The CreativPaper magazine is a digital multimedia platform.
Founded in 2014 as an Instagram page, they have developed beyond the social domain by publishing on-line the presentation of professional and emerging talents while highlighting social, economic and environmental issues.
It was in May 2017 that they spoke about my work and I answered their questions
Here is the interview
1- What in your opinion is the purpose of art?
Questionning people, making them think over or being only decorative, that’s the aim or Art.
As for me, I would like to make people smile with my paintings, I’d like to make people happy with the different subjects I paint and the colors I use.
Some of these people will recognize something they already lived, some others dreams’ recollection.
But how many of them will notice that the characters are not that happy, that they live in their body like they would in jail ? Despite the colorful scenes, they are suffering, they are in pain.
In fact, looking at the same thing, people don’t see the same, don’t feel the same. This is fascinating.
2- Most of the characters in your paintings do not have heads, could you tell us a bit more about that?
I think the body is the mirror of our thoughts. It is the external reflection of our soul, envelops the accumulated weight of each year, it is dented by the incidents of our life and it sponge as much our joys as our sufferings.
It is the main theme of my work. If I could I would only make bodies without any artifice around.
I say that the head of my characters is not physically present but it does exist. It’s up to you to imagine
3- Despite all the colours there is a sense of sadness in some of your images, is that a metaphor for something?
My inspirations are based on people’s everyday habits and habits.
I would also like to succeed in fixing the feeling of despair that nestles in each of us, the part of our being who is insatiably lacking, that part of us that is never happy, even if all the ingredients Are united, the total happiness is not at the rendezvous. It is this melancholy that interests me and that I would like to represent visually.
4- How long does a painting usually take you?
When I am inspired on a subject I do sketches framing and I think the colors would be most appropriate.
Then I make a selection, as a « casting », among the thousands of sketches body I do in advance, so I do not think I created new.
Once the final design is ready I am researching material and I also created new ones.
I stick it directly on the canvas by layering paper, acrylic paint and ink.
The longest is to have an idea, then it is to define the feature of the session and then last it is the realization.
A table can take me a week to 2 months, it also depends on the size
5- Was there an event in your life that has a profound impact on you as an artist?
Following a dental problem, I had an operation that forced me to keep the mouth closed while recovering. I lost 40 kilos in two months. This physical transformation is reflected in my creations
I become obsessed with the distortions and deformities of the body.
At the same time, I suffered two accidents at six-month intervals that will make me lose 50% sensitivity of two fingers of the left hand and part of the sensitivity of my knees. My characters follow my physical evolution: They too now have the deformed knees.
6- Where or who do you get your inspiration from?
Of course I’m influenced by many artists.
At first, during my adolescence, I was very inspired by the works of Pierre et Gilles, David LaChapelle or those of Jeff Koons, particularly because of the colors and how they highlight the « ugly » things at first sight, this fascinated me.
Then my desires turned to artists and works more tortured as the work of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Jean Rustin, Jenny Saville and Leigh Bowery.
But I also like the various other artists such as Bottero universe, Valerio Adami, Mark Ryden, Voutch or Ray Caesar.
I am very interested in photography and film universe where I draw a lot of ideas.
7- Could you tell us about your first book?
I made a book about all the little pleasures and the little hassles that one has in our everyday life
I love that
8- Who is Tata Joe? Could you tell us a bit about her and the influence she had on you?
It was the nurse who kept me as a child.
His apartment was very old and very outdated, it gave me the taste to use old tapestry in my paintings.
9- What does success mean to you as an artist?
I do not believe in success but rather in fashion.
This is why it is necessary to constantly learn to renew and find new ideas or new subjects of work.
If my art makes smile a person it is for me already a small victory
10- Do you have any goals for this year?
I have just finished several paintings for the annual opening of my workshop to the public which takes place on 10 and 11 June 2017
I have exhibited a lot in recent years in Asia and the United States, and I have practically no more paintings of side.
So I will do a few exhibitions and focus on my work
Different pages
(click images to enlarge)
