ARTIST FRANCOIS VOGEL
FRENCH ARTIST WORKING ON PHOTOGRAPHY, SHORT FILMS, AND INSTALLATIONS BASED ON THE NOTION OF DISTORTING REALITY
Your greatest inspirations or influences?
I’ve always been very impressed by scientists discoveries. The idea of building a new theory is fascinating. Because it is both a creation and a revelation. It describes a reality of the nature such as gravity for instance, but it requires imagination to turn it into mathematical rules. This kind of mix between truth (gravity exists) and creation (the equations that describe it are invented) is really fascinating. In that sense there is beauty in mathematic or physics equations.
For some reason, when I was younger, I was thinking that something similar was going on with arts. That there were new rules to discover. Those were thoughts of a young man who didn’t know much about art, but I guess they influenced my way of doing art, even until now.
Tell us a bit about your creative process?
I think the creative process is a balance between experimentation, knowledge and daydreaming. I personally find a lot of inspiration just by going out for a walk.
There was a time and space installation that I did about five years ago called “Élongations”. I like it because it shows something totally normal: a city street with cars and pedestrians. But the image seamlessly distorts in something that is half way between abstract and figurative. You can tell that nothing was added to the image, like no crazy CGI for instance. Everything that was shot is there and nothing else. However, it is as if the image was coming from another dimension. It’s like seeing reality with different eyes.
How has this year changed your creativity or how you see the world changing moving forward?
I started an Instagram account in 2019. It was pretty slow until the pandemic. And then, for some reason, it grew a lot bigger. The relative success of this account made me want to do more short videos. That was a kind of positive part for me during those times. But on the other hand, many jobs got cancelled and that wasn’t fun. Overall I feel very lucky, I live in a nice environment with people I love.
What scares me about the changing world is that it reinforces the injustices. Amazon is growing and the little shop around the corner is closing. That is unfair. I was also surprised to see how governments were able to force an entire country to stay home and wear masks. I hope they can be that strong for other purposes such as fighting global warming.
Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?
Marie Curie. She was a genius. And she fought for things that we hear a lot about in our current times. She fought for health, for women’s rights, for the people’s education, for peace. I am also fascinated by her expression on her photographs. It feels both sweet and sad at the same time, it’s as if brilliance, genius and strength were hidden behind those feelings.
And then I also think about all the unknowns who are closer to humility and hedonism than fame and fight for power. Unfortunately none of them would ever be icons. But a lot of us should take examples from them.
Do you think the art world needs to change, and if so how can it be improved.
The art world may need a little bit of humility. Once I participated in a collective exhibition and was shocked to witness that one of the invited artists didn’t shake the hand (this was before Covid) of a worker from the county services. I just couldn’t believe it!
Yes Francois, we completely agree, there are people in the art world who take themselves way too seriously and in our opinion there is nothing more beautiful than a great talent who is humble at the same time. Thank you for sharing with us today Francois.
