NADEGE DAUVERGNE
NADÈGE DAUVERGNE – THE FOXES HAVE ENTERED PARIS
April 2019 – 2525 words
VENUS AND ADS
How did you become an artist?
I studied art. I first completed a vocational diploma in graphic arts before entering the Reims School of Fine Arts. I couldn't do anything else, and I already had a good grasp of sketching. Leaving art school was difficult because in the 1990s, drawing and painting weren't encouraged there. This stifled my creative drive, and I didn't touch a pencil for three years. I had to become independent, so I took odd jobs until I felt the urge to start again. I began by painting collaboratively with David, my partner, with him focusing more on the concept and me on the execution. And gradually, I started creating my own personal images again.
You start by taking female figures from classical painting.
I've always been drawn to classical art, to its rigor in terms of drawing, anatomy, and geometry. I trained in this way, always trying to push my observation a little further. This series on classical art emerged at a time when I had already been working on the world of images for several months: I was exploring the elements of this universe, primarily intended for advertising, reflecting on the construction of an image, its organization, and the meaning of the gaze. Before working on the Venuses, I was interested in what a still life could be today: a box of Corn Flakes, logos, advertising messages. One day, while looking at a home linens magazine, I realized that a Venus seated in a hammam could be incorporated into an advertisement. I was at a crossroads in a reflection I'd been having for several months, and it was a flash of inspiration. Thus, a game of free association of ideas took shape.
By incorporating these classic paintings into advertisements, you are putting side by side two eras where the representation of Woman is often reduced to a simple image.
It so happens that classical art contains many female figures that serve as symbols of beauty and purity. By placing them in advertisements, they contribute to ennobling these symbols, ultimately allowing them to become works of art. Seeking out these women is a way of introducing a sense of the sacred into a world devoid of it, and of giving Art the upper hand. However, I didn't create this work out of nostalgia for a bygone art form. It was a game, a way of blending images from these two worlds, so that together they would create a third, as well as another way of seeing them.
Indeed, you speak more of a telescoping of symbols, even considering that "« Advertising is the daughter of painting.».We are in a dialogue rather than a confrontation.
A kind of leveling occurs, reflecting the ultimate nature of an image, regardless of the era: yesterday, religious painting "sold" faith; today, it is a product. Images have always served to communicate, and I am simply continuing this discussion by proposing new content whose ultimate place will be within the realm of Art.
Your inspiration draws particularly from academic art. Do you choose well-known or lesser-known artists?
Both, because at the beginning I was working on a broader time period, ranging from the 18th centurye in the 20th centurye century: I even went so far as to revisit Munch. I then focused on the 19the century, because I was looking for female figures in a fairly classical style, the kind you find more often in the works of the Raphaelites or Pre-Raphaelites. I worked extensively on Godward, an English painter whose realistic style and subjects—particularly ancient Greece—corresponded well to my research (just as Bouguereau did for the French). The contrast between their paintings and the trashy side of advertising with its fluorescent yellow macarons amused me greatly.
FROM THE BILLBOARD TO THE CITY WALLS
How did you start creating in the street?
I grew up in the suburbs and always loved the world of graffiti, hanging out in vacant lots, on railway tracks… but I never saw myself doing it. I remember thinking to myself one day: I'd like to create something in the street, and I ended up doing it in an unexpected way through these small formats, which then inspired me to repurpose 4x3 meter billboards. But how? At the time, I was drawing with Posca markers on magazines.
How did you perform this format transformation?
I needed to find a quick way to achieve the desired effect. I tried using spray paint, and after several attempts, I found the right method. The unique aspect of this work is that it requires waiting for the surfaces; otherwise, I couldn't do anything. Since these were fairly specific advertisements, I often didn't have enough material to work with. It also frequently happened that they were already covered by the time I arrived on location, so I had to work quickly. This method I developed allows me to paint a figure in three to four hours. However, in terms of the painting itself, I was still working within a limited area, with a specific composition. The link between the drawing and the advertisement was direct.
How did the framework imposed by advertising billboards necessitate this transformation?
It's simply a matter of proportions, maintaining the same ratio between an armchair that measures twenty centimeters in a small format but one and a half meters on a billboard. To enlarge my images, I used a grid on brown kraft paper and the rule of three, constantly checking the measurements to ensure the image would fit. However, proportions are just as important outside of a predefined frame, as in my project. Exodus, because sticking to reality allows the animals to retain this trompe-l'œil appearance.
How do you compose your image without having a predefined frame?
I've used many different methods: for the Venus collages, it was more the location that inspired me, as with the work depicting Oedipus and the Sphinx, which was a perfect fit for the chosen stone column. For the collages in the city, either the location reminds me of a painting, or I think I can find a painting that corresponds to it. In the case of’Exodus, This choice is much freer, and I reason by career path.
EXODUS
How about your project? Exodus Has this notion of framework evolved? Therefore, does your urban art work need to be in the city?
When I work in the street, the street itself becomes the canvas, and the frame is then more conceptual. Indeed, we live within this mental space, which always provides a context. For the series Exodus It is nevertheless important that this be an urban setting, as it would make no sense to create these collages in the countryside. Indeed, the theme of this project is the wild animals that are now found in cities. Living in the countryside, I am confronted daily with the degraded state of the soil and the decline in the number of birds and certain other large animals. I saw a documentary that taught me that in some cities, biodiversity is greater than in the countryside because they enhance green spaces or create ecological corridors. And indeed, we find stock doves in the Jardin des Plantes, or thousands of foxes in London. The animals are therefore leaving their original habitat to take refuge there. Knowing this rural world, this reversal raises many questions for me. I therefore want to place these collages in the city to create an unlikely encounter between the city dweller and the wild animal. How do I react, what do I feel when I find myself face to face with a creature that has no business being there? With this work, I am once again mixing things that, at first glance, have nothing in common.
