By: Azad Karimi
I think though there has been a succession of people who have played a role in inspiring me to create (my parents, teachers, friends), each of them in their own way contributing to who I have become, I believe that the forces which pushed me to become an artist were always inside of me.
Interview
French Plastic artist Fabien Yvon
By Azad Karimi
My dear friend Fabien has written about the various exhibitions and galleries he has set up to present his work.
Organizing such exhibitions is very useful, because the audience can see the works of their favorite artist directly or even meet new artists, and this is a valuable cultural process to create artist progress and artistic convention in the community.
By doing this, people can like and emulate what they like. This means trying to develop self-expression and ideas ... In this way, the atmosphere of society is calm and healthy, and people can think in this atmosphere and become part of this culture-building and creative process.
A society that consumes cultural artifacts has a lazy mind. He consumes whatever they give him. This society has weak discernment, tends to tyranny, has false self-confidence, is conservative and dogmatic. While he says that destiny is from God, he has the least belief in God ...
Authoritarian societies in the Middle East are notable examples, with the exception of Israel, which has a democracy. The countries of the Middle East are deprived of the individual and social freedoms that we have in Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world. Especially Iran, which is a symbol of tyranny and oppression, as well as Turkey ...
In such countries, art and literature are highly ideological because society is bipolar. On the one hand, the government is trying to promote its cultural values, and on the other hand, the opposition is trying to mobilize the society to resist the government while presenting its cultural values while fighting against the cultural values of the government.
As a former member of Iranian society, I have seen this. There has never been a third pole in Iran... Since 1996, a government movement called Reformism has tried to instill this issue to show the people of Iran and the world of politics that it is the third pole.
To be honest, in practice this current could not prove that it is the third pole because the third pole has dynamism and potentially independent of the other two currents, even though it is part of that society but governmental reformism is just an incomplete and controlled split in the Iranian system of government that seeks to control more of the three forces and material resources otherwise, something called religious democracy and Islamic democracy cannot be defined because it is an abstract concept.
Finally, what I have to say is that Iran and countries like Iran, unless they have an independent current of thought, ever can not create a third pole to create the civilized and modern cultural manifestations of today.
In the shadow of this third pole that creates cultural manifestations, the level of awareness of the audience rises and the society can draw its expectations from a production process and try to be more of a producer than a consumer.
I think these are more anthropological and sociological issues than purely theoretical political issues .... Anyway, I wish success and prosperity to human societies.
I wish my dear friend Fabien success, progress, and happiness. I hope one day to be able to visit one of his art galleries in Paris.
Thank you!
Vestland-Norway
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1- Please present yourself: Name, education, Civil status and…
.My name is Fabien Yvon, I was born in 1989 in France. My dad was an in the military man and my mum a housewife. I’m the youngest of three children. We lived in different barracks across France during my childhood.
Now, I live and work in Brittany in a house that is also my workshop.
2-What is your artistic speciality?
.Lately, I’ve been focusing on drawing. Drawing has always been an important part of my work. I also paint and work with engravings. The plurality of my artistic practice, working in-depth with each of those disciplines alongside each other, allows each practice to nourish and enrich the others. When I draw, I use mechanical pencils on very white paper.
3- When and how did you become interested in this field of art?
. I have always enjoyed working with my hands. I was often bored at school and art, sport and music were the subjects which appealed to me the most. When I moved to high school, I was successful in securing a place in a class dedicated to applied arts which allowed me to grow and explore my relationship with creation, which I wouldn’t have been able to access in any other course. Even though this course was more oriented towards architecture, object design, and visual communication, this precious opportunity ushered me into the artistic world, aroused my curiosity and offered the necessary space to begin to think about my own artistic journey. In order to escape the constraint of design and build my own art practice, I moved to Art School in Le Mans, central France, to study for 5 years. After completing my masters, I worked in the edition and printing workshop of Limoge’s art school. Following that experience, I became an intaglio technician at the URDLA (center of prints and books) in the city of Lyon. I also taught as an art teacher in secondary schools before deciding to dedicate myself entirely to my artistic practice in 2018.
