Name: ARTMAJEUR
Brand: ARTMAJEUR
Rating: 4.9 (9218 reviews)

What made you decide to become an artist? What is your background ?

The background from which I came with an artist father-in-law instilled in me a taste for art and creation. Moreover, I very quickly felt the need to express in images the thoughts and reflections aroused by my readings and my research on the side of psychoanalysis, which I practiced for a few years. My background is polymorphic, with an appetite for education and psychoanalysis. Oil painting, on the other hand, has been part of my life since I was 14 years old. The daily nature of my concerns for this act of painting, like a craftsman, has led me very logically over the years to articulate it with my other practices such as that of psychoanalysis.

What are the 3 things that make you different from other artists?

I don't know if it is so important to be different from other artists, especially since there is no ex nihilo creation, because it fits, whether we like it or not and despite the impressions of rupture, in the continuity of a personal history, of a family culture but also in the furrow, if not of the history of art, in that of a history of art. What is interesting, moreover, is the friction with other artists, these inspiring friction producing "no sense", singular inventions. One thing is certain, it is that in my act of creation an analytical approach is played out against a point of a creative impulse without pretense.

Where does your inspiration come from?

My inspiration came first of all from my father-in-law, Jean Sabrier, my mother's husband, and through him, from Renaissance painting and Marcel Duchamp. Today it is the painter Edward Povey, with whom I interact regularly, who pushes me to move forward in my productions. The driving force is our elective affinities. But literally and precisely, my inspiration is directly the fruit of my thoughts and reflections related to my readings and certain writing assignments.

Tell us about the conception of your works, do you have a long preparatory work or is it quite spontaneous?

The design of my canvases requires a long preparation work because I need to collect images, very often they are photographs that I take, in order to arrange them to try to find certain visions that come to me, certain memories or certain dreams. . For this layout work I use image processing software. The spontaneous elements, the pure creations arise as for them when I detach myself from the model which I gave myself beforehand. It is in these moments of production that I feel like a craftsman whose only hand holding the brush allows himself to think freely, completely disconnected from my initial intentions.

What do you want to show through your work?

I want to show a window open to the world, a world. And it is from this window that each viewer draws their own stories. A canvas is not a univocal and universal proposition, it produces a singular polysemy for anyone who wants to look at it. So I don't necessarily want to "show", but rather to produce an effect on the viewer, even if it was a rejection.

In your work do you use techniques or materials that are out of the ordinary?

No, I do not think so. I remain fairly classic. What matters to me is the effect produced.

Do you have a favorite format? Why ?

I don't have a favorite format. I choose the format depending on what I want to paint. Priority is given to my subject and to the arrangement that it induces. But I notice that over time, I choose larger formats

What difficulties do you encounter in your work?

The main difficulty is the lack of time because I don't have the freedom to paint when I want. The second difficulty is the lack of models to photograph. I'm missing a good quality image bank. Finally, I lack space and space in my workshop.

How do you work? At home, in a shared workshop, in your own workshop?

I tried to work very little time with other artists. Today, I have a corner, in my apartment, which serves as my workshop. I painted and paint mainly at home.

Does the work of an artist take you to travel a lot?

No. On the other hand, some of my youth trips to Italy inspired me a lot. As soon as I travel I rush to museums to get my honey.

What was the best moment of your career?

A flash exhibition (1/2 day) at the Maison de l'Europe in Paris. People spontaneously commented, without judgment, on the paintings they saw.

How do you see your work in ten years?

I do not really know. I think that my productions will evolve slowly without radical change, according to my research and my daily concerns. There will always be something to do with the unconscious and its formations in my paintings. Some see a dreamlike or surreal dimension in it, which doesn't bother me because there again, "it speaks" and the division of the subject, whether it is the one who paints or the one who looks, is never very far.

What are you currently working on? Are you planning an exhibition soon?

I work on the question of the threshold, this space of transition and mutation, the one which makes the junction between the act of creation and its product, this cut which paradoxically puts in continuity the interior world of the painter or the viewer and the canvas. The canvas on which I am working at the moment has for theme, the ethics of the relation.

If you could have created a masterpiece in art history, which one would you choose? Why ?

I would choose the Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci because of the strength of the enigmatic power that this work conceals. As Jean-Marie Pontevia wrote, “To paint is always to show the fire under the ashes.” The question of unveiling is very present.

If you could invite a famous artist for dinner (dead or alive), which one would you choose?

I would invite Edward Povey to the living and Marcel Duchamp to the dead.