Colorful Life
by Michaël Cailloux
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Dear Michaël, First, thanks for your sharing your thoughts with us. What inspires you to create your endlessly beautiful work? I’m inspired by a lot of things. First of all, Nature fascinates me with its fauna and flora. I’m often traveling and looking for curiosities like insects, flowers and animals. I have a sketchbook with me, at all times, which allows me to express my thoughts and feelings on paper. |
Photo by: Rodolphe Baras |
I absolutely love colors and I have a great time creating moodboards, I find it to be an interesting artistic practice. The human body fascinates me too, so I like to draw different limbs like feet, bones, eyes, etc.…
These days my head is in the clouds and I’m captivated by space and planets. Then you have "the fly" that has been an interest of mine since I was a student, as it was the subject of my thesis. Today, it’s my signature.
And when it comes to artists, I love René Lalique’s ornamental jewelry and William Morris’ entire body of work.
How do you define beauty as an artist and as an art lover?
Beauty is really subjective; I especially see that being true in people’s reactions at my exhibitions. Perception is really different from person to person. Even if two people are both looking at the same piece of art, they might perceive it completely differently.
What I’m interested in is the emotion someone might feel when looking at a work of art: happiness, humor, poetry, etc.… It’s in the emotion one can feel, that's where we find Beauty.
What are some of the greatest aspects of what you do on a daily basis?
I really enjoy drawing. It’s a daily necessity because it calms me and helps me focus my energy. I also love cutting copper plates to create wall jewelry pieces, too. It’s really exciting to see the artwork unfold and take shape right before my eyes. And then, there are the different projects and collaborations I do with brands, where I have to create entire collections, which always means a lot of research and reflection.
I do a lot of things in one day. I have a hard time taking a break in the evening, hence I tend to work late at night.
These days my head is in the clouds and I’m captivated by space and planets. Then you have "the fly" that has been an interest of mine since I was a student, as it was the subject of my thesis. Today, it’s my signature.
And when it comes to artists, I love René Lalique’s ornamental jewelry and William Morris’ entire body of work.
How do you define beauty as an artist and as an art lover?
Beauty is really subjective; I especially see that being true in people’s reactions at my exhibitions. Perception is really different from person to person. Even if two people are both looking at the same piece of art, they might perceive it completely differently.
What I’m interested in is the emotion someone might feel when looking at a work of art: happiness, humor, poetry, etc.… It’s in the emotion one can feel, that's where we find Beauty.
What are some of the greatest aspects of what you do on a daily basis?
I really enjoy drawing. It’s a daily necessity because it calms me and helps me focus my energy. I also love cutting copper plates to create wall jewelry pieces, too. It’s really exciting to see the artwork unfold and take shape right before my eyes. And then, there are the different projects and collaborations I do with brands, where I have to create entire collections, which always means a lot of research and reflection.
I do a lot of things in one day. I have a hard time taking a break in the evening, hence I tend to work late at night.
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What do you consider your most cherished collaborations so far?
The collaboration with the publishing house Thierry Magnier is precious to me because I have the freedom to suggest what I want and feel at the moment when choosing the colors and creating designs with my drawings.
With Dior, it was also fascinating to study Christian Dior’s life and passions to create a set of playing cards in tribute to him. Then, the collaboration with Lenôtre was another challenge because I had to create a collection of drawings for the food industry.
I'm constantly facing new challenges, new themes and new inspirations.
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What have you set your sights on as a main project or as part of your many to-do lists?
My calendar is full of collaborations and exhibitions to come, but because I create everything by hand, I can’t work on too many projects at the same time. Nowadays, I’m working on some drawings for the Ministry of Culture and it’s taking up most of my time because I have to draw and design everything myself. The project is for the event "Rendez-vous in the Gardens" that will take place on the 7th, 8th and 9th of June, including the participation of every French and European park. At the same time, I’m focusing on my next exhibition in Tokyo, in July, for which I have to prepare some new Wall Jewelry pieces and new etchings.
When I sign and commit to work on a project, there’s always a deadline, which helps me focus and not spread myself to thin. But then I also always make sure I’m finding joy in what I’m doing, because I don’t like to rush and botch a project.
