Palais des Thés, 1991

The unfolded sheet is divided by the folds into nine rectangles, which, as a whole, reproduce the drawing of a room seen in perspective. The drawing inscribes a horizontal plan, articulated by a complex geometric composition developed from the four vertices.1 At the centre of the plan, in the area corresponding to the intersection of the diagonals, is a decoration that develops vertically, made up of oval modules reproducing various types of leaves. The mysterious and imponderable object is watched over by two Oriental figures wearing a turban, located in the middle ground (masters of ceremonies, custodians, observers), who amplify its enigmatic nature.
The French title, borrowed from a famous brand of tea, underlies a homophony: “Palais des Thés” (Tea Palace in French) is pronounced exactly like “Palais d’Été” (Summer Palace). The double semantic meaning connects the natural dimension (the tea leaves, the gardens of the Summer Palace in Beijing) with the architectural one (the spatial layout of a room), the western perspective with the eastern one.
In 2007 the artist created an eponymous variant, integrated with several supplementary details (GPC-1085).

1 Departing from each vertex is a bundle of three lines: the central one corresponds to the diagonal, while the other two connect the vertex with the median points of the two opposite side. The drawing evokes a sort of squaring of the surface and at the same time a set of lines evoking visual angles.