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Before the health crisis , several galleries were interested in my work , but Covid got in the way of my projects . Thankfully , social media has helped me out a lot . I have been exhibiting at the Coya Monte-Carlo restaurant and should soon be exhibited in the Hôtel de Paris lobbies . I have collectors contacting me from all over the world . I go and visit their places , trying to imbue myself with their personality and offer a matching work .
: You are one hundred per cent selftaught . Do you somehow feel like you ’ ve become an artist by chance ?
AL : I do not consider myself an artist , but rather a craftsman who has an idea and message to convey . My mission is fighting against war with my art . Based in an old greenhouse , my studio looks more like a dusty shipyard than an artist ’ s lair ...
Photos Landy Production and Axel Lefrançais
‘ Blue and black ’, a composition with a grenade and a crock painted by a friend of Axel
This being said , I intend to take sculpture lessons to make my grenades in marble and wood , preferably , mahogany .
: You define yourself as a militant pacifist , claiming to fight evil in all its forms . What is evil for you ?
AL : Evil is jealousy , petty wickedness , negative thoughts . Any form of racism is beyond me . I am the son of a Norman mother and a Cape Verdean father ; my wife is half Italian and half Laotian . Our two-year-old son is gorgeous , we all call him “ Lefrançais ”, my mother ’ s last name ! That is my real name , not a pseudonyme ...
: What kind of projects are you working on ?
AL : Right now I am working on another weapon , brass knuckles . I am trying to make them attractive … After that , I intend to tackle Darth Vader , the “ Star Wars ” villain , ridiculizing his character .
I am also working on “ The Hybrid ” ambivalence — a grenade capped with an extinguisher head . Their common denominator is a safety switch , but the whole combination raises the question of choice : shall we waver for good or ill ?
: You are a very successful designer . Do you intend to delegate certain steps of your work so that you can produce more ?
AL : Never ! I perform my work from A to Z . Whatever my future success , I will continue in the same way . I wouldn ’ t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I signed my sculptures without doing them from scratch with my own hands ! Certainly not like certain others who have their sculptures made in China .
Contact : Axel Lefrançais tel ( 33 ) 7 6852 5789 la-grenade @ hotmail . com
Hello Monaco Spring 2022 / 121 www . hellomonaco . com