An interview with artist Agathe de Bailliencourt

Born in 1974, Agathe de Bailliencourt is a French artist living and working in Singapore. After the Beaux-Arts and Ecole Boulle in Paris, she developed her work in France, India and Singapore.

Her paintings draw inspiration from intimate conversations and raw expressions of the present self. Her work appears on canvas and paper as well as directly applied on walls. About her work, Mr Fumio Nanjo, deputy director of the Mori Museum in Tokyo, says : "these days this kind of freedom and joy expressed through painting is rare."

From time to time Agathe lets special collaborations take place in her creative universe. Currently she is collaborating with Theseus Chan (WORK) to create the design of Singapore's first visual arts biennale: Singapore Biennale 2006 (SB2006). She did a commission for Colette meets Comme des Garcons Tokyo store and her first painted wall appeared at the Comme des Garcons Guerrilla Store in Singapore. Agathe has also drawn an award winning advertising campaign for Ogilvy & Mather Asia, which went to win a Gold and a Silver Lion at the 2005 Cannes Lion Awards and the best of show award at the 2004 Singapore Creative Circle award.

Agathe’s work has been exhibited at the Shanghai Youth Biennale (curator Mr Fumio Nanjo), at Galerie Catherine et Andre Hug in Paris and at Taksu Gallery in Singapore & Kuala Lumpur. Her work have also been selected for the first Singapore Biennale which will take place in September 2006.

For more infos about Agathe de Bailliencourt, please visit her website:
http://www.agathedeb.com


RJ says:
Hello Agathe

agathe says:
Bonjour Raj ! How are you?

RJ says:
Good

RJ says:
Tell me a little about you.

RJ says:
For instance, where were you born and how did you become an artist?

agathe says:
I was born at Neuilly/Seine exactly (suburbs of paris) in 1974.

agathe says:
how did i become a artist a a tricky question...well I think you are born as an artist; you don't 'become one. I don't know if you know what I mean, but it's something inside you.... you have to be an artist in a way, it's like that…you have no choice.

agathe says:
for me it's always been there.

RJ says:
lets explore that a little if you don’t mind..

RJ says:
how do you know? how does it become clear? does it hit you on the head all of a sudden or does it reveal itself slowly? what exactly happened to you?

agathe says:
First of all when I was a kid with my sister we were always doing stuff with our hands, create games etc... And my father is an artist (but it was not his job cos he had to make a living for his family...) anyway my parents were divorced and each time we were going to my father's flat in Paris, we made, we created stuff. Like for example if we decide to play cards we're actually drawing the cards first.

agathe says:
It was a very specific climate where you express yourself all the time, you make instead of buying straight away....

agathe says:
so this has been important for me because when I was a kid I made many things: puppets, watercolor painting, sculptures with clay, anything...I created a newspaper, clothes, created a show on TV or on radio, created cakes, drew dolls with paper and created the city where they are lived etc... and always with my sister.

RJ says:
This is all very interesting..please go on.

agathe says:
But then when I was a teenager I was very unhappy at school. but I got my A levels (baccalaureat in French) as everyone.... and my mum (really cool person) told me to choose studies I really wanted to do without thinking of money or if I would be able to get a job afterwards? So a little bit by chance I entered a one year course (kind of preparatory) to prepare for exams for the main Art school in Paris.

agathe says:
"Les Beaux-Arts". I was 18.

agathe says:
During this year it was a "revelation"... it was straight away very obvious that my stuff was art/creative field....

RJ says:
And what happened after that?

agathe says:
well after one year in this preparatory school (very important because it's been the starting point of what I'm doing now), I succeeded in the exams and I entered les beaux-arts at cergy pontoise (suburb of Paris).

RJ says:
Ah..wonderful!

RJ says:
So there were hints of a creative spirit within you from the beginning? A need to make things? To create!

agathe says:
Definitely....

agathe says:
need to make, to express myself.

agathe says:
my sister and I were able to play hours only with a few things... because we created games, other 'worlds' just with a pen and paper... my parents or grandparents were really happy with us because they didn't have really to make us play or take care of us...

