Issue 8

Brett Walker / Lapin Sauvage / Julien Coquentin / Françoise Guillo / Minas / Tim Lee / Caroline Keî / Iolene Lima / Romain Mader / Krystel / Magda Antoniuk / Niels Ackerman / Balder / Jaime Monfort / Cathy Greenblat

ISSUE 080709

S U M M A R Y

WILD WEST

DEEP THOUGHTS

CHARCOAL

INSPIRATION

FASHION VICTIM

APPARENCES

SWEET IMAGINATION

Brett Walker INTERVIEW of the illustrator Lapin Sauvage « SILENCE » Julien Coquentin INTERVIEW of the professor Françoise Guillo Minas INTERVIEW of the illustrator Tim Lee « IN CLOUDS » Caroline Keî INTERVIEW of the jewel designer Iolene Alves Lima « MOI AVEC DES FILLES » Romain Mader INTERVIEW of the graphic designer Madga Antoniuk « FACADES » Niels Ackerman INTERVIEW of the painter Balder « DIARY » Jaime Monfort INTERVIEW of the illustrator Krystel

Plateform Magazine is having its summer break.

See you in September for the next issue!

Have a nice summer!

WILD WEST

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Brett Walker INTERVIEW of the illustrator Lapin Sauvage

B R E T T W A L K E R

INTERVIEW HOW DO YOU CHOOSE YOUR MODELS ?

Usually I find someone whose face I like and I ask them if I can take a picture. I don’t ask for perfection. Perfect looking people or perfect faces bore me. People who are damaged, people who are imperfect, are far more beautiful to me.

Some photographers might abuse their strangeness, but not me: I try to give them as much dignity as I can. Sometimes I shoot from the hip, so they have no idea I’m taking their picture. I live in a very busy neighborhood. There’s loads of people in the street because it’s a market street. When I find somebody whose looks I like, I run ahead of them, hide and take a picture when they are close enough. Then I walk away. Basically, half of my models do come to my place and sit for me while the other half doesn’t know I’m taking picture of them.

WHY ARE YOU SO INTERESTED IN FACES AND PEOPLE ?

I find faces fascinating. We spend our life looking at faces, everyday from day one. When we are babies, our main job is to read people’s faces. The first face we have to read is our mother’s: is she happy, is she angry, is she sad? As children we read our teachers’ faces and we need to know how we relate to others, if we are in trouble, if people like us, if so and so is an enemy or a friend. If you go somewhere for a coffee say, you will read the waiter’s face and decide whether he’s a friend or an enemy, if he’s gay or straight, if he is happy or sad, and you will do that in a second. Faces are very much like landscapes. I find them really interesting. Looking in people’s eyes is a really powerful experience. Sometimes I see myself in the people I photograph. The emotions I capture in their faces aren’t there because they are freaky and weird, but because I see myself in them. We are emotionally linked. All these people are a kind of mirror showing myself. I very much think that my work says more about myself than about the people I take pictures of.

YOUR PROJECTS ?

I’m working on a book that’ll be published the end of the year. In fact I’ve been making this book for the last four years.

Four years ago I started it but then I said: «No, I don’t have enough pictures, I’m not ready yet...». But I hope to finish it this year. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettwalker/

L A P I N S A U V A G E

INTERVIEW DESCRIBE US YOUR UNIVERSE… I really love the place I have been able to build for myself, mainly linked to the audio visual world. Most of my friends are multi disciplinarian artists. I spend a lot of time creating. At home, there is always some paper and pencils to draw with, or musical instruments to play with (bass guitar, piano, drums…). I wonder whether it’s the reason why the place is such a tip…

We live in an old bohemian flat in Barcelona. I am Argentinean and my wife is French. This is where we work. Of course my wife Sophie is a fundamental part of this universe; she has a lot of creative energy. And to cap it all, this universe is going to be even bigger, as I am going to be a dad. I am very happy about it; it’s another source of inspiration!

