THE COLOR OF AN ODOR
published on 2021-09-15This study initiates work on the color of natural raw materials extracted by different extraction ways.
ROSE CONCRETE
A series of photographic studies carried out by Pierre Bénard from a concrete of Damascus rose on thick paper, the material modeled with a painting knife and search for color and transparency by luminosity.
This research is inspired by the stages in the production of the absolute or absolute essence, a precious material for the creator of fine fragrance.
To obtain this absolute, it is imperative to go through the intermediate stage of the concrete.
The fresh flower, picked at dawn, upon dew, will literally be exhausted by three successive washes with a hydrophobic solvent.
This solvent permeates, enriches and becomes saturated with vegetable waxes, pigments and odorous molecules from the plant.
When it evaporates, a waxy, colored and fragrant mass appears: the concrete.
As it is, it cannot be used directly in perfume compositions.
The waxy part will be removed by successive washing of the concrete with ethanol until the absolute essence is obtained.
This process is broken down into four phases: beating, glazing, filtration and refining.
This series of photographs focuses on the filtration step when the waxes remain in the cold paper filters.
ENFLOWERING FRAMES
The photographs are placed on frames specially designed for the cold enfleurage technique.
Using odorless fats, this process consisted of capturing the essence of even the most fragile flowers such as jasmine, tuberose or rose.
These are unique manufactured frames, made with the windows of the city of Grasse, in its time.
Their uniqueness is found in their flaws like air bubbles that testify to the achievement of stained glass.
In the series “Un fantôme” from the “Spleen et Idéal” part of the collection “Les Fleurs du Mal” by Charles Baudelaire, the third poem is entitled “The frame”.
This series is an extract from the olfactory and multisensory exhibition “From matter to spirit”.
