Caress the World

2. From 1999 to 2006

After a year of work on pagan icons (a series of 500 paintings dorées à la feuille) she sees, in the blink of an eye, behind the phallus: “ la femme voilée ”(the veiled woman).  

Having managed to represent Man (her first stage), she leaves him behind to work on the Female iconography. 

She uses her own body and her image in this new search. She favourises temporarily photography over paintings. The body, her body plays a very important role. It became her main tool, like a brush for a painter.

She looks at herself, at her image to find what she calls "the feminine". 

Her project is to represent women differently than the usual way in which they are traditionnaly depicted. She proceeds to a deconstruction of the representation of the fair sex. She follows the lectures on Feminism given by Séverine Auffret at the University of Caen and studies deeply the questions raised, though without claiming to be a feminist.

Her goal is to discover "what women really are" by refusing the stereotyped representations. 

She publishes several books and essays in this period: 

 - Anaïedia, Paris 2002

- Confessions au cheval, éloge du chevalet, Editions éoliennes, Paris 2006

- Au-delà du principe phallique, Editions Ecce femina, Paris 2004

After many years of research, her icon “ECCE FEMINA” is created (2nd stage)

The work of Ray Monde

The work of Ray Monde is centered around the body.

It is a new way of living and thinking.

It is a philosophy of karma and kismet, with a restatement of the ancient saying: “Become what you are !”

In this context, her code of ethics is a special excitement of the body and soul, an intense joy radiated through well-established conventions. It is a sort of inner fortress, a construction that suffices to itself with a specific alchemy comprised of heightened awareness, perseverance and discretion. It has an origin and its own impetus; it is infinite in its subtleties, the vibration of an instant, and discourse on the swift passing of time.

It is a new form of responsibility that requires both civil and political peace, driven by an individual determination to improve one’s fate. It resides in a single thought, a sort of elevation. It advocates balance, precision, strength and harmony. It is the reflection of specific gestures and attitudes, a mirror to a frame of mind in pursuit of its vocation: elegance, taste, social niceties, courtesy, distinction and beauty.

Before being an act of social utility, it is above all a refined attitude wedded to an aesthetic emotion.

It is tantamount to an ongoing initiation, and adapts to those who know how to turn it to good account.

Her work is a code of ethics and a mystic process shared by cognoscenti. It is the fruit of an instinctive and spiritual process; it originates in the body, takes root in the earth, and resolutely promotes the energy and joy of “being.”

It pays tribute to ambition and elegance, and is resolutely creative…

It is philosophy in the name of sheer pleasure.

The key

The key of search of  Ray Monde is related to the posture that rips the veil asunder. Its strength is corporeal, and it is guided by the silent knowledge that communes with the universe. It should never be forgotten that, in a world that has lost it bearings, there still exist, scattered here and there, bringers of light, alchemists of burgeoning awareness.

Non-verbal communication, an alternative language…

On the path of origins there are links far beyond knowledge, far beyond anthropology. These links can heal or kill, illuminate or blind.

The concern of the future and of remembrance of things past is the evolution of mankind, the very evolution of his awareness in his “being”.

It is this that allows us to speak about metamorphosis, an act of alchemy, a transmutation.

The  work of Ray Monde is to be found not only in this awakening turned towards the light but also in the use of a clear and explicit language. This language is swarming in brutality and “is” corporeal. It is the very body of the world.

​

Where the secret dwells

If we begin with the notion that man possesses a soul, then we assume the self-evident fact that he is the bearer of a secret. He is the bearer of a secret despite himself without, indeed, even realizing it. Certain individuals, here and there, are aware of this fact. This is why secret societies exist, and it is clear that a secret society is essentially defined by what it hides from others. It is like an icon not based on imitation but on “Vision”. The icon expands perception of what cannot be seen or given a name…

And if we were merely a fragment of the Earth ?

In certain periods of History – just as in different parts of the world – there prevails the idea that the body (the anthropological body, but also animal and vegetable existence) is merely material in nature, a fragment of the world, that there exists neither birth nor death. The succession of generations would then merely acquire the status of a huge cosmic dance far beyond the grasp of the living.

The almost universally shared obsession today with a perfectly formed, ideal body – ultimately, the notion of a divine body – still belongs (in the West, at least) to that old belief in its transcendent model.

Now, at last, it is time to dispense with common sense, and transcend our existence in a discourse replete with light. As such, the world of Ray Monde will be the genesis of a reversal of values with a focus on matter, earth, mass, mud and body parts.

For a tutored eye, the work of Ray Monde acquires the status of a greeting to the sun and a eulogy of the earth; it becomes deeply-rooted truth.

​

​

​

Ray Monde

The main stages in Ray's aritstic career 

1. From 1985 to 1999

Her works, mainly pictural motifs, are part of an anthropological and metaphysical research. She puts MAN in the centre of the Universe  and paints him in relation to its closest relative: the animal.

Ray drew her inspiration in the philosphy of F. Nietsche, of whom she is an avid reader; in the works of  G. Bataille, as well as in the contemporary philosophy of Michael Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. 

She works on the subject of "The First Man" and the "Sysiphe" as defined by Camus. 

She ponders this idea of masculinity of the Human Being, after all don't we live in a patriarcal type of society.  

In order to evolve towards the feminine, she first decides to work on the Man. 

She paints the body of Man, the manly body on canvas in an effort to understand what she is not, what is escapping her, but also as a tribute to him, to the Other. 

Up to 1999, Ray Monde signs her paintings with her birth name " Raymonde Philipps ".

After her work on the Phallus (more than 500 pieces), she takes the stage name of Ray Monde. Since then she is enlisted at  " la Maison des Artistes " under the pseudonym of Ray Monde.

It repesents her body, as an X, and reminds one of the female chromosome. 

This new symbol becomes her signature mark. 

​

From 2007 to 2009 

After a difficult moment in her private life, she starts her third iconography:

BB Bouddha

BB Bouddha is the mask of a baby born from the caresses she gave to the plaster, during a 15 day performance at her workshop.

​

She then writes a novel about her life, a romanced autobiography:

- BB Bouddha, éditions Thélès, Paris 2009

The book talks about her artistic journey, and her relation to Art and the World of Art.  

​

From 2009 to 2010

She continues her work in photography and resumes painting. 

Working mainly outdoors, surrounded by nature's most beautiful sights, the sea and the land, she lets her inspirations fill gigantic canvas.

Not only is she trying to connect herself with Mother Earth, her paintings also talk about the ellusive aspect of the present, of the ephemerality of life.  

Later, using her feet as a brush, she creates a series of paintings called MARCHE (marche sur la lune, marche dans la mer, marche sur la terre, marche vers la lumière, etc….) / Walk ( Walk on the moon, walk on the sea, walk on the earth, walk towards the light...)

​

From 2010 onwards

​

Since 2010,  the HAND has become the emblem, the symbol of Ray's workshop as well as her main connection to the World.

After all, the very first works of Art were painted hands on cave walls more than 20'000 years ago. 

​

    She then came up with the idea of the artistic project:

Caress theWorld