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All these elements come of course from the depths of my travels, from my meetings, from my childhood no doubt ... It is very inspiring to delve a little into the depths of oneself ... But I would say that I use all these elements rather as starting points ... I do not exactly develop these memories, on the contrary, I think I can say that I prefer to go away to take them elsewhere, to another fantasy, to create other things ... Goya said that painting is only choices ... It is really valid in different possible senses ... in technology surely but ultimately a lot in creation ... But it engages only me ... So we must say that all experience acquired is formative and that we can use it to progress ... all this stuff is always very exciting ... It also appeals to the notion of transmission ... I think it is very important ... I even wonder if we are finally just programmed genetically to pass on ...
What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
This is an important part of my work. I will also add method and rigor throughout the process of realization on paper, sketches drawings, etc ... upstream of the act of painting ... I always desire to improve it. Advancing, climbing, crossing levels ... This also gives a bigger freedom in the work ... I think it is essential and primordial. We can do what we want when we master the technique. Afterwards, the essential is not there ... it is necessary to be able to serve the creation ... but in general, when I draw and create my spaces, I already feel the way I will work them. I always have a starting point which is my basic sketch where I have drawn the space of my interior, with directions of ideas, for colors or setting up the object, the meaning of the work ... On the other hand, this drawing is not finished either, I do not exactly copy my preparatory work on the canvas in a precise and cold way. When I begin my canvas, I resume the scale rating and draw the lines, my escape points and then I rebuild to scale. Then I actually have some constraints in the elaboration of the canvas, which are related for many to the technique of oil painting, I always work first my skies and landscapes ... then I make the background and I begin to position, remove or add elements ... The drying times also condition the working time on a work ... That's why I have several works in progress, always ... This allows me to never stop painting. And to create bridges of discovery also ... I sometimes take an idea of a canvas and carry it to another because I worked at the same time and I find this idea great!
How do you see the relationship between emotional and intellectual perception of your work? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?
It is very important for me ... I try to put several levels of reading in my work ... There is always an emotional dimension, by the act of painting and vibrating the colors, the light ... the subjects are also Important in this perception ... Then, a painting work is always formal, or at least intellectualized at the basis ... we were talking about that a while ago, about technique ... The idea, the finality of a work is always based on a balance ... As I read a lot of novels, I like a lot the idea of slipping somewhat hidden philosophical elements that make the work deeper than the merely decorative or just beautiful side of the canvas ... I like it when an observer stays in front of my works and saying to himself, at the beginning, that it is a beautiful interior, perhaps restful or luminous, pleasant, and to realize, after a longer immersion that there are small elements that finally transport him to something else. Something with stranger ideas, or at least to more constructed thoughts on certain subjects like solitude, the position of the human being in the universe, etc. ... To sum up, I make sure to haunt the viewer, presenting to him a sensitive and serene world that will allow him then to return more intellectually to the work ...
Before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
If there is undoubtedly a cultural particularity (on the part of the history and the artistic traditions of each one), as far as I am concerned - and as I said earlier - I find inspiration from everything I see. I therefore have complete freedom in the elaboration of my works and I do not take into account at all the relation with the public and its tastes. Basically I do what I like ... So there will be no influence of anyone or on whatever it is in my art. It‘s also clear that I am not going to do certain works to please someone and to be sure to sell ... Having said that, as I expose in several different countries, I have noticed that the cultural character of a country tends to guide the choices of buyers or decision-makers. For example, in some countries you know that for various reasons such kinds of paintings are not going to have any return. But finally this remains the work of gallery owners or institutions... Depending on these constraints, decision-makers will choose the works to be exhibited among my work and that suits me perfectly. It’s only for my future exhibition in China that I have done a real job at the level of Chinese and Western cultures, because in this case the artistic visions are absolutely distinct. So I read articles and books on cultural oppositions, notably about painting, but also poetry and literature. From then on, I tried to do a series of works with the following thread: to find a point of equilibrium which makes it possible for two radically different cultural worlds to be met by painting, even opposed ... It was great to address this issue. How to keep his own artistic identity in this case and at the same time open an immense door on another culture by inserting it in his own work ... I don’t know if I succeeded, the exhibition has not yet taken place , but I am incredibly excited to confront my work with the Chinese public ...
Your art seems to be a quest for “balance between abstract and realism, manipulating lines and colours to create a kaleidoscopic feel while remain a meticulous sense of order using acrylic and mixed media.” What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
The very beginnings of inspiration for a new painting is to look for a pose. I will often troll through images of Avant Garde fashion photography, ballet, dance, naked portraiture and/or body-scapes to find just the right one. Once I have the pose that strikes me (YES!) I take it from there, drawing up a rough sketch adding patterns and geometrical shapes which contrast the lines of the main silhouette.
From there I sketch my plan on to a blank canvas (always making changes and additions to the new layout). Once I am happy with that I start to add colour. My fine lines are all executed without masking; using a small brush, even hand, and steadfast concentration. Then I apply layer upon layer of colour until I achieve beautiful unyielding saturation and impeccable print-like quality.