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Who are the artists you consider your friends and collaborators? How do you feed off each other’s energy and work output?
I often work with the art bookbinder Reine Taëvran, who frames my artwork and etchings. Everything is made-to-measure. She has an incredible savoir-faire, numerous ideas and is such a precious help when it comes to preparing and presenting my artwork in galleries. Also I’m currently working with my publisher Thierry Magnier who asked me to illustrate his texts. Creating drawings around words and stories is an exercise I really enjoy. This art book entitled "Talisman" will be released this September.
Working alongside another person is great when it comes to brainstorming, exchanging ideas and finding joy in what we do because we’re truly having a great time working on this project as it's a little out of this world.
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What are the top 3 rules you’ve followed and the top 3 you’ve broken to help yourself in getting to where you are now professionally?
3 rules I always follow would be: to work a lot, to not listen to external opinions and to always look for new inspirations.
The rules I've broken on the contrary would be using colors in a non-conventional way, mixing different codes and inspirations from different time periods and then appropriating etching techniques to make one of my own, which isn’t always to the liking of some purists.
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Is Paris at the epicenter of your creative universe or is it simply your hometown and your playground? What does it give you as artist? What does it take from you if anything?
I was born and raised in Paris and I’ve actually lived here my entire life. What’s amazing with this city is that you can always discover architecture and artwork you’ve never seen before. The cultural activity is in a process of constant renewal and we’re never bored. I enjoy going on walks and letting myself be surprised by what comes my way and I’m never tired of it. Actually, there’s always something going on like events and parties. Time flies maybe a bit too fast in this city… That might be the problem, it never give us time to be bored.
What do you consider your love letter to Paris?
A drawing I made right after the Paris attacks. I was devastated and I drew an Eiffel Tower with two snails climbing on it. My message to Paris was that nothing is impossible and we can continue to dream despite the tragic events we’ve been through. It was a difficult moment, but we had to pick ourselves up. That was my love letter to the city I hold dear and that I’m always overjoyed to come back home after my travels.
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Where else do you turn for a change of scenery and different rhythms?
I often go on weekends to the countryside or by the sea for a soother rhythm and to come up with new drawings. I usually choose different destinations to discover new things and to find new inspirations. I’ve been to Japan many times for work and for pleasure and I really love it there. It’s a great source of inspiration for me because of the different cultural and artistic points of views and their incredible savoir-faire. I also adore Italy and Portugal, two beautiful and welcoming countries that I regularly travel to.
Outside of the art world, what are some of the inspiring events and discoveries that help you in your creative path?
Music, as an art form, is a passion and it’s part of my life on a daily basis. I’m always listening to music and going to concerts, it definitely has a big influence on my work. For example, I love creating color ranges to music.
Then there’s the cinema, I often go to the movies. And as I was saying earlier, traveling is really important for me, observing different landscapes, going on walks all day long, these are some of the things I enjoy doing.
Wondering around Paris might be one of my favorite things. It’s the best way to find something you weren’t necessarily looking for!
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We have two new ongoing campaigns and it would be awesome if you gave us your take on both or either one of them?
#BeatTheBlues features works and confessions of artists and non-artists about experiences and ways to beat the blues and rise from the depth of darkness?
The most important thing is to have great people around you. We tend to stay behind a screen and not have as many truthful connections with others. So going out, seeing friends, having conversations and going out dancing is important.
Sometimes, you have to force yourself a little bit, to see that there’s nothing better than speaking and have a meaningful exchange with someone else to free yourself from stress and anxiety. And then again, walking a lot is a great way to get over most problems!
#WhatMatters A paragraph about what matters to you the most at this point in time and how does your work and life reflect that.
The most important thing is to enjoy the present moment… Everything is just moving so fast all the time, so much so that we forget sometimes to make to the most out of every instant. I express this idea through very vibrant colors as well as in the composition of my drawings. I’m always trying to communicate something positive, specific messages and I want people to take their time to look at my art… Time is what we’re usually missing!
Thank you and Good Luck!
To enjoy more of Michaël's art, visit michaelcailloux.com