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JEAN-CLAUDE BOSSEL
PAINTINGS NO. 25 TO 36
FIRST ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS

PERIOD 2018–2023
INVENTION OF CODE BACH
AND CRYPTO CHALLENGES

IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH FGB GALLERY
PRÉVERENGES (SWITZERLAND)

TECHNICAL NOTE
PRELIMINARY REMARK AND NOTICE
BEFORE VIEWING THE PAINTINGS

The images below are presented for informational and documentary purposes.

Nothing can replace the interaction between the viewer’s eye and the artwork placed before it, with or without appropriate lighting, at different distances, whether viewed up close or from afar.

The exact colour of the painting and the impression of material or thickness cannot therefore be guaranteed through these images.

Some images appear relatively faithful to the original, while others are less so. These observations must nevertheless be qualified, as depending on external light conditions or the quality of lighting, the paintings may vary in tone.

TWELVE PAINTINGS CONTAINING
ENCRYPTED MESSAGES
USING CODE BACH

The paintings presented in this section, all created between 2018 and 2023, are subdivided into six parts representative of the series produced during this period of invention and initial development of an encryption process called CODE BACH:

• Two encrypted paintings from the LEVONS L’ANCRE series

• Two encrypted paintings from the RÉSILIENCE BW series

• Two encrypted paintings from the SHOW MUST GO ON series

• Four encrypted paintings from the FAKE NEWS series

• One encrypted diptych entitled WHO IS AFRAID OF THE BB WOLF ?

• One encrypted diptych entitled LET’S GO

The commentary provided for the twelve paintings in this section does not focus on the titles or themes that inspired the selected series, but rather on certain graphical and technical aspects of the works. It makes it possible to observe how the CODE BACH encryption process is used in the composition of these artworks.

A dual reading of each painting thus becomes possible: one, immediately perceptible, relating to the pictorial image, colour and materials; the other, more unexpected, corresponding to the encrypted messages embedded within the graphical structure of the paintings.

TWO ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS
FROM THE
LEVONS L’ANCRE SERIES

In the upper and lower parts of painting no. 25, one can observe small holes of four different diameters. The smallest diameter represents the digit 0, while the largest represents the digit 3.

This makes it possible to represent graphically, in the form of vertical triplets to be read either from top to bottom or from bottom to top, depending on a choice that forms part of the decryption key, sequences of three digits ranging from 0 to 3. These sequences correspond to an encrypted message.

In mathematics, this type of notation using the four digits from 0 to 3 is called base-four numeration. Although this number system is relatively unfamiliar in everyday use, which favours base ten, it is nevertheless one of the most widespread numerical systems in nature, as it corresponds to DNA sequencing, where the four bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine) can be associated with the four digits from 0 to 3, and codons (three successive components) with three-digit numbers in base four (for example 211 or 310).

In the same spirit, one can observe small dots of four colours at the centre of painting no. 26, these four colours once again representing the four digits from 0 to 3.

In this painting, sequences of three digits (for example 023 or 221) can be identified within each small triangle surrounded by carbon fibre. This allows for sixty-four possible sequences (calculation 4 × 4 × 4 = 64).

TWO ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS
FROM THE
RÉSILIENCE BW SERIES

On the right side of each of the two paintings, one can observe small holes of two different diameters. The smallest diameter corresponds to the digit 0, while the largest corresponds to the digit 1.

This is the binary writing system, which is omnipresent in the contemporary world as it is intrinsically linked to most of the major technological advances of recent decades: computing, the internet, social networks, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.

The reading is carried out horizontally in the form of sequences of five digits, 0 or 1, for example 00101 or 11001. This allows for thirty-two different sequences.

These sequences can be translated using alphabetical order: 00001 = 1 = A, then 00010 = 2 = B, then 00011 = 3 = C, etc., with the convention that 11111 = 31 corresponds to the separation between two words and that 00000 = 0 marks the end of the message. One thus obtains an encrypted message that may take the form XWFRT / TZF / FCCSO / VQARTID / etc., which remains completely unintelligible, as it is encrypted using the ® CODE BACH process.

Decrypting this message in order to restore it in plain form is doubly complex: on the one hand, it requires knowledge of the decryption keys, in a way comparable to a PIN code; on the other hand, it requires relatively advanced knowledge in mathematics, particularly in the field of cryptology.

TWO ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS
FROM THE
SHOW MUST GO ON SERIES

In these two paintings, two numerical systems are used: base two (the binary system used in computing) and base four (familiar to geneticists working on DNA sequencing).

In the left part of the painting, one can observe vertical sequences of three holes. These holes have four possible diameters, ranging from the smallest, representing the digit 0, to the largest, representing the digit 3.

The same mathematical principles can thus be observed as those presented in the commentary on the two paintings from the LEVONS L’ANCRE series (paintings no. 25 and 26).

