Installation

Steel, wood, LCD screen, computer, motor
5 copies
160 x 50 x 20 cm
2015

Resistance

by Eric Vernhes

Random Installation
Steel, wood, LCD screen, computer, motor
5 copies
160 x 50 x 20 cm
2015

Marine

by Eric Vernhes

Wood, aluminium, screen, computer, specific software
3 exemplaires
108 x 52 x 12 cm
2017

Marine

by Eric Vernhes

Wood, aluminium, screen, computer, specific software
3 copies
108 x 52 x 12 cm
2017

The wave

by Eric Vernhes

Steel, wood, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
200 x 40 x 20 cm
2015

The wave

by Eric Vernhes

Steel, wood, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
200 x 40 x 20 cm
2015

Figures, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 8 x 8 cm
2015

Figures, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 8 x 8 cm
2015

Figure 1, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 6,5 x 6,5 cm
2015

Figure 3, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 8 x 8 cm
2015

Figure 2, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 8 x 8 cm
2015

Figures, Season 1

by Eric Vernhes

Aluminium, coated paper, nickel silver, electronics
Unique piece
40 x 8 x 8 cm
2015

Eric Vernhes for Hermès

by Eric Vernhes

A series of 5 synchronized vidéos / electromechanics sculptures. Baselworld 2015, Bâle.
2015

Her sleepless night

by Eric Vernhes

Steel, wood, computer, LCD screen
3 copies + 2 AP
45 x 45 x 210 cm
2011

Her sleepless nights

by Eric Vernhes

Acier, bois, ordinateur, écran, électromécanique
210 x 45 x 45 cm
2011

Gerridae

by Eric Vernhes

Generative work
Steel, wood, computer, LCD screen

5 copies
50 x 50 x 10 cm
2014

The witnesses

by Eric Vernhes

Lights and electro-acoustic installation

Steel, wood, electronics and paper
Unique Piece
190 x 22 x 15 cm
2012

GPS #3

by Eric Vernhes

Metal, electronics
Unique Piece
140 x 80 x 10 cm
2013

GPS #3

by Eric Vernhes

Metal, electronics
Unique piece
140 x 80 x 10 cm
2013

De notre nature

by Eric Vernhes

Wood, steel, copper, electronics, LCD screen
3 copies + 2 AP
210 x 30 x 110 cm
2013

De notre nature

by Eric Vernhes

Wood, steel, copper, electronics, LCD screen
3 copies + 2 AP
210 x 30 x 110 cm
2013

The witnesses

by Eric Vernhes

Lights and electro-acoustic installation
Steel, wood, electronics and paper
Unique Piece
190 x 22 x 15 cm
2012

The witnesses

by Eric Vernhes

Lights and electro-acoustic installation



Steel, wood, electronics and paper
Unique Piece
190 x 22 x 15 cm
2012

GPS #1

by Eric Vernhes

Metal, electronics
Unique Piece
60 x 42 cm
2012

GPS #1

by Eric Vernhes

Metal, electronics
Unique piece
60 x 42 cm
2012

A l’approche

by Eric Vernhes





Print on paper
40 x 60 cm
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

The interpreter (detail)

by Eric Vernhes

Sound and visual installation



Steel, wood, videoprojector, lcd screen, computer
3 copies + 2 AP
300 x 200 cm
2010

The interpreter

by Eric Vernhes

Sound and visual installation

Steel, wood, videoprojector, lcd screen, computer
3 copies + 2 AP
300 x 200 cm
2010

The interpreter

by Eric Vernhes

Sound and visual installation
Steel, wood, videoprojector, lcd screen, computer
3 copies + 2 AP
300 x 200 cm
2010

Positions (series)

by Eric Vernhes

Print on paper
10 copies
A4
2012

GPS

by Eric Vernhes