On June 29, Aurélie Andrès opened the doors of her workshop to us at the Milady greenhouses in Biarritz. She did us the honor of answering our questions to allow us to learn more about her and her world.
Good reading !
Could you start by introducing yourself?
Aurélie Andrès, I am an artist, a muralist, a great jack of all trades!
How long have you been creating works?
I have been self-employed for years, my work has had time to evolve over time. I have been working on frescoes for 4 years now and I started doing illustrations 2 years ago, I am progressing little by little.
This passion for art was born at a young age or did it come later?
Since I was little, I have loved making things with my hands. School and work made me realize that I didn't want to work behind a computer and that I had to create on my own. So I returned to what I loved to do, namely frescoes and illustrations, which allow me to live today.
What is your relationship to surfing, to the ocean in general?
They are part of my daily life, I have recently lived next to the ocean but it has fascinated me since I was a child. I did a lot of swimming, coming from a family of divers, I was lulled by the ocean. I felt the need to settle there to nourish myself as much as possible, to draw inspiration from it. This quality of life offers me incredible well-being which puts me in the best conditions to create.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
Everyday life is an inspiration. Meetings, travel, nature, the power of the ocean inspire me daily.
If you had to choose just one, who would be your favorite artist?
A single artist? It's a good question ! The one that comes to mind is not considered an artist but in my eyes, he is one. Francis Hallé is a botanist, I find his work remarkable! He studied tropical forests, his way of drawing plants fascinates me. His relationship with nature is contagious, when I listen to him speak, he has my full attention. He's a person I admire.
What is the message you want to convey through your creations?
I don't paint them thinking that I'm going to convey something, but I'm starting to understand how my art makes me feel through feedback from people. According to them, color makes you travel. They ask themselves the question of where I was, what I was doing to achieve this result.
How did you end up working with tape?
How did we meet? (Laughs) A lot of research, ideas that didn't necessarily come to fruition. I woke up one morning and said to myself “hey, try this”. I then took a piece of tape, I applied paint, it was chaotic but I felt like I was holding something. After finding this semblance of a new technique, I left for a month in a small cabin in Morocco with the aim of creating and developing new ideas and it was here that I finished my first project. I felt that something was happening and that I needed to explore this path further. Scotch has arrived in my life! (Laughs).
How would you describe your art?
Spontaneous ! I was talking to you about the scotch, I think I got on well with it. The fact of tearing and then pasting without really knowing what it will end up with is very intuitive. I am often told that when you look at my works, they make you smile. When someone tells me that, I'm happy. If through my art, I can bring good humor, I think it’s not bad!
A collaboration or solo achievement that you are most proud of?
My first good project in my eyes, there were others just as good, but the one that made me feel more legitimate in what I was doing was the contract with Industry City in New York. They gave me the chance to go and paint a wall, giving me carte blanche. I was able to have the time to create something that I was in agreement with. Once painted, I was happy with the result, it was one of the first times I told a story through my art.
What made you want to collaborate with Chipiron?
The collaboration with Chipiron is above all a meeting in Morocco. Many of my projects are born from encounters that life offers me, I find that super cool. I read a lot of mythology, legends, it's so twisted, crazy in everything you can read, that you can try to recreate something. For the collaboration with Chipiron I had many ideas for illustrations. Taken together, I found it interesting. I ended up imagining a story, I thought it was cool to go further than a simple illustration without meaning.
What is your favorite medium to work on?
So that's freestyle. I try as much as possible to recover the materials I work on. I want to make a point of not buying anything. I collect fabric, wood, I'm open to everything!
You developed your technique on fabric, what were the obstacles that pushed you to adapt this technique to other supports?
When I paint frescoes freehand and when I use tape, they are two very different things. I am now trying to transcribe the tape technique onto other supports, but it is very long. I constantly have to find alternatives to develop the technique, it requires a lot of experimentation.
Any advice for young people who would like to get into art?
To go there, don't put limits on yourself by convincing yourself that you aren't capable. We can all be creative, we just need to give ourselves the means to do so.
A big thank you to you for this moment, we are waiting for you in store to discover its universe, the collection is available there as well as the original artworks of the collab' which are exhibited there.
Discover Aurélie Andrès’ Chipi Choices here!
The Chipiron team
