LITTLE MESS (series)

What is ‘Little Mess’?
François Dupuis is always drawing, sketching, pencilling shapes and forms in his Moleskine notebook. He’ll draw the view. A self portrait. A corner of his artist workshop. Some fruit in a bowl. And one day, for lack of a better subject, he drew the inside of his organic waste bin. Not the most lofty of subjects, but a good exercise to capture the shapes and the composition of a haphazard collection of potato peels, discarded rings of leek, the foliage of carrots and a chunk of broccoli. Nothing special, but François liked the result. So the next day, he decided to turn his drawing into a less ephemeral work of art: an etching. This became the first of a series of copper etchings, each depicting a different small heap of organic waste: a ‘little mess’.

“Why?”, you might ask
Maybe because he was going through a rough patch in his life, trying to come to grips with mortality. Maybe he just wanted to see how far he could go as an artist, immortalising stuff that was destined to perish. Whatever drove him to make this ‘Little Mess’ series, it has wound up being a riveting collection of futility, the ultimate ‘vanitas’, far from the clichés like burning candles and skulls and finding beauty in the worthless.

Take it up a notch
Having made 11 ‘Little Mess’ engravings, François decided to raise their status in art even more by gathering them all in a handsome cardboard box. A true collectors item, hand made by the artist.

Now the question remains…
who will ever want to pay €1500 for a collection of such insignificance?


Little Mess by François Dupuis comprises a series of 11 etchings in a box, entirely hand made by the artist. The etchings are also available separately. Buy the full set here.

Click on the title for a bigger image, more details and the price.

Showing all 12 results