WHAT TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE ?

For my illustration work, I use nib and china ink on thick paper, which is ideal for this type of drawing. Otherwise I use any pen and paper I can lay my hands on at the time. My drawings are 100% handmade. Usually, when I have an idea for a drawing, I do a draft in pencil, and then I go over it with ink. If there are details I don’t like, I throw it away. I try to remain as purist and classical in my techniques as I can. And of course I need a lot of time, patience and love.

BLACK AND WHITE… I don’t know why, but all my ideas come in black and white. Maybe it is because I can be quite dark or because it reminds me of the illustrations in storybooks and adventure novels I used to read when I was little. I could spend hours looking at the drawings, deciphering stories in them. It still inspires me.

YOUR INSPIRATION ?

My wife, the love of my life. Chipi (my cat). And also day to day objects, people, a facial expression, a glance, a childhood memory… I love everything that is intimate. The etching illustrating classical kids stories too. And many other things.

YOUR PROJECT ?

Yes, I’d like to do some animations with a few characters from Lapin Sauvage. I have a lot of ideas. My first comedy short story is nearly completed. I hope to put it online soon. I also hope to put up a few shows with artist friends of mine. And I’d like to illustrate books. http://www.myspace.com/lapin_sauvage

DEEP THOUGHTS

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« SILENCE » Julien Coquentin INTERVIEW of the professor Françoise Guillo

J U L I E N C O Q U E N T I N

SILENCE HOW DID THIS SERIE START? Let’s say that when I started photography two years ago, I discovered I could do magic by using long exposures. I didn’t know until then that movements could be imprinted, segmented, that the day to day invisible became visible when shot in darkness. I would stop in a corner, program my camera and wait… There have been very nice moments spent doing this.

From then on, my nocturnal adventures increased and I learnt to love these moments. I had also been working nights, as a nurse, since this time or thereabout, so darkness has become my natural friend. I work nights and nights move me. I like to feel when the city empties, when the street lights come on, when noises are only whispers, I look for shadows, for the faint shapes silhouetted out of wan halos. These are my photographic nights, my nights of freedom, so much so that it became difficult to have any kind of family life, to watch my daughter growing up and still roam the streets.

Working night shifts also means that I have a peculiar relationship with the night. I am thinking about all these hours spent in hospitals, with their endless corridors, dimly lit. I read somewhere (I don’t remember where) that the best photos are always the ones we didn’t do. I do agree with this. I am fond of the night and, with time, my photographic work has become an obsession.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION FROM ?

Other people’s work, either in print or over the web, such as deviantart, which is a rather intimidating source of talents. All this inspires me. And helps me to add text to the images, or vice versa. I work on photographic lives mixed with writings, about the city I live in, the countries I visit, the pleasures that torment me… in short all the little things that make my world are sources of inspiration.

NIGHT IS… A long silence, the silence of a city, of narrow streets or wide boulevards. A silence in which footsteps sound. The silence of a hospital, of the long corridors full of moans of pain or nocturnal fear. The silence I work in (my photographs are also silent themselves). The silence that stops when my city wakes up, when I go to bed and when my girlfriend smiles at me. I still then have a few hours left to sleep; it is a weird diurnal sleep, when the night is over. The night like a new day dawning. http://bwiti.odexpo.com

F R A N ç O I S E G U I L L O

INTERVIEW TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE OF THE ALZHEIMER DISEASE...

As a doctor, I had the opportunity to create a «Geriatrics and memory» unit. The demand was huge and this creation worked like a laboratory of ideas. I wanted in the first place to restore the image of people affected by the Alzheimer disease, for themselves and for their family and the medical team as well. As the medical assistance took place, we focused our work on them, on the image and self-esteem. We mostly used photography and multimedia to communicate. Portraits, stolen moments, movies, interviews. The pedagogic effect was amazing too, addressing the person before addressing the patient had an extraordinary effect on everyone, on the family, the patients and the hospital. The unit became a warm welcoming place, innovating and dynamic where everyone loved to come. The artistic life and conviviality was really there.