How do you see the relationship between emotional and intellectual perception of your work? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?
The emotional and intellectual relationship of my work always begin as two very seperate things. At first glance, my art may seem frivolously aesthetic .The colours are vibrant, and deliciously arresting. But then you look a little closer, even through the simplicity of the block colour and basic lines of geometry and pattern, there is always a story within… and that is when the emotional and intellectual perception of my art merge and the true beauty is discovered.
olted by the Thought of Known Places… Sweeney Astray” by Joan Jonas was one of the first performance installations that really made a huge impact on me. I was living in Paris during this time, in the early 90s, with a lot of influences from different cultures. It became the starting point of my own work. Joan Jonas practice has explored ways of seeing, the rhythms of ritual, and the authority of objects and gestures. Jonas continues to find new layers of meanings in themes and questions of gender and identity that have fueled her art for over thirty years. She is a great inspiration still today.
It is impossible to avoid the topic of body consciousness, embodied emotions and the image of body and personal identity that we see in your practice. What is the function of the identity appearing in your artworks – is it a canvas used to present your ideas or rather the subject of the art? What inspired you to use this as a theme in your practice?
I have been developing my visual imagery since I began studying art and film - from conceptual thinking, composition, using light and colour in different ways, through all the different techniques I've utilised over the years in my work and in my collaborations with stage artists such as dancers, musicians and actors. My approach is always developing through exploring these things. Visual imagery in essence is your way of experiencing what you see and transforming it. This is my world that I want to share and express through my art. The body consciousness, embodied emotions and the image of body and personal identity is part of this visual imagery, the emotional essence in my practice. Always present and always developing in different themes and projects.
Marina Abramovic stated: You see, what is my purpose of performance artist is to stage certain difficulties and stage the fear the primordial fear of pain, of dying, all of
which we have in our lives, and then stage them in front of audience and go through them and tell the audience, 'I'm your mirror; if I can do this in my life, you can do it in yours.'Can you relate anyhow to these words?
de-identify myself, by losing my roots, my culture, I would be very happy. Unfortunately the human being does'nt choose the place where he is born. He grows up in a society that automatically identifies, through education, culture, family... More than ever I think it's more important to go on a way of self-knowledge with the aim to meet “the other”.. This other without which we can not exist. It's the same for the artist. It is more important for me to be focused on my practice than to try to define it according to esthetic criteria of identification. It's probably the reason i like to remember the painter Matisse who said or wrote that an artist must never be prisoner of himself, prisoner of a style, prisoner of a reputation.
Would you like to tell us something about your background? Could you talk a little about experiences that has influence the way you currently relate yourself to your artworks?
All my way is influenced by encounterings.
It began by the meeting with my professor of literature at school. More than giving French or Literature classes, she brought us to discover texts, movies, plays, visual artworks and to think about on what we saw or read.. Thanks to her that I met Pierre Vincke, a theatredirector who was worjink in the tradition of Grotowski ... Both of them have led me to go to theater school. In this school I had meetings. Meetings with artists but also and especially human beings that made me discover. I always need o discover rather than to master a practice. It's probably the reason my encounter with Monica Klingler and Boris Nieslony was decisive for me and led me on the path of Performance Art which is a form still difficult to define. Each performance artist has a different definition of what it is...
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about race and ethnic identity in visual culture?
No I don't have a specific artwork that has influenced my artistic practise but many.
I'm influenced by some philsophers as well as poets or musicians or dancers or visual artists but also by some places or landscapes or atmospheres ... For some years, I was used for example to go to India where I was used to follow some traditionnal muscians or to learn bharatanatyam and practice vipassana meditation... Of course this experience has impacted my art work.... This brought me to think and work differently... My experience in India brought me to discover traditionnal strong art and paradoxally to the way of Performance Art. But there I see one common point: to make no separation between art and life and to be here and now, without projection on the future.
It's difficult for me to speak about race and ethnic identity. But I can say that today we miss more and more this notion of “to be here and now” which is more present in some cultures ... By practising Performance Art, it's my way to be connected to this way of thinking. And even in this field actually it's more and more difficult. The society and the art world brings us more and more to plan in advance, to define our work, more than to do. Just to do. To do what we deeply need.
And of course, my encountering with Black Market International and later the notion of Open Source or Open session via PAErsche have also a big impact on my work. When we go on that, each of us perform by sharing time and space but without trying to convince each other on some common way. This is for me a wonderfull way how we can meet each other, regardless of our origin, our race or our “identity”...
Many of your works carry an autobiographical message. Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
My memory is clearly a starting point to create. I don't have any autobiographical message. I use my personnal experience ( what I feel , what I see, what I learn, what I ear...) to work. It's a motor or a material. I'm not able to paint, so I can't do something with red or white or yellow or black colors. All I have is life, a body alive. And I need to do something with that...
My sensation about life sometimes is too intense then I need to transform this intensity in some action. Some artistic action... If people can take something from this action this is great... but I don't want to give them “a specific message” or to control the translation of my experience.