Artus de Lavilléon 

République 

République

About the artist

Age
43

Born / works
Ernée (Mayenne) / Paris

Education / Career
Childhood: Freinet Method, Skateboarding 1982... FTBX Fanzine 1987... Magazines: Tricks 1997-1998 / Chill 2003-2005, L’épicerie Concept store 1998-1999/Nim 2000-2003, Installation performances Le Printemps 2000/Citadium 2009, Galleries: L’APA 2000-2005 / Patricia Dorfmann 2005... Two-year sabbatical in the countryside 2003-2005, Start of daily life archival and experience testimonials, Posthumous Art Foundation 2004..., Drawings: Deadpans 2006... / Large drawings 2007..., Painting, Photography...

Started working

1970/1994 / 2000/2003-2004...

Significant works, works in progress
I am currently working on the production of several hundred works related to the proposed sale – from walls to unchanged content – of the 15 sq. m. room in which, over a period of 10 years, I kept every item that came in without any selection criteria other than that of experience, up to the point when it became unfit for habitation.

Interview

How would you describe your style?
Free
 
What are your main sources of inspiration (artists, graphic designers, etc.)?
Right now, I’m looking at a lot of photography, because the art world pisses me off.
 
What can you tell us about the two works on display at ArtLigue?
Two hoodies are walking around Châtelet and a tramp is sleeping at République. “I was really wondering what he thought of all that”.
 
What was the creative process for these works? Is it consistent with your usual approach?
The picture of the “hoodies” was drawn, as are all my drawings, from a photo taken on the spot. The original is an A4 made ​​specifically for the exhibition; it’s very similar and fits in well in my fanzine work for a fanzine called Deadpan. Deadpan has evolved from an underground project to a form of recognition I didn’t anticipate or want: this made them become more professional, and they can now equally address the life of my marginal friends and the life of a brand or bank. We have now published 24 issues, in more or less limited editions. The original République drawing is huge (about 2.70 x 3.50 metres). It belongs to a series seldom shown because of its size, and was first presented at a concert. The subject of the tramp is a recurring theme in my work: to me, it represents the dream of freedom at its ultimate height and its worst fulfilment.

Do you use different creative methods depending on the nature of the project (artistic, commission, experimental)?

Life alone decides on the form that a particular work takes.
 
What is your view on graphic design today?

I believe our generation of skaters, hispters and bohos has developed a style that is both its own thing and entirely under the influence of movements to which it cannot be reduced.
 
Do you believe there is a boundary between visual arts and graphic design? If so, where would you place it?
Normally, art isn’t supposed to address a market need, but an inner necessity.

Should graphic design be included in the arts, or does it already belong there?

Like anything else, graphic design has the capacity to go beyond the limits that restrict it to a mere expression of itself.

Limited edition, numbered and signed. 


Selected shows and awards

Consumérisme, Citadium, Paris, 2009
I lived for 2 weeks locked up in a small crate (90x90x190cm) hidden in a sportswear department store, where I wrote texts that were published daily in one of Le Monde’s blogs.

I learned it from a talk show, Retrospective I, Galerie Patricia Dorfmann, Paris, 2005
A retrospective of 10 years working on reinstalling my room into a 15 sq. m. cube, and selling the actual walls of the original space.

La cour des miracles, Artcore, Paris, 2004
The first exhibition of Posthumous Art. Four installations by the signatories of the Posthumous Art Manifesto, surrounded with works by a hundred or so friends and relatives.
The scenography, although controversial, was reused by the Pompidou Centre for its “Peintre de la vie moderne” exhibition.
“One should not do to be, but be to be”

Sleeping Pornography
, Le Printemps (Excentriques), Paris, 2000
I lived and slept in Le Printemps department store window displays, one year before the advent of reality shows, facing the painting “Pornography”

Pictures of Friends (POF)
, L'Epicerie, Paris, 1998
Large prints of pictures of friends - a manifesto of amateurism - covered the walls of the gallery in “Europe’s hippest store”.

Selected publications

Details

& order

Artus de Lavilléon 
République

2010

Technical information

Tirage jet d'encre sur papier Hahnemühle William Turner - limited edition, numbered and signed certificate.

Dimensions

50 x 36 cm, Edition of 80 120.00 €




By the same artist

Artus de Lavilléon


By the same curator

New TopoGraphicDesigners with Vanéssa Titzé