THESE PHOTOGRAPHS, ARE THEY ONLY PHOTOGRAPHS ?

First, it is photographs. The theme makes the purely photographic perception very difficult. But this work is a new fresh look, simple, piercing, taken in the heart of everyday life, the moment, a universe usually concealed. The choice of the colour makes it easier to connect to. These colours are the ones of everyday life: a blue cloth, the yellow leather of an armchair, sunshine on a carpet... There is no overdone effect. This work is amazing for its bravery, its natural, and humanity. It is an essential work for patients. Photography breaks isolation and establish communication.

WHAT IS THIS REALITY ?

The one every patient has with the Alzheimer disease and the people who treats them, but also their family. At home or in an institution. It’s often in closed space, the photographer is not allowed.

WHAT MAKES THEM BEAUTIFUL ?

Softness, fragile life, intensity of emotions, the fight. The huge vulnerability of the diseased and also their fantasy if they have the chance to express it. And you also have the effort and solicitude of nurses, close friends, or medical team who takes care of them. The need for proximity and tenderness is fundamental, massive and is without a doubt mutual. To photograph the difficult times of loss, disappearance, handicap and oblivion, excess or absence of care is a very important step. But the pictures of Cathy Greenblat show all the complexity in it. The problematic is painful, but instants are sometime –or often depending on places- only trivial, serene and cheerful.

YOUR WISHES FOR THE FUTURE ?

I wish the evolution of awareness and mentalities linked to the development of this disease to be the starting point of a larger reflexion on medical ethic and the society facing the freedom of the diseased. That a natural and spontaneous vision like Cathy’s, finds a real broadcast. I think it is happening.

Photos BY Cathy Greenblat © www.cathygreenblat.com

ACCOMPANYING ALZHEIMER’S: LOSS, LOVE, LAUGHTER Cathy Greenblat

Since 2001, I have been working to change the imagery of aging, illness and dying by combining my background as a Professor of Sociology with my photography. I left my tenured full professorship to focus on work combining photographs and text. I believe this to be the most effective vehicle to open people’s eyes, literally and figuratively, providing a better way to help them “face” issues that are generally avoided. Since then I have directed my energies to the creation of photographic projects that challenge stereotypical conceptions of the aged, the infirm, and those in the terminal stages of life.

This body of work began at a municipal old age home in Mexico. I then documented a person-centered approach to Alzheimer’s care in the United States. My photographs and text appeared as a book in 2004, Alive with Alzheimer’s (University of Chicago Press). The German edition (Alzheimers und Lebensqualitat) was published in 2006 in conjunction with a three-year traveling exhibition in Germany. In recognition of that work, the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences awarded me the 2007 John P. McGovern Lectureship in Family, Health and Human Values.

The photographs presented in this exhibit offer an additional challenge to stereotypes about Alzheimer’s disease.

They show that while the losses created by the degenerative brain disease are real, people with Alzheimer’s are not, as they are often depicted, “empty shells”, completely lost. The photos show what quality health care looks like, and illustrate that such care allows people with Alzheimer’s disease to sustain connections to others and to their own past lives at a far higher level than is generally believed to be possible. The photographs reveal that they are capable of experiencing joy as well as sorrow, that loving care can yield loving responses and laughter.

I am indebted to the administrators and staff who allowed me to become part of their teams, and to the patients and family members who allowed me into their lives during difficult times. Thanks to them we can see how much can be done to if we expand not only the resources for quality care, but also our understanding and our imagination.

