{"id":188,"date":"2019-05-01T12:03:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T12:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/?p=188"},"modified":"2026-06-18T12:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:03:21","slug":"toctoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/toctoc\/","title":{"rendered":"TOCTOC"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOCTOC \u2013 THE DUDUSS, SMILING CHARACTERS WHO LOOK AT THE WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 2019 \u2013 1863 words<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DUDUSS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You put up your first Duduss posters in Paris in 2011, on rue de Verneuil, on Serge Gainsbourg's house. Have you always wanted to associate your characters with great cultural figures?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, these figures were the very definition of Duduss; that's all I did. Among the first characters in my sketchbooks were Zorro, Maya the Bee, and Sophie the Giraffe. The origin of the Duduss is the caricature of a person, and the first one I pasted up was Gainsbourg, on the iconic Rue de Verneuil. I was a fan of the artist, and it made sense to start there. I also knew I wasn't risking much by putting up my posters there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are struck by the cartoonish aspect of your characters. Their gaze and jaw make them immediately recognizable. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first sketch already looked a lot like this, with a very colorful character. It was then refined, becoming more graphic, but without necessarily changing, even though it now has more humor. I don't remember why I emphasized the eyes and jaw. On the contrary, I wanted to make realistic drawings and move away from cartoons, which I didn't like. My aunt, who is a painter, was the first to have the intuition that I would continue in this style. I was a little disappointed and worked even harder on the realism, but the following year this character appeared and I wanted to keep it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the objectives pursued by the Duduss?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make people smile or think. My friends have noticed that I act in phases, depending on my moods. My characters can convey a good mood without a specific message, but sometimes I also take the opportunity to denounce bullfighting or water pollution together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not incompatible to make people smile and think at the same time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not impossible, but difficult. An artist like Banksy, with his work where a master feeds his Labrador his own paw, doesn't necessarily bring a smile to people's faces. Yet, it was he who inspired me to convey powerful messages, and made me realize that these messages could be conveyed through the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think you'll ever leave this character behind?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don't plan that far ahead. I think I have enough stories to tell: there are so many ways to develop them! Now, I'm also creating characters like the little monkey, which gives me more variety. If I get tired of it or if people don't want it anymore, I'll stop, but I intend to continue as long as I and the public enjoy it. If I stop doing the Duduss, I don't think I'll continue doing street art. I might paint something else, but I think TocToc exists in the street with the Duduss. Without them, I'm no longer TocToc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATIONSHIP TO THE STREET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you choose to take to the streets to create?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I've always loved street art. When I arrived in Paris in 2009 to study art, I knew absolutely nothing about this world. I was initially interested in graffiti, then street art for three years, wanting to try it but without forcing myself. One day, this character reappeared from my sketchbooks, and I decided to go and paste it up in the street. It was a natural step for me, having always drawn and painted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, I believe that the very message of my character is conveyed through the street. If I had to place it only in one location, it would be on a wall. It develops elsewhere, but that's where it belongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has your relationship with the street evolved from your first steps to today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially saw my first Duduss drawings as a joke. I'd started sketching loads of them in my best friend's school notebooks because he thought they were really ugly. There was no message, it was a simplistic character that didn't really tell a story. My first paintings were like that too. But little by little, I started going out into the streets more, not just for the adrenaline rush, but also to convey my ideas through my character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How will you choose the location for pasting your work in the street?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of location depends on many things. Sometimes I'll be walking around town, see a wall I like, and it will spark an idea. I'll then take a photograph, some measurements, and go back to my studio to sketch it. Conversely, I might have an idea prepared in advance and then walk around until I find the right wall. Since I don't want to paste it just anywhere, I often leave it for two or three evenings if I can't find the spot I have in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does your work need context to unfold?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don't think it needs context to exist\u2014and I hope a piece can stand on its own\u2014but it can reinforce the message. When a pedestrian crossing in the Marais, painted in the colors of the LGBT community, was vandalized, I depicted Biggie and 2Pac in those same colors, kissing. I thought it was funny to associate these figures who had killed each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this choice of collage due more to the reduced risk or to the technique you wish to use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, I didn't take myself seriously at first, and my very first Duduss pieces weren't signed. I met the artists JBC and Gregos, who encouraged me, and JBC guided and advised me during my first collage. I chose this technique because I wasn't familiar with spray paint or other usable materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of interaction do you imagine between your characters and passers-by?