Alin Carpen

Carpen believes that both the artist and the writer express themselves with great freedom and sincerity, each using their aesthetic means to offer the world a personal vision of life.

Through his works, Carpen seeks to establish a connection between the philosophical-literary vision of Cioran and the artistic approach of Boltanski. Both figures played a significant role in shaping him as a visual artist. They were both drawn to the theme of death, viewing it as a moment of reflection on life as a whole. Boltanski's work is noted for its focus on themes of disappearance and the fragility of memory, whether personal or collective. The artist admits: "A large part of my work is about the fact that every person is unique and important, and that each one will disappear," mentioning that most people are forgotten after two generations. He tries to explain that every individual dissolves into the vastness of time. Similarly, Cioran reflects on human existence: "Life and death, both equally lacking in substance. Unfortunately, we only realize this quite late, when it no longer helps us to either live or die."

What inspired him to use photography was a passage from Cioran’s notebooks. Cioran recounts an accidental encounter with a girl of rare beauty, whom he briefly glimpses during a fleeting moment in a Paris metro. In that instant, he tries to imagine her in various stages of decay but realizes that the vividness of her image cannot be destroyed in the same moment. The artist was struck by the writer’s extraordinary thinking, particularly the idea that each moment is unique and filled with mystery: where does the power of the moment come from?
Memory and transition are major themes in Boltanski’s work. "When do we cease to exist? When we are no longer remembered?" he asks rhetorically. Throughout his career, Boltanski explored the relationship between life and death in the international artistic context—the disappearance of the individual and humanity’s desperate attempts to ensure they are not forgotten over time. He refers to photography as "a small death": at the moment a photograph is taken, freezing the image forever, the youth and identity of the photographed subject begin to detach from the living individual, who continues to decay over time until their final disappearance.