• FRANCE Alzheimer’s Service, Hopital de Cimiez, CHU de Nice • INDIA ARDSI (Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India) programs in Cochin and Kunnamkulum, state of Kerala •JAPAN Several Rakuwakai group homes in Kyoto; Hajyodo Group Home in Nagoya; Uchida hospital in Guma Province •USA Heather Hill Hospital, Chardon, Ohio; Four Silverado Senior Living Communities in Houston Texas; Hearthstone at the Esplanade, New York City Much still remains to be done to increase both public awareness of the issues and to provide healthcare professionals with knowledge and training in dementia care. I believe that photography can be an important tool in creating a new vision of what can be, of how to meet the growing need for quality care. Sebastião Salgado wrote about his work on migrations: “I hope that the person who comes into my show and the person who comes out are not quite the same.” My goal is to change minds and hearts, which is the mandate of social documentary photography. My aim for this work is to be a catalyst for education, cultural understanding, and social action.

CHARCOAL

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Minas INTERVIEW of the illustrator Tim Lee

M I N A S

INTERVIEW HOW DO YOU BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHER ?

I think I always wanted to take photographs and enjoyed the chase, without stopping to think why I do so… Taking photography courses in the past happened as pure coincidence but they were extremely helpful, cause I learned to love analog photography, the different shades of black, what a charlatan the light is. It took me years to admit myself as a photographer, in fear that if I did so, I would feel obliged to the «art» and should obey the rules and I always treated photography with a playful, almost child like spirit. Finally I accepted photography as a craftsmanship that anyone can practice. It gives me great pleasures and refreshes my mind with each clic.

POETRY IN YOUR PICTURES… Well, I read somewhere that the closest art form to photography is poetry rather than painting. It might be so. The endless possibilities, the placement of words and the heart and mind stimulus, a poem can affect... The same could be said about photography. I dont know about my pictures, if they convey things to people who view them. I am extremely curious about that. All I can say is that most of my pictures reveal themselves to me after they have been taken and processed.. I begin shooting in a «tabula rasa» manner. Like I see this world for the first time and want to take pictures of the essence of that new experience… Sometimes its pure shooting what I see, some other times a pattern, a hidden truth.

YOUR PROJECTS, WISHES FOR THE FUTURE ?

I get bored so easily, I can hardly keep shooting under a theme or a project. I just keep shooting and hopefully the themes and projects present themselves to me afterwards. I could not function otherwise. I wish I had more free time and money to buy all the films and cameras I desire, every little box and lenses, to see how differently they catch light onto film or digital sensor. I just hope I get the same pleasure out of photography for many years to come... http://www.flickr.com/photos/minas_papadopoulos/

T I M L E E

INTERVIEW COULD YOU PRESENT US YOUR ARTISTIC WORLD ?

My works are ink drawings on rice paper, based around the concepts of mortality & romance. I have always been drawn to such topics, they are apparent in the books, films and music I follow. Great art should move the viewer and it’s these topics I find that move me the most.

My drawings reference traditional Chinese methods of drawing and painting. The austere nature of such works appeal to me. They make me feel very human.

A METICULOUS AND CAREFUL WORK… I don’t see my work as particularly meticulous, I often find myself making mistakes or the wrong decision, but I like the fact they’re never perfect. I also don’t consider myself as overly careful in my drawings. True, I have to be delicate and respect the surface I work on but to me drawing is automatic. It sounds strange but I feel I’m conscious of the sentiment of the piece, yet unconscious when it comes to the execution.

YOUR INSPIRATION… I don’t think there’s much difference between inspiration and creation. It’s a cycle the more you create the more you get inspired. I get influenced by artist such as Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst, Haruki Murakami, Wong Kar Wai and many other artists whose work carry a sense of melancholy.

YOUR VISION OF HUMANITY It’s very difficult to comment on humanity being a human. We are equally alike and equally opposed. I think humanity and life will always be balanced and chaotic, of course I only hope for a utopian world though my idea of this will differ from yours.