Playing on optical illusion allows a real animal to be confronted by the passerby.
Exactly, what I enjoy is pushing the experiment to its limit, to see how it looks in the street. I plan ahead, I stick it up, I step back and photograph it, to finally capture this scene. What interests me is this concrete vision, blending animals and street furniture. The desired moment isn't so much in the execution, which can sometimes be a bit laborious, but in this final image.
What do you gain from putting your artwork in the street?
Like many street artists, I find great freedom there. It's truly a unique place, unlike anything you'd find in a gallery or museum. It's a blank canvas, a living space where you can create alone or mingle with others. The adrenaline rush comes mainly at the beginning, along with the fear: putting up posters with a telescopic ladder can sometimes feel like a mission. But it's also the feeling of doing something new for yourself. There's such a direct aspect to it: you don't know how you'll be received, who you'll meet. Once you start creating in the street, you can't live without it: it's nothing like working in a studio.
What are you trying to show the passerby?
I make a proposal, and my limitation lies in that impulse, that desire, and the act of executing it. Once my collage is in place, I naturally consider how the passerby will perceive the image, but my role ends there. Since there are likely to be multiple interpretations, I take care to provide the necessary information to avoid ambiguity when I post my photographs.
URBAN ART AND THE QUESTION OF RENEWAL
What is your relationship to the ephemeral nature of collage?
This suits me well because, above all, I don't want any trouble. If I ever encounter someone malicious, I can remove my collage instantly. Of course, it can also get stolen and only last an hour or two, which is frustrating, or a miracle can make it last for several months. Furthermore, I find that this ephemeral aspect is well-suited to the street; sometimes, the result is even more interesting with a few marks of time. I find that this living dimension, the fact that a work can be damaged or torn, brings the artist back to a certain humility, which puts us in our place. I consider my work finished the moment I take the photo. I try to create artistic photographs, paying attention to composition, playing with angles, and reworking the images on the computer if necessary. I think of the image like a painting, so that the result is high-quality and gives it every chance amidst the incessant flow of the internet.
One of the pitfalls of urban art is getting stuck in a visual signature. You wanted to break free from this by stopping your series on Venuses, but this allows us to question what constitutes a work of art: is it the plastic form or the theme addressed?
People are practically only familiar with my classical art work, but I felt I'd exhausted that genre. I asked myself whether to continue or move on to something else. I thought about it for months, and when the project Exodus As it emerged, I accepted the risk that people would have to rediscover me. What ultimately resulted is an attraction to the blending of different worlds and the discovery brought about by the outcome. I sometimes continue in this classic vein, but it has to make sense.
In this regard you say «"always return to drawing from nature"».
I'm talking about observational drawing, the academic exercise: my collages aren't like that. Perhaps this stems from the classes I teach, but ultimately, drawing from life is the fundamental exercise that shows us where we stand in terms of observation. I encourage my students to work this way rather than from a photograph, to be as close as possible to what they perceive. Alongside these staged scenes I create in the street, drawing accompanies me like a faithful companion that I rediscover again and again.
CREATING IN THE STREET TODAY
Do you feel like you are part of an artistic movement as a street artist?
I notice many similarities among the street artists I know. I realize that we share a certain opinion about contemporary art and the creative space offered by the street. It has always been possible to create in the street, but today it has taken on a significant scale, linked in part to the democratization of art. Thanks to the artists of the 20th century...e century, everyone today can become one.
This scale is undoubtedly also a slight counterpoint to Conceptual Art. Suddenly, the public discovers works they understand, without needing explanatory labels. Access is immediate, without prior discourse. This benefits both the viewer and the artist, who finds in the street a space where they can express themselves. I also perceive this enthusiasm in schools and education: all the projects I've done in middle and high schools for the past five years have a connection to Street Art. From an art education perspective, it therefore brings everyone together.
It's a return to a form of art that is sensitive rather than cerebral.
Street art is sometimes criticized for not being intellectual enough. It doesn't coexist well with contemporary conceptual art, and while one aims to be accessible, the other is more distant, even elitist. These two worlds exist without ever intersecting. But creating in the street isn't so easy, because this ease of display grants a visibility that leaves no room for error. Artists observe each other, and when someone creates a new piece, they are often scrutinized. «" easy "», The sword falls.
Beyond this ease of access, is there a generational issue? For artists of the 80s, the street was a museum, an open sky allowing an expression impossible in a gallery, whereas now it can be perceived by younger people as a means of accessing it.
There's still this desire for an open-air museum. It's not certain that the street has become the first step towards the gallery, because there's still a choice to be made; the gallery owner has to appreciate the work. And the question of exhibiting street art in a gallery setting remains. Many artists try to find solutions, but there's often a terrible loss, with works that only make sense in the street. How, in that case, can quality be maintained? I address this problem by presenting different things in each of these spaces. There's always a connection, but they're drawn versions, other works. I was delighted when the Cabinet d'Amateur invited me to exhibit my drawings. For Exodus, The gallery version will be drawn, with more personal research work on the backgrounds.
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