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passersby can do as they please: once I've said what I had to say, it's no longer my responsibility. If they want to smile or take a picture, that's fine. What I like is when they talk about it, when they show it, explaining how they felt about the work. Their interpretation doesn't always match mine, but it's interesting to see these different perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is more important: having an audience or expressing your message?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it's a painting meant to make people smile, I'd say the most important thing is that it finds an audience. But if it's a message I want to convey, I do it more for myself. I've never been much of a talker, and being able to create a collage about bullfighting in a small town in the South was a relief. Expressing that point of view felt good: people would see that I was against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INFLUENCES<\/strong>
<\/strong>You regularly mention Keith Haring and Tim Burton as sources of influence.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Burton is, for me, one of the artists who best expresses his imagination and pushes it the furthest. I greatly appreciate his films and paintings, and following his example, I try to create my own artistic universe. But I also sometimes mention Eminem, who, like Tim Burton, has created his own world, with characters that echo each other from album to album. Keith Haring inspires me more in the line work and the black outline of the Duduss, which is inspired by his work, but also in his relationship to the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you depict characters because they inspire you or because you like them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's the people who inspire me the most. People often ask me to paint certain figures that I refuse, either because I don't know them or because I don't like them. So, almost all the people I paint are personalities who have inspired me, characters from films, or musicians I adore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you work in batches?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I've done a lot of series, especially in 2012, with one dedicated to Tim Burton, another to Halloween, and yet another to Serge Gainsbourg. But I gradually stopped because I find it's a shortcut that justifies putting up several collages at once. When I wasn't trying to convey a message, it was simpler to proceed this way, but now that I want to address certain topics, I focus on what I want to talk about. For example, Cruella and her bleeding coat represent my desire to denounce the fur trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KEEP A RECORD OF ONE'S WORK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your perspective on the ephemeral nature of collage?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ephemeral aspect is part of the game\u2014which I accept\u2014knowing that my collage could disappear at any moment. Hence the importance of taking a photograph the next day. I've even pasted things up at night and, when I came back later that same evening, found my collage torn down. It was one of the first, and now I get a knot in my stomach waiting for the next day. Conversely, the one that lasted the longest was a collage by Angus and Julia Stone, which stayed in place for four years. I had followed the different stages of its deterioration, but in the end, I was almost glad it disappeared because it no longer resembled anything. I believe that street art should be ephemeral. I find it a shame, for example, that Banksy's works are protected by plexiglass panels, even if they would otherwise be instantly degraded. Indeed, I think that if Banksy didn't want his works to disappear, he wouldn't do street art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How important is the photograph you take afterwards? Is it an archival or artistic photograph?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I'm very particular about photographs, so I'll be taking both archival images and more artistic ones. Since I paste them up at night, I return the next day to take photos in daylight, from every angle: one head-on with sharp edges, a more artistic one capturing the interaction with a car or a passerby\u2026 I take about fifty photos per collage, trying to cover all possible perspectives. This is an important moment because it's thanks to this image, posted on social media, that most people will see my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my photographs, as in life, it's all or nothing: I'll either want to throw everything away or keep everything. I keep them on my computer, organizing them by year, month, and street name. That way, when I look at one taken in 2012 or 2013, I rediscover things I didn't remember, and see some of the friends who were at that party. The image thus retraces a personal construction through collage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you looking for by taking your photos from every possible angle?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to be sure I have them all with me, because I know this work is ephemeral. All these views allow me to memorize the collage. I most often post the photograph taken from the front, but if I happen to repost it, I like to show an interaction, so that the person looking at it can understand what I did without having been there, so that I can explain my world to them. The passerby or the car can thus make the photo more humorous or intensify the message.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOCTOC – LES DUDUSS, PERSONNAGES SOURIANTS QUI REGARDENT LE MONDE mai 2019 – 1863 mots LES DUDUSS Tu colles tes premiers Duduss dans Paris en 2011, rue de Verneuil, sur la maison de Serge Gainsbourg. As-tu toujours voulu associer tes personnages \u00e0 de grandes figures culturelles ? Au d\u00e9but ces figures \u00e9taient la d\u00e9finition m\u00eame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qgdesartistes.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}