YOUR PROJECTS, WHISHES FOR THE FUTURE… I wish to climb the ladder further into the Arts world. I would like more shows to exhibit in and raise my profile. I’m currently working on some ink paintings as well as my drawings, I have many areas I want to develop such as paintings and visual imagery in general. I find once you reach your goal another one has already arisen, it’s a constant battle but I hope I can keep challenging myself. www.timleeart.com

BOKEH.FR Bokeh.fr is a site about photographic expression. It enables amateur photographers to express themselves on given themes. Every week, the captain of the site sets up a photographic challenge. Members participate by entering a maximum of 5 photos. These photos are then submitted to the critique, evaluation and commentaries of peer from the community. These exchange of views allow members to progress and share a common passion: photography.

Bokeh.fr tries to show, via these challenges or via forums or interviews, that amateur photographers have talent too. The page dedicated to virtual exhibitions presents the best photographers from the site. www.bokeh.fr

Amongst the photographers who made it to the final of Bokeh.fr’s monthly challenges, Plateform is inviting Richard Vantielcke and Nicolas Murat.

PLATEFORM Magazine would like to apologize to Sebastien Le Gallo and Elaine Vallet for the inversion of the copyrights, Issue 060509, page 99

Richard VANTIELCKE «Welcome to parking club» www.ludimaginary.net

INSPIRATION

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« IN CLOUDS » Caroline KeÎ INTERVIEW of the jewel designer Iolene Alves Lima

C A R O L I N E K E Î

IN CLOUDS FOR YOU PHOTOGRAPHY IS… Silver film. Since I began the «In Clouds» serie, I completely left my digital camera aside! I prefer the part of randomness and surprise the use of films give… And I play a lot with chance, always trying new reels so I can never know what to expect; you have good and bad surprises, but in general, even in the case of strange colours result and far from what I imagined, and I get used to it in the end and love that kind of accidents. Photography is also for me a cathartic and liberating way to escape from this world in which I always found it difficult to find my place. We live in a society polluted by looks and profit without noticing the essential. As my serie «In Clouds» took shape, I brought a world to life away from all this, a world that existed underneath inside myself and just asked to come out.

DREAM-LIKE LANDSCAPES… I like the idea of creating a universe that never existed before and on which I lay upon a look of my own. People often think I travelled a lot and that I went far to take some of my pictures. Actually I took all of my pictures where I live nearby, suburb of Paris, guided by the movement of the clouds in the sky or leaves on branches, birds on wires and all these simple things surrounding me and inspiring.

YOUR WISHES FOR TOMORROW ?

To keep freezing my dreams to make images out of it, here and elsewhere, to travel, go backpacking filled with reels and bring back new pictures, Exhibit my work in beautiful places and reach people and make them dream. http://keikoo.book.fr http://myspace.com/carolinekei carolinekei@live.fr

I O L E N E L I M A

INTERVIEW HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT A COLLECTION ?

If it is commissioned work, it will depend on the client’s specifications. From there I’ll start researching the brand, to understand it fully in terms of style and existing material. I really need to target the brand at that point. I also like spending some time looking for images and colours. I like working on more ornamental shapes with modeling dough, then I photograph them and work from there.

THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF CREATION… I start with thorough research using any media at my disposal (websites, photographs, cut outs, modeling dough, books).

I look at everything that could inspire me on the subject. After this starts a selection process and from there the addition of light personal touches. I produce a wide variety of drafts. Neater drafts follow, to which I add touches of colour to my favourite drawings. Once the client has chosen a range of drawings, I prepare technical drawings and then final products coloured in gouache.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE VARIOUS MATERIALS YOU USE, AND HOW DO YOU WORK THEM ?

The choice of material is also dependant on the client. If we are talking about high jewelry, I have to work with precious metals. They must be the most beautiful and therefore the most expensive. For more contemporary jewelry, I can use plastics, wood, cloth… For my private work, I like working with the notion of transparency and lightness, so I use crystals, needlework and pebbles. iolenelima@hotmail (facebook) iolenelima@iolene.com iolenealmeida@yahoo.com (orkut)

FASHION VICTIM

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« MOI AVEC DES FILLES » Romain Mader INTERVIEW of the graphic designer Magda Antoniuk

R O M A I N M A D E R

MOI AVEC DES FILLES HOW IS THIS SERIE BORN ?

