ITW - Sébastien Cheramy

I think Sebastien is one of my favorite artist as his work mixes everything I love: mixed media, a kind of "street art" influence, and the search for order and balance in a harsh and raw world. It looks like to me that his work is about bringing back memories, nostalgia at some point; but we are still in a bright world where color comes to light the things up!

‍

Let's start with the beginning! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Who you are, where are you from and since how long have you been an artist?

Hello Anthony, and thank you for this interview,

To tell you about myself: I was born and raised in France, I have a somewhat winding school career, but art has always been present from my youngest age. I studied art history at the University of Tours, and did an apprenticeship in the arts and more specifically stained glass. I come from a family where art was not obvious but I was never prevented from doing what I wanted. I paint since childhood it was my refuge. I actually work in a university where arts are not the main topic, but it's interesting to me because I can transmit, share and introduce students to this essential topic. My career as a painter was very discreet, even intimate, but it was enough for me. At the time I never really had the ambition to be considered as an artist and at the same time I never did painting as if it was not serious for me. So we can say that like my works I took my time.

‍

‍

Is the current period a good opportunity to create, or is there anything special making it more difficult? Did the lockdown have an impact on your Art?

This period humanly speaking is a real disaster, it tears many of our certainties. For me, the first confinement was a great moment in my life, I was finally able to take action on my real needs. Painting has always been a part of my life but I realized that it was time for me to show my work more seriously. This period made me cross the road to my needs. I spent all my time painting and showing my work, it was also the way to be in contact with thousands of people all over the world.

‍

Do you have any particular influences or references in the Art field?

I am trained as an art historian, therefore I believe that I am influenced by many periods and artists from all eras. Very quickly, abstract art was the language that I chose and since antiquity one can vibrate in front of abstract works. If I were to retain a great pictorial shock anyway, I would say that the discovery one day by chance of the work of Antoni Tapiès was a revelation for me.

‍

Let's go deeper into your style: how would you self-define your own style? What animates your creative process?

If I had to identify the constants in my work, I would analyze it this way:

walking in the streets we often find things ... the walls are emergences, we can find symbolic elements. Why I have a suggestion with these images, I have never reasoned, I am intuitive. The walls give me impressions, feelings: sometimes negative or even oppression and tragedy. They are also for me a place of contemplation, of meditation, moreover the first text of the founder of Zen Buddhism is entitled "The contemplation of the wall".

These spaces are no longer a place used to enclose, separate and prevent seeing, on the contrary they become a place, a space and an opening towards other things. Scratches, damp spots, cracks ... the passage of time, the symbol of stale things, closed doors, the dark and cold color of rotten ... Suddenly you see a cross, a line or a writing brightly colored, a gesture of life that is tragic and meaningless to most. Here is the contrast, the balance between life and death that emerges. Life and death, an invariable constant in my work.

I don't know if I can do it, but I would like my work to lead the viewer to reflect, to meditate in front of an abstraction that is not one, my work takes the viewer towards the "real", at least the one I perceive.

I work slowly through a succession of layers of material and little by little this material becomes a language, it works with my way of expressing things. The material is very symbolic, the latter intrinsically has sufficient characteristics to express and feel things. At the beginning when I do a painting, I can get a more or less concrete idea, but I don't know which image will appear. Your idea may be good in intention, but sometimes the material doesn't say anything at all. There are aesthetic laws that matter has and your creation follows a path of its own, a path by the same sign of the intentions of the actor.

‍

‍

You're working a lot with texture, also drips and splashes; how those imperfections are important to you?

These imperfections as you name them are vital for the balance of the work. These are accidents that I cause but which have their own path. I let the material express itself, the textures become. These accidents on the canvas underline the fight that there was between me, the canvas and the material. Sometimes I get effects that I wanted to see appear and sometimes it does. he is the material that offers me a proposal that is beyond me but which becomes essential in the pictorial structure of the work.

‍

About the name of your works: can you explain how you define the "Kairos" concept, and the attached series you created (big fan of this concept!)? How does it influence your work?

All of my work is divided into three large important series: Koan, KAIROS, FROM WITHIN ... (there are others but the bulk of the works are divided into these three series). I have always worked from music, reading, research on ancient cultures etc ... When I start a painting I don't know in advance which series it will be in.

Kairos by definition is "the time of the opportune occasion".

By digging a little, you quickly come across its opposite: linear time, "chronos". And the "aion", or the very long time of generation, of the era, which touches on destiny, even eternity.

We are on a philosophical concept questioning time and how we can feel time. Kairos is punctual, this moment full of promises, which cannot be foreseen, does not take place ... but is keen on everyone to seize it in the moment, otherwise it will disappear instantly and permanently. When I paint my senses its alert and when I feel that a work belongs to the moment of Kairos I stop and this time therefore exists in painting.

When a spectator looks at a work, he too can see time. In an instant you can be captivated by the strength of a work. The viewer can also experience the KAIROS.

‍

It looks to me that your color palette, and overall style is "urban"; watching your compositions make me think of a walk down the streets, where I can see some "imaginary stories" painted over some walls. How do you feel about this kind of comparison?

If you have this feeling in front of my works, it is because part of my work as a painter is well done. As I told you, the street, the traces of life and the time that we find there, are important.

Leonardo da Vinci in his treatise on painting said:

"If you look at walls stained with stains, or made of stones of different species, and you have to imagine a scene, you will see varied landscapes, mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, great valleys. and various groups of hills. There you will also find fights and fast moving figures, eerie tunes of faces, exotic costumes and endless things that you can reduce to distinct and well-designed shapes. Is of these different stone walls and mixtures, like the sound of bells, each stroke of which evokes the name or the word you imagine ".

My abstract work is based on reality, but to see it or feel it you have to accept to feel and to be right here now.

‍

Is the size of your work important? I mean, do you have any preference on the canvas size, or you could be able to do the same with a small or a huge canvas?

I like my formats to take the viewer's entire visual field, it's important for them to feel immersed. But I also work with small formats.

‍

‍

Finally, do you look at what other artists are doing? What are your thoughts about contemporary art, and today's art field in general?

Yes of course I watch what other artists are doing, instagram is a great tool for that. What I observe is that artistic creation is very alive and painting, contrary to what many said, is still very dynamic. Many artists are becoming a new source of energy. When in the artistic field, I was very critical for a long time, we saw a lot and imposed styles and concepts. But eventually I don't care at all anymore.

‍

Are there some artists you would recommend following today? We are all curious about discovering new artists!

I have a lot of friends and reference artists but to quote them all would be long and boring for sure. But hey among abstract painters I discovered the work of Sam Lock and Kaj Ard which upsets me enormously, among figurative painters I will quote a painter who underlines and highlights all the humanity of men Emmanuel Michel .... But there are so many more to name.

‍

Do you have any project running that you can talk about? What are you currently working on? Any exhibition soon maybe?  

With the pandemic, I had the cancellation of my two exhibitions which was to mark my start of the year. I have contacts with gallery owners too, but nothing definitive. But nothing serious for me, I have time. Otherwise I have a big project that is starting to come true, I'm working on a book where we can see my works. Rather, it will be a collection of poetry and paintings, but it is more for the second half of the year.

One thing is certain I will paint even more this year!

‍

‍

Thanks a lot Sebastien for your time. If you'd like to see more of his work, please check his Instagram page : @sebcher and take some time to visit his website : https://www.sebastiencheramy.com/. 

‍

Anthony

‍