4- Who was your motivator?
. I think though there has been a succession of people who have played a role in inspiring me to create (my parents, teachers, friends), each of them in their own way contributing to who I have become, I believe that the forces which pushed me to become an artist were always inside of me. To create is a necessity for me, an outlet that is essential to my happiness.
5- What was your parent’s reaction?
.Though the conviction that I would become an artist made itself clear at an early age, I never shared it with my parents. When I left home to study in art school, for them, it did not ring alarm bells as these schools in France are notoriously not restrictive in the professional prospects that they offer. It could lead me to a variety of jobs. When I completed my masters and began to work in different jobs, as an intaglio technician in art schools and as a secondary school teacher, this definitely brought relief to my parents : those jobs offered stability. The transition to full time professional life as an artist was smooth, and thus did not provoke any debate or strong emotions. Since childhood, I always knew that ultimately, they would let me make my own choices about my future.
6- When did you become such a professional Plastic artist?
. I graduated from art school in 2012 and always continued my artistic work alongside the different jobs I took on. I only feel truly myself when I create. That is why I decided to dedicate myself entirely to creation. As soon as I left school I began to display my work in different group exhibitions; in prestigious locations, sometimes in more mysterious locations in France but also in Warsaw, Poland. I have also had the opportunity to display my work in personal exhibitions and to take part in several art awards.
This year I had the opportunity to display my work in Paris in the H Gallery where I was lucky to meet some very interesting people. I was also short-listed for the David Weill Award (Paris’s Fine Arts Academy, Institut of France). I was also invited to work as an artist-in-residence in the Openbach gallery (Paris) which led to an exhibition. My social media presence has enabled me to make key connections, with collectors, but especially with a gallery manager, Olivier Waltman, whose galleries (Paris and Miami) are now representing me.
7-Are you thankful and happy because your activities as Plastic artist?
. Yes, I am very happy to do what I do. As I mentioned earlier, for me, it is a need. I have always struggled with expressing myself with words. Art is a visual language that allows for another form of expression. Nevertheless, some aspects of my work as an artist are a constraint, just like in any other job, no matter how fascinating it is!
- How do you see the perspective on art, culture and Plastic art?
. This is an important question which I will answer very briefly. I believe that Art and Culture are essential to humans, to allow them to question the world which surrounds them, to leave their mark, to share their emotions… And despite the political and global health context which is currently putting particular pressure on the cultural world, I cannot imagine a world without art.
9- Can you become one part of the cultural movement for motivation in youth or new generations in your country and so on?
.What a great prospect to pass on knowledge to a new generation: skills, a thirst for questioning, and a particular outlook on life and on the world we live in. As a teacher, I already began to share my love for art. I soon realized that I wasn’t entirely available at the time and that I had to allow my practice to evolve before considering investing more of my time and energy into teaching.
10- How can you help our world become a better place to live?
.For a few years now, I have begun to build new habits, in my life, to protect our environment.
I have built most of the furniture in my workshop and house with second-hand materials. I like the idea of giving things a second life. I also have a garden and chickens. This allows me to take steps towards a form of independence and self-sufficiency which is more respectful of nature. I notice, around me, more and more people entering into this process and I really think this is a good thing. Lots of small actions that play a real part in our future, even thought they sometime seem insignificant.
11- Have you more words to say or suggest for our readers?
.If I was able to build my life as it is today, it’s mostly thanks to my stubbornness, my recklessness sometimes, often maybe. The choices I made, which were not always easy, were often the most decisive. Other choices imposed themselves on me, through encounters, separations, conversations…
The people who surround me, support me, and put up with me, make me what I am in a way that I couldn’t imagine a short time ago. Time is a gift that is worth taking for yourself and for others. It cannot be stopped, constantly moving and I’m trying to run by its side to have no regret.
https://fabienyvon.com/?fbclid=IwAR2maCwsUvbTOuduNIfsr1VZuIiK6Y9Nvaatb6cIIGyo3UHkbae4LgUGgx0
