A Semiotic Transformational Process from Verbal to Pictorial Expressions in Henri Michaux’s Works

Abstract Henri Michaux's artistic production possesses a double and, one might say, contrary and/or complementary nature. It draws on the forms of expression in two different media, notably verbal and visual. His work's ambivalent nature reflects Michaux's intention to brake the mold of traditional sclerotic signifying systems, and to form new paradigms. It seemed to be a very difficult proposition for the artist to create new forms of expressions without having new frames of reference that would allow the spectator/reader to follow the work's progress. Michaux, however, succeeded in overcoming this obstacle by combining elements from both media in his texts and drawings. His method of going back and forth between the written and visual forms, where text and pictorial figures intermix sometimes on the same page, is typical of Michaux's creative process throughout his entire career. In order to develop his own art Michaux traveled around the world and studied Chinese, Indian and Japanese artists' works. He also read European Mystics of the Middle Ages, such as the German Master Eckhart and the Dutch Ruysbroek the Admirable, and also the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu and Hindu religious texts. In the sixties, he undertook hallucinogenic trips with mescaline, psilocybin, LSD in order to explore his mental functioning. These experiences found their way into his writings and paintings/drawings enriching them with extraordinary insights. The combination of all these sources and their end results make Michaux's variegated works such a great challenge. It has to be emphasized that the transformational process has less to do with transforming Nature, a traditional Western way of artistic creation, and more to do with signifying Nature involving the artist's total physical and mental being. The latter one is closer to the Chinese concept of creation, according to Billeter's remarkable book L'ART CHINOIS DE L'ECRITURE, and also Michaux's own admission in PASSAGES, and EMERGENCES-RESURGENCES. I intend to show how during the transformational process the two systems of signs, linguistic and pictorial, complement and/or cancel out meaning in Michaux's works