1
00:00:25,182 --> 00:00:27,098
THOMAS DESCHAMPS, artist-painter

2
00:00:31,914 --> 00:00:34,465
This is the place where I paint,

3
00:00:34,465 --> 00:00:37,246
my atelier near Montreuil.

4
00:00:37,246 --> 00:00:40,474
I usually arrive in the morning,

5
00:00:40,474 --> 00:00:43,895
I set everything up. I set my canvas.

6
00:00:44,775 --> 00:00:47,726
I always follow my little ritual:

7
00:00:47,757 --> 00:00:50,652
I get in, I turn on the music.

8
00:00:50,652 --> 00:00:53,074
Usually, I put on jazz because

9
00:00:53,074 --> 00:00:56,083
it gives a nice feeling when painting,

10
00:00:56,083 --> 00:00:59,240
as it has a lot of rhythm and is not too aggressive.

11
00:01:01,009 --> 00:01:04,554
So, this is what I call my laboratory.

12
00:01:24,169 --> 00:01:27,517
What gives me a thrill when I'm painting

13
00:01:27,517 --> 00:01:31,204
is the contrasts, composition, colors

14
00:01:31,204 --> 00:01:33,443
and also the shape.

15
00:01:33,443 --> 00:01:35,228
Considering this, one can think that

16
00:01:35,243 --> 00:01:37,370
there is an unbalance in my paintings

17
00:01:37,370 --> 00:01:39,833
but actually it is the dichotomy

18
00:01:39,833 --> 00:01:43,564
in creating balance in something that is unbalanced.

19
00:01:51,287 --> 00:01:54,520
I always follow this idea where I see myself

20
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,714
as an aerialist with a pendulum,

21
00:01:57,714 --> 00:02:01,394
asking myself a question:

22
00:02:01,394 --> 00:02:03,238
why I put the stroke here and not there

23
00:02:03,512 --> 00:02:07,215
and how to counter-balance it.

24
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:21,578
In my paintings, the main leitmotiv is the nexus,

25
00:02:21,578 --> 00:02:24,889
because it's a fundamental element of our society.

26
00:02:24,889 --> 00:02:29,271
It makes each one of us linked to one another,

27
00:02:29,271 --> 00:02:31,702
sometimes the string is invisible,

28
00:02:31,702 --> 00:02:34,720
for example, my pants or my t-shirt,

29
00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,068
it had to be created by someone,

30
00:02:37,083 --> 00:02:39,175
so it means that there was a human hand involved

31
00:02:39,175 --> 00:02:41,520
in the process of making it at some point.

32
00:02:41,566 --> 00:02:43,895
And with this invisible string we are all connected.

33
00:02:44,065 --> 00:02:47,022
It can be in virtual networks or

34
00:02:47,052 --> 00:02:52,089
highway systems or even your address book's network.

35
00:02:52,089 --> 00:02:57,123
It's an essential factor of our society.

36
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,640
At the same time, by playing with perspectives,

37
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,880
by interweaving and juxtaposing them,

38
00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:11,455
it creates an optical illusion and gives a distorted vision of them.

39
00:03:11,455 --> 00:03:16,791
Since we are coming towards a crucial moment, a time of changes,

40
00:03:16,791 --> 00:03:21,745
we are in the middle of this distorted perspective of the future

41
00:03:21,745 --> 00:03:23,868
and in the middle of questioning:

42
00:03:23,868 --> 00:03:27,006
will the future lead to something or

43
00:03:27,006 --> 00:03:31,480
are we heading towards a major mutation and

44
00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,040
a breakdown in evolution of our society?

45
00:03:35,225 --> 00:03:39,643
Because right now we are facing an economic crisis

46
00:03:39,643 --> 00:03:42,225
and also an ecological crisis.

47
00:03:42,225 --> 00:03:44,886
These two problems can't be avoided much longer

48
00:03:44,886 --> 00:03:48,194
and we'll soon be forced to resolve them.

49
00:03:48,194 --> 00:03:50,114
This is the reason why, in my paintings,

50
00:03:50,114 --> 00:03:52,434
one can get lost in these perspectives,

51
00:03:52,434 --> 00:03:54,957
navigate through these lines of force

52
00:03:54,957 --> 00:03:57,240
and at the same time get a strong feeling of obstruction.

53
00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,080
Somehow with these two aspects,

54
00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,960
where the first one is optimistic,

55
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:08,286
and is represented by the bright, "pop" colors,

56
00:04:08,286 --> 00:04:11,924

which is happy and linked to the childhood

57
00:04:11,924 --> 00:04:18,600
where there is a great hope for renewal and transmutation.

58
00:04:18,846 --> 00:04:24,209
And on the other side, there is the horizon that is

59
00:04:24,209 --> 00:04:26,440
blocked by the lines of force that can also entrap.

60
00:04:28,797 --> 00:04:32,000
And the viewer can feel being in between these two aspects.

61
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,314
For me, an artist's atelier is a real laboratory

62
00:04:43,314 --> 00:04:46,966
where there is a constant research, in painting, in my case,

63
00:04:50,274 --> 00:04:54,412
and this is what for is the most exciting.

64
00:04:54,412 --> 00:04:58,088
The research, perpetual exploration of grounds

65
00:04:58,088 --> 00:05:00,332
to define my universe, find the paths

66
00:05:03,068 --> 00:05:07,308
and through these paths bringing out the emotions.

67
00:05:07,708 --> 00:05:11,575
And and the end, when I create my paintings,

68
00:05:11,575 --> 00:05:14,852
it's all those emotions that I have lived and absorbed

69
00:05:14,852 --> 00:05:19,498
that do something that after several sketches

70
00:05:19,514 --> 00:05:25,105
I start to paint and I arrive to this final result...