In the right part of the painting, a small square is fixed onto the main canvas. One can observe vertical sequences of five holes, this time with two possible diameters, the smaller corresponding to the digit 0 and the larger to the digit 1.

These graphical elements refer to base-two calculations identical to those presented in the commentary on the two paintings from the RÉSILIENCE BW series (paintings no. 27 and 28).

Finally, a word about the title of this series: it is a posthumous tribute bringing together, within a single visual concept, the final work of Freddie Mercury shortly before his death in 1991, and the song Le Poinçonneur des lilas by Serge Gainsbourg, who died the same year. The encrypted text indeed contains excerpts from the famous refrain:

Des p’tits trous, des p’tits trous,
Encore des p’tits trous,

Des pt’tis trous, des p’tits trous,
Toujours des p’tits trous.

FOUR ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS
FROM THE
FAKE NEWS SERIES

Paintings no. 31 and 33 once again allow the observation of small holes of two different diameters, whether in the form of vertical sequences of five holes at the centre of the painting, or horizontal sequences of five holes along the lateral edges.

The central part is dedicated to the decryption keys (PIN code, password, etc.), while the messages are encrypted in the left and right edges.

These two paintings therefore contain encrypted messages based exclusively on the binary system.

Painting no. 32 is somewhat more complex to approach, as it features holes of eight different diameters at the top and bottom of the canvas, while the holes in the central plastic element present four possible diameters.

A graphical system with eight different diameters corresponds to a base-eight numerical system, composed of the eight digits from 0 to 7. The usual number 8 (in base ten) is written as 10 in this system, where 11 corresponds to the usual number 9.

As a nod to Hollywood cinema, the base-eight numbering system is the one learned from childhood by the Na’vi of the planet Pandora in the film Avatar, who have four fingers on each hand.

The final painting from the FAKE NEWS series presented here, no. 34, is in fact a diptych, in which the encrypted messages of the left panel refer to those of the right panel, and vice versa.

One can observe here the superposition of three binary systems:

• in the form of sequences of five holes of two possible diameters, on the right side of the yellow panel and on the left side of the white panel, the smaller diameter corresponding to the digit 0 and the larger to the digit 1

• in the form of sequences of five plastic circles of two different diameters, attached to the small vertical panel, where the same principle applies: small = 0 and large = 1

• in the form of sequences of five successive colours in two possible tones, within the small plastic circles: on the left side of the diptych, the convention is black = 0 and yellow = 1, while on the right side of the diptych, the convention is black = 0 and white = 1

A fourth binary system is used in this diptych, in the form of two different colours in the contours of the holes, not immediately visible at first glance, but clearly distinguishable in the detail images presented below.

THE ENCRYPTED DIPTYCH
WHO IS AFRAID OF THE BB WOLF ?

Like the previous one, painting no. 35 is a diptych composed of two canvases of identical dimensions, conceived as two complementary elements forming a coherent whole.

The two paintings function in close relation: certain elements present in the left panel correspond to those in the right panel, making it possible to establish connections between different parts of the encrypted message.

In the detail images presented below, one can observe elements of graphical vocabulary already described in the commentary on the previous paintings:

• holes of two different diameters, arranged in sequences of five holes, corresponding to five-digit numbers in base two

• two colours in the outline of the holes, forming sequences of five elements, again corresponding to five-digit numbers in base two

• small dots in four possible colours inside small triangles surrounded by carbon fibre, located beneath the small panel depicting a pen (“Sell me this pen!”), these four colours making it possible to generate sequences of three digits, from 0 to 3, characteristic of base-four encryption

The messages embedded in this diptych explicitly refer to the film The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of the American trader Jordan Belfort.

As for the title WHO IS AFRAID OF THE BB WOLF ? of this diptych, it refers here to the song of the Three Little Pigs, immortalised in an animated film that won the Academy Award in 1933, creating a striking contrast, through its naïveté and lightness, with the ruthless world of finance and speculation associated with the Wolf of Wall Street.

THE ENCRYPTED DIPTYCH
LET’S GO

Like the two previous ones, painting no. 36 is a diptych.

Several elements of graphical vocabulary already discussed in the other paintings of this section dedicated to the first series of paintings containing encrypted messages using the ® CODE BACH process can be found here.

The encrypted messages in this diptych refer to cultural references drawn from both literature and music, notably the world of Marcel Proust and that of the opera Parsifal by Richard Wagner.

As for the title LET’S GO, it refers directly to the registered trademark ® LET’S GO ART GALLERY, developed in connection with the ® CODE BACH system, within which these encrypted paintings are situated.

Within the framework of the ® CODE BACH system, certain encrypted paintings may be associated with CRYPTO CHALLENGES, that is, decryption devices based on the analysis of the graphical elements visible in the artworks.

These devices are part of a broader reflection, particularly in connection with a foundation project dedicated to the arts and mathematics.

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