In the occasion of my photography class at the ECAL (Cantonal School of Art of Lausanne: http://www.ecal.ch) I had to make a serie of photographs around the theme «Body cult», after finding some different ideas, I plunged myself in this serie because it suits me, I think.

WHAT KIND OF WELCOME DID YOU HAVE BY THE HOSTESS ?

A positive and warming welcome, sometimes they didn’t understand the interest of these photographs but they almost all cooperated. One of the hostess was startled that I was given funds to make that kind of job.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE… I’m a little embarassed by this question, I don’t think I have a photographic universe defined yet, I just experiment for the moment. www.stereotyp.es romain@stereotyp.es

M A G D A A N T O N I U K

INTERVIEW WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM ?

Sometimes I’ll come up with something at the last minute but I am fascinated by street fashion and hipster girls… I always have something of that in my work.

WHAT TECHNIQUE DO YOU USE ?

Pencil... I love this medium...

YOUR DRAWINGS ARE LIKE B&W PICTURES...

B&W illustration... It’s like a window into another age...

A LOT OF EMOTIONS IN YOUR WORK...

I always start working from a certain feeling that I get inside... I believe that a picture tells a thousand words...

YOUR NEW PROJECTS ?

I’ve got a couple of personal projects going as well.... www.magdaantoniuk.com

APPARENCES

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« FACADES » Niels Ackerman INTERVIEW of the painter Balder

N I E L S A C K E R M A N

FAÇADES COULD YOU EXPLAIN TO US HOW THIS SERIES ORIGINATED ?

I have wanted to use the financial crisis in my work for a while. Last September, I had to illustrate an article about it for the newspaper Le Temps. It was one of the most difficult jobs ever because the crisis was just starting, because the newspaper hadn’t arranged anything with the banks so that I could shoot, let’s say, in a trading ring, and because the crisis was only affecting the banking sector at the time. I had to spend the day walking around the banking area, which is nothing like Wall Street. It’s a place near shops with loads of passers-by who don’t look like bankers and even the “true” bankers don’t look like ones.

A further constraint was that nobody should be recognizable and that there shouldn’t be any names of bank establishments visible. In the end, I simply produced photos of bankers on their cigarette breaks, very tightly framed. It was very frustrating not to be able to deliver more, but I think it was what the paper wanted anyway. If I had had the time, I would have done something like “a day in the life of a banker”, but I couldn’t. A few months later, while having a stroll along the Rue de Rhone, the most expensive street in Geneva, where the most prestigious banks stand side by side with exclusive jewelers, I noticed metallic gates on the banks’ doors. I thought “hey, looks like they are in liquidation” and this is how the series started.

PHOTOGRAPHY AS A WAY TO DENOUNCE ?

Denounce what? No, the main goal was to find a new way to present a problem that had already been widely shown. It was the buzzword at Rezo, to try and find a new angle, a new approach, a way to break away from the usual visual codes in order to present differently a theme that would be unnoticed if presented using clichés. I like this type of approach. If you consider photography as something that must question and not only transmit raw information, you have to constantly find ways to capture the viewers’ attention. You can use the light, the colours, or post process, but sometimes it is just about showing another side of the subject.

For instance, locked doors are a metaphor for many things: the banks’ tradition for secrecy, bankruptcy, the lack of transparency and the closed off side of Swiss people… I thought it would be something to work on, while being aware that single images would probably not work and that I would have to work with diptychs or even triptychs for the opus to be successful. I haven’t tried to present this series to any magazine yet and I am happy to be able to show it here.

WHAT ARE YOUR PROJECTS AND DESIRES FOR THE FUTURE ?

I’d like to travel for a while and to try and define what I like about photography and what it means to me. http://www.nack.ch/

INTERVIEW YOUR CAREER...

