Seul le Hasard est réel
Lisa Signorini
In tarot and the practice of magic, chance has long been associated with the possibility of revelation. A card is drawn, an image appears, and what seems accidental becomes charged with meaning. Yet does an image reveal something beyond our understanding, or does meaning arise from our desire to interpret what we encounter?
Lisa Signorini’s practice moves between automatic drawing, mysticism and mediumship. Guided by intuition and an openness to the unforeseen, her drawings allow figures, symbols and fragments of a personal mythology to emerge. Intricate details coexist with an elusive darkness, giving rise to images that resist fixed interpretations. Neither entirely deliberate nor wholly accidental, they seem to unfold through the act of drawing itself, at the threshold between conscious intention and the unconscious.
A historical resonance can be found in the work of Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956), the British artist and occultist who explored automatic drawing as a means of engaging with the unconscious. In The Book of Pleasure (1913), Spare brought together symbolic imagery, artistic creation and magical practice, suggesting that images might give form to desires beyond rational understanding. While distinct in their approaches, both practices consider drawing as more than the execution of a preconceived idea: it becomes a space in which the unexpected may take shape. This exploration of automatism also finds echoes in Surrealism, where artists sought to loosen the boundaries of conscious control.
In Seul le Hasard est réel, chance is neither simply randomness nor a force that dictates meaning. Rather, it becomes a space of possibility, where intention and the unforeseen meet. Signorini’s drawings offer no fixed symbolic system or singular narrative. Instead, they invite viewers to navigate their own associations, memories and intuitions, allowing each encounter to unfold differently.
The title, Only Chance Is Real, carries a quiet paradox. What appears accidental may become deeply personal through the act of interpretation. Between revelation and projection, the visible and the invisible, Signorini’s work leaves open the possibility that meaning is neither entirely discovered nor invented, but emerges in the encounter between an image and those who look at it.