When and how did you come to stencil?
My career is similar to many other stencil artists. At this time all the imagery of the punk scene was about the DIY with the trash style of stencil. I swam in there, but I did not pay attention to it, it was just part my world. In 2002, I was introduced to stencil by an artist, Rnest STO. I loved its rock'n'roll side and the repetitive thing. You need an arrow to indicate the path to a concert and you get the easiest and least expensive tool in the hands. Then I got caught up in the complexity of the subject ... But in my city, the stencil is not so happy. The graffiti is everywhere and the empty places have become scarce. I also worked a lot on stickers, but not visible either. And since painting is nourished by the viewer's eye, I turned instead to the "canvas". In moving away from the wall and working more and more regularly, I stood back and took time to try to understand the stencil. I am slowly forweard and building my world by dint of mistakes and art books.
As for stencil; I remain faithful to black and white, because the impact is more visible on a colored background. I deformed parts of the visual, in order to attract the viewer's attention to one or more points. Here, at this moment, I work on the body. Hands and body fascinate me ...
I also want to make the stencil deep, so I get some inspiration from the Renaissance painters who had the same problems for going from the tint area to the perspective.
And a last but not least, there is typography which could be sufficient but may also reinforce the message / visual as text or pictorial landscape. And as the stencil design has been used for a long time (as for the assembly of the first poster, layers have been used as stencil to color) it seems to me that the typo has in its rightful place next to stencil. Especially since some fonts are very aesthetic and strengthen even more the subject.
Five? Well ... let's start with number One: Ernest Pignon Ernest for the purity of design and e the low-down on social and apolitical situation. Then: Arman for repetition, Duchamp and his DADA involvement linked to the spirit of childhood, playing with the conveniences and conventions, the rejection of reason and logic; and Rancillac and all Figuration Narrative for his use of comics, photography and advertising; Lichtenstein for his thick line, his colors, his framed masks and Pop movement, and ... only 5, right? So just one more: Mantegna, for his mastery of perspective and trompe-l'oeil.
I think there is no secret ... I am up against the wall, therefore, I have to move forward ... I dropped everything to paint, no regrets, but without financial support either. So there is nothing but hard work. Whenever I can I set to work. Afternoons and evenings are generally devoted to cutting and painting. Mornings are devoted to activities like music, reading and so on so that I can be inspired to produce art during the afternoon. I devised a schedule of shows enough full to force me to keep a certain rhythm. It makes me evolve in terms of subjects and method, and improve my work.
Above all, I keep in mind the pleasure of painting, because if you don't have fun you could be overwhelmed by the moments of doubt.
Quite simply, I have a room in my house that has been transformed into a studio. With all the usual tasks and mess ... but with the ease of being able to listen to music all the time, not having to dust, and especially I like to paint at night. So since I finished my work I like to fell into my bed with fingers full of paint. This is convenient, but not necessarily obvious to work alone. It sometimes involves discipline for work. And of course the most difficut thing remains to get some detachment on what I do, and toward that which I go. The group stuff can led to competitiveness, novelty and other points of view. The best would be a community studio at home, much more exciting, someone wanna try it?
Streets in Marseille are entirely covered with paint. Everything is so much painted than I think people are jaded. There is nothing else to do but waiting. Waiting for a good graffiti makes a beautiful piece, or a most successful tag embillished a shop front. I respect that shide of the street. No problem.
But I preferred to find a way out of this magma of colors and of invisibility, to put it in front of the passer and then make him react. That's why I look for places where the viewer is more able and more willing to take time and enjoy. I prefer popular places (both meanings of the world) rather than galleries that remain elitist. And in order not to lose the link with the street I insert some part of posters or furnitures in my artworks, which implicitly recall it. And another aspect of the street also is that you do not necessarily have time to work and you do not think of anything else but to be fast, simple and effective once being on the ground. And I have more and more fun to paint on some events, such as festivals or performances ...
Can not remember ... Although ... it was not in the street. It was on a leather jacket, a kind of perfecto, customized by a punk. I think it might be the visual of the Exploited, you know the kind, red on a black background.
http://www.stencilhistoryx.com/2009/06/11/shx-interview-stf-marseille/