The question of what a viewer should experience when looking at an image was addressed within an interview between Mike Figgis and Jeff Wall. The internationally known artist Jeff Wall was quoted expressing that "it's about experiencing the pictures, not understanding them. People now tend to think their experience of art is based in understanding the art, whereas in the past people in general understood the art and were maybe more freely able to absorb it intuitively7." Along with this notion and that of a mystery incorporated into the work, the question of whether or not Bernard-Reymond incorporates any personal qualities within his work was addressed. "Of course I, as an individual express myself in what I do. But I am not very personal towards the subject matter. I think most of my works are very general in what they deal with. (Mathieu Bernard-Reymond)."

In order for artists to categorize themselves in a certain context of art, they must first be able to understand and know the history of art. This is where education once again is beneficial; an artist that has had educational training would be able to present themselves and their work in a more effective and professional manor within the art world. Placing Bernard-Reymond into a specific context of art is difficult because he does not fit into one category alone. He states that he, "uses the means of his time and deals with the problems of his time causing him to be considered "contemporary," but not avant-garde because then there would be a heavy political influence", and that is not the way he views his work. He does not feel that it is his job to put himself into one category or another. Bernard-Reymond feels that these categories are just a way to simplify a very complex situation that does not really need to be simplified from the creator's point of view8 .

The notion of having to be placed into one category or another is redundant according to Bernard-Reymond. Why should artists have to be categorized into just one category? Although this is true, art history has a desire to classify works from various time eras. Within his vaguely defined contemporary style Bernard-Reymond has produced a number of works over the years, but none so noted as that of his "Intervalles Series9." Acclaimed to be of a simple nature the created by chance "Intervalle Series no 1" was supposed to be something different and it was not until Bernard-Reymond found himself taking time to look and determine what was happening within the image that he knew what he had created10. Within our interview I wanted to know the meaning behind this series and I was confronted with a very thought-provoking answer.

MBR: I can only tell you the meaning in front of it. Very often, and especially in school, teachers seem to think that a good work is a work that communicates some message that was there (in the artist's mind) before the work is done. This leads to the traditional question during the exam: "So what did you want to say through this work"(what did you want to say, before you started creating). I totally disagree with this idea, because if this was true, on the contrary, a good work is a work that makes sense after it has been done. For the viewer, this distinction makes no difference, but for the artist and for the student especially, this is a whole world of difference .

As a large series of photographs, constructed without the use of any contact sheets Bernard-Reymond chose the images from the negatives and enlarged them. Once increased he worked on the chosen ones for quite some time, finishing each completely before adding it to his web site. By viewing all the images in the series he can temporarily or permanently remove or add any desired image in order to change the body of the work. To sum it up, he says the notion of selecting images is one of the most important steps in photography and in fact it has changed in his work going from the traditional contact sheet to an online database style.

Footnotes:
7 interview: Mike Figgis and Jeff Wall (http://www.contemporary-magazine.com/interview65.htm)
8 Vanessa Leech interview with Mathieu Bernard-Reymond
9 Intervalle Series DATE: ??
10 Vanessa Leech interview with Mathieu Bernard-Reymond