Frekante

FREKANTE: The exhibition’s title was carefully chosen, as an echo to an artistic path fueled by different encounters. Beautiful ones, for most of them… The picked-up creole term “Frekante” was a way for me to acknowledge those encounters which determined the next steps that I was to take, by being powerful inspirations and by triggering the will to go further in the exploration of new possibilities.

This first solo exhibition was a long-term project and a self-treat, in which I tried to combine different phases of my artistic development. Various techniques – photography, illustrations, mixed media, graphic design, acrylic painting… – are intertwined on each canvas, marked by one key character – whose clear identity and definition, by the way, remains a mystery to myself! -, and which became a signature throughout the different years! Its bold presence, exacerbated by thick black or white lines, is a subtle reminder of my comic strip phase, the first stage of my drawing and artistic career and the one which activated all the experiences which then shortly followed.

The photographic images laid as the artworks’ background are mostly those of ancient, worn-out Mauritian buildings, some of them known as being part of the local folklore and others unknown, unexpectedly snapped at the bend of a street or an alley… I have always enjoyed working on weathered and shabby surfaces! These allow me to play with disproportions and irregular shapes, in which I find more opportunities to create, than on soft and neat bases, which I personally find to limit my possibilities.

The graphic world which is strongly put forward in “Frekante” is constructed from these photos, one of them particularly being the source of inspiration for the rest! It was taken in Mangalkhan region, near Curepipe, while I was lost in my thoughts next to an old building, imagining the crazy artworks which I could paint on its walls, just like one of the mural paintings I have had the chance to do elsewhere.

Photo Credits: Eric Lee, Jason Goder