I come from the north, it is told to be a cold area, it is a beautiful country, filled with hills. I’ve been working my eyes there, then I went to the south, under the sun, I frowned to look at the details. I turned my head and I grabbed a breeze to land In Asia. I learned to listen, turned around but nothing new for the moment in the west. I am a refugee and drawing is my refuge land. Let my hand go and my eye contemplate. It is obvious, vital, an urge to evacuate in order to satisfy oneself and grow up. I could also say in a formal way that I come from applied arts. It was for me a practising time where I learned graphics, typography, communication and colours. But that wouldn’t sum everything up saying that, it is a complex processing.

B A L D E R

YOUR TECHNIC...

I tell a story, life, a piece of a life. Collage appeared to me as an obvious technic to materialize this. The little pieces of paper I chose tell stories, they are pieces of mixed informations. Like everybody’s life, we all bear signs on our bodies that some people can decipher to understand us. There are words on my portraits, words to read and when you know the person you puzzled them out. You understand and imagine. Collage is not an easy technic, it can warp wood if you don’t handle it properly. Then you have different chemical reactions, different kind of papers, glue, polish and paint which can come as awful surprises in the beggining. In fact, you have to imagine a puzzle, you draw on different piece of paper a nose, a chin, an arm and you re-assemble the all thing, it is long but when the puzzle is done it’s great.

YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION...

You, people, the street. I walk around a lot with my head up to the sky or staring any shape moving, crouching, I am the line which draws on my notebook my contemporary fellows. I let myself guided, I listen to the sensual voice who speaks to me and tells me to go here or there, like a muse. Artists are transmitter-receivers and we’re translating waves in a different way according each characters. It is often in great instant of fatigue that the best things come to me, that’s the reason why I don’t sleep much, I paint at night and sketch in the day, and the daylight is quite helpful to draw I must say. I don’t know if there’s any adrenaline for artists, but I like it.

COMPOSITIONS...

I use papers and matters from the street. In big cities we have today, identities of individuals, the culture of those individuals contaminate each others. What makes an identity, a culture? Language, writing, who we are, how we live. Everything is like a code: colours, shapes, drawing of letters. Everything is just codifying, there a smart way of communicate for the human being, but he conceals his messages, language itself is codified, but who are we really and who are you? Someone ask you your career, your study, your work, your social part to determine who you are. But what makes you being you, not necessarily your job or your study. but most certainly your sensitivity, tastes, what makes you vibrate, your emotions, therein are my compositions.

ANY CURRENT PROJECTS ?

I’m fixing a barn to built my workshop in it; I’m working on it already. An urban artist in countryside, I like it. I want to drink a glass of wine under the moonlight too. http://www.myspace.com/wunderbalder

SWEET IMAGINATION

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« DIARY » Jaime Monfort INTERVIEW of the illustrator Krystel

J A I M E M O N F O R T

DIARY ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY… I got into photography after becoming a father. I like the idea of my daughters have quality photos at the same time it was an escape from an intense family life and my daily routine. Little by little I became more interested. Now I always carry a camera with me. Photography has becomed an obsession.

A CHILDHOOD DIARY… Children, specially my daughters, are a constant in my photography. Sometimes I think I am always returning to the same subject. I try to approach to different subjects but I go back to the children. It is what my heart says. I try to depersonalize my pictures taking them from behind, blurring them or even smudging them. I don’t want to show the world how cute my daugters are. I want to go further on. I’m interested in their emotions, their behaviour.

My wife says that I am creating a tailored world to my daughters. A world without agressivity, ideal, like in a dream. A different world because I don’t like the real world.

YOUR WISHES FOR TOMORROW… I would like not to get tired of taking pictures, finding new subjects and techniques to maintain alive my passion. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaime_monfort/

INTERVIEW

K R Y S T E L

HOW DO YOU BECOME AN ILLUSTRATOR – GRAPHIC ARTIST ?