RJ says:
So tell me Agathe...why did you choose canvas as a medium? Was it a conscious choice? Were you drawn towards a two-dimensional plane to express your ideas, your emotions?

agathe says:
Well first I've worked on paper, with pencil, charcoal.... and then I wanted to use colors, so painting and then I've discovered canvas... It's also part of the process to make a living. because I work also on walls... but it's harder to sell at first..

agathe says:
Actually one of my favorite medium is walls. Because exactly as you said the two-dimension becomes 3... when I work on walls I don't use only the flat part (similar as a canvas in a way) I like to use the ceiling, floor, columms if any...etc the painting/drawing spread in the space and this is what interested me the most these days... I'll try to make a room for the Singapore biennale which will start early september.

RJ says:
Congratulations Agathe.. I look forward to seeing your exhibit this at the Biennale!!

agathe says:
But I like canvas... it's just a different kind of process and a more "commercial" way to express myself....

agathe says:
I'm always worked on parallel medium in the same time... it's always a different process.

RJ says:
I am trying to understand that last comment Agathe..can you explain a little..what do you mean by a parallel medium? Do you mean wall and canvas etc? If so what else will you explore?

agathe says:
Paper of course. I'd like to draw on huge pieces of paper, but it's not easy to find. or I don't know I guess it goes with your own evolution, you can paint on anything... so when I say parallel medium I mean that I work on paper, and in the same time I also paint on canvas and in the same time I work on a project on walls. 3 different ways to use your head, energy, and time of course.

RJ says:
sure..

agathe says:
But when I say 'head" i should say feelings or emotions..

RJ says:
I want to quickly touch on you wonderful 'style' for want of a better word....would you say that there is a 'graffiti' or street art kind of origin to your paintings?

agathe says:
No.... i mean for me my stuff has nothing to do with graffiti in a sense of political demands.. you know the kind of stuff you find in every city... maybe the common point is that my work also talks about identity and in a way graffiti is also that. To affirm yourself in front of everyone. But otherwise my work is just as it is. I need to write (it's beyond me, I don't choose to write) and I like scribbles, doodles because there are ‘human’! They are full of humanity.....

RJ says:
This is a great point and something that is close to my heart ..doodling! How and why do you think it reveals humanity? How is scribbling and doodling human?

agathe says:
Because they don't lie.... the most important thing for me is sincerity... being like you are without hiding, without fear of what others will say etc.

RJ says:
Wonderful..Wonderful..I agree.

agathe says:
Scribbling or doodling expresses the energy that need to come out (anger or joy doesn't matter...), but the most important is to let go...... let go and free yourself.

RJ says:
Thanks a bunch Agathe..I want to ask you so much more.. I want especially to know about your Singapore Biennale piece.

RJ says:
Can you quickly perhaps tell us what you will be doing for Singapore Biennale and what are your thoughts behind it?

agathe says:
Well as I said I would like to work on a space, a room and to let my hands do what ever it wants to do inside the space.... on the walls, but floor, columns, window... art without limit!

RJ says:
Do you have any idea just now when and where it would be?

agathe says:
Where?.. Yes.. but I'm not sure I can say it as yet because my specific space has not been confirmed as yet by the artistic director Fumio Nanjo.... When? Well, Singapore Biennale starts on the 2nd of September till mid of November... but you should see some doodles in the city before as I'm doing the design with Theseus Chan. He uses my drawings in the visual identity of the biennale.

RJ says:
Cool!

agathe says:
The idea is to make Singapore dirty.......

RJ says:
Ha ha..wonderful..dirty pretty..pretty dirty..haha.

agathe says:
Well I'm kidding but at least to give a kind of humanity to the too clean streets....

RJ says:
Yes..yes..I am sure it will be a hit.. I believe it already is!

RJ says:
Anyway, thanks again Agathe.

agathe says:
A bientot !

RJ says:
thanks and A bientot!