I have been drawing ever since I was a little girl. I used to love watching Japanese cartoons on TV, play video games and read comic strips and mangas. I was always amazed by the graphics and the characters and I was already thinking that I would like to draw like this too; I would also think it was nothing but a dream. Towards the end of secondary school, when I was asked what I wanted to do after my A levels, I really couldn’t see myself in a traditional job. Only drawing interested me. While reading an animation magazine, I came across an advert for the Pivaut School, in Nantes (close to home), that offered training in graphic design, animation and graphic novel illustration. So I joined. At first I was interested in animation, but it wasn’t really for me. Illustration and graphic novels imposed themselves on me. I graduated and spent a few months to build up a portfolio to take around to publishers, while working on a graphic novel project. It was around that time that I got interested in digital art (at school we learnt traditional painting techniques and some software, but not to explore digital painting) and I learnt a lot. I ended up signing up for a Novel for the Humanoides Associés while working freelance illustrating young people’s magazines.

WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION ?

I don’t know. I find it in the writers and illustrators I like I suppose, in the music I listen to, the films I watch, in the little things that happen every day, it’s a mixture of all this. It all depends on my mood too.

HEROIC FANTASY… I have worked in heroic fantasy, like a lot of illustrators at the moment, but it is not my favourite universe. It is over codified: if I say “heroic fantasy” to someone, they automatically think elves, orcs, dwarfs, humans, magic, in short of some sort of medieval universe whose stereotypes are difficult to escape from. I prefer being more free in my work and I find it a waste to stop at a particular universe, style or period, when nothing really forces us to. Personally, I love mixing things up.

COULD YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECTS ?

At the moment I am working on a project called “Ash”, but I can’t really talk about it. All I can say is that it should come out in 2010. I’ll talk about “Poupée” instead, which was made for le Humanoides Associes. That was my first “real” project. The editors had the story already and were looking for an illustrator and they picked me. It could be seen as an Heroic Fantasy project, but Aurelie Derbier, the writer, had created her own universe that was nearly SF or Asian Fantasy. There were laputas (floating islands) with very technological aspects, which left me a lot of freedom design wise as I was not subject to the same constraints. I was also feeling very close to the heroin, Poupée, and to her… emptiness shall I say, but whose progression was promising. Aurelie wanted also to develop themes linked to the souls of the characters and I liked that very much. Unfortunately, the publisher ran into difficulties and we had to stop the project after 10 pages only. Maybe we’ll come back to it at a later date with another publisher.

YOUR OBJECTIVES FOR THE FUTURE ?

I’d like to live off my art, obviously. I’m going to carry on working on “Ash” and I hope it will be successful. I’d like to do some illustration work for young or older kids and write my own graphic novel, not just draw or colour it. I have always dreamt of working as a character designer for games or animations. This is really something I’d like to try.

I would also like to do some art just for myself and not just for commissioned work, as it is always a bit frustrating and because you can progress and experiment more on personal projects. Here you go, that’s quite a lot already! http://krystelaccueil.canalblog.com/

Have participated to this issue : LAURENCE GUENOUN - PUBLICATION DIRECTOR / AD CARINE LAUTIER - EDITOR IN CHIEF CANDICE NGUYEN - COMMUNICATION & ADVERTISING +33 689 921 043 JORG FISCHER - GRAPHIC DESIGNER / AD MATHIEU DROUET - WEBMASTER ÉRIC BATTISTELLI - JOURNALIST CHRISTOPHE DILLINGER - TRANSLATION VANESSA COQUELLE - TRANSLATION VINCENT BENHARTT - TRANSLATION VÉRONIQUE DE LAUNAY – FRENCH CORRECTOR LAURENCE GUENOUN© - PHOTO COVER Thanks for their help and support to : BENOIT MARTINEZ www.ensp-arles.com FREDERIC HIARD www.virusphoto.com ANTONY BARROUX www.pixfan.com CEDRIC DUMENIL www.unjourunsite.be

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