excerpt from Lodown #97

Jean André is on fire! It’s been some time now that the talented young French artist has been ascending. Not only in France but all over the world - he recently showed in Miami during Art Basel and also in Los Angeles for a show with Kevin Lyons at Heavyweight Gallery. Inventor of the “Gentleman art” concept, esthete by nature and devoted to women, Jean is a remarkable figure of the new art scene. Hailing from the Southern French countryside and now based in Paris, member of the Ed Banger squad, let’s add the fact that Jean is always super busy with really cool projects and creative collaborations. He’s a very nice guy, eager of new challenges and always full of surprises.
We met him while he was preparing “Anyone who knows what love is” (will understand), his new art show at 12Mail Gallery in Paris. 
 
So Jean, please fill us in on your background...

I come from Rodez in Aveyron, the countryside, a very rural and quiet place. I’ve been drawing ever since my parents, who are into the arts, and I came to Paris to enter a visual art school. It was my first time there, I didn’t know anyone. Paris was perfect to me because here you start with your studies, and you get to meet all these new people, it was really exciting times. I instantly felt good here. Right after school, I was 22 years old, I started to work as a freelance graphic designer for agencies and brands. I soon realised that the way I imagined my advertising and design job was through handwriting techniques. All my typos, texts, and illustrations were handmade, no computer. I really like this sensitive side of drawing. I started to work with different creative people, no more big brands or agencies, and also started my own art career. Now it’s been 3 years I’m doing this full time. One of my first encounters here was with Jérome from Qhuit (a Paris-based streetwear brand and music label). I was always a fan of Qhuit, TTC, and this scene. I told him I liked draw so we started some t-shirts. Then I met Dabaaz from Poyz & Pirlz (another Paris-based streetwear brand). From here I started working as a freelancer for a bigger record label, where I met Pedro Winter from Ed Banger. And this was a new step for me.

You draw girls and erotic stuff quite a lot, what about the influences that brought you there and how would you explain your “Gentleman art” concept ?

Eroticism always appealed to me. It’s an art form I always enjoyed. Not porn, but elegant eroticism. I come from a family where my grandfather was kind of a playboy. He was a handsome man and he liked women a lot. He had erotic magazines, images, and so on that I discovered quite early at his place. It was really something for me. There were also Matisse books there where you could see him with naked girls, his muses, I really have a passion for those curves, this spirit. When he died I told myself I should not pursue this publicly. It influenced me a lot to do something else other than graphic design and pursue a real artistic career. 
As far as my “Gentleman art” concept is conerned, I invented this, it’s like Fuzi with his “Ignorant style”, it’s my own thing, my gait. And it’s not perverse at all. When I propose or offer my service to draw girls, it’s always elegant, polite, respectful, in a gentle way. In fact, I’m not doing art for gentlemen, it’s more for women, so let’s say I do more “Gentlewoman” art. By the way, it will be the name of the little book I’m editing for my upcoming show at 12Mail Gallery in Paris. I’m very happy with it.

Other than eroticism, you have a huge passion for rap music, but not only that, right ?

Yes, I listen to Gainsbourg, Bashung, Christophe, big French musical classics. But as you said, also a lot of French rap like Booba, La Rumeur, and all rappers that strike a chord in me… for me it’s always a question of sensibility, like with Drake. In what I listen to and what is a big influence for me, there’s a mix of sensibility with these kind of singers, lovers, rappers, old and new artists, and our children’s culture, all things from the 90s. If you dig what’s cool in each of these universes, at the end you’ll have something sweet and strong, a cute, thugish spirit, something that girls enjoy a lot ahaha.

Happiness and positivity in Jean André’s world, and in what you express through art, is something that’s also very strong, like a force in you…

I’m a happy guy, yes. There’s no way for me to stay sad, even when I have problems, with girls, in love, or in life… according to me, you had better bring joy to the world. I’m a bit introverted, I don’t go out that much, I don’t drink, I don’t speak easily to other people when I don’t know them, but I always stay nice. It’s really important to me, especially here in Paris, it’s important. It makes a difference to open doors. The nicer you are, the more people will like to work with you, right?

Recently, you’ve traveled around quite often and have shown your art to the world, how have these experiences been?

It all happened quite fast thanks to Tyler Gibney from Heavyweight Gallery in L.A. He was looking for a new European artist to do something in Miami for the December 2013 Art Basel with US artists like Kevin Lyons and the Heavyweight team. I was following and exchanging with Kevin on Instagram, I really like what he does, and he told me he likes my imagery as well. He then told Tyler to contact me, and I got asked if I’d like to come to Art Basel, of course I said yes. Then in February 2014, I got my first show at Colette in Paris, in March. First, it was my exhibition at Heavyweight Los Angeles, in july I was in Palm Springs, then Los Angeles and Miami. All thanks to Kevin and Tyler! Meeting those guys, like with Pedro, is amazing because they helped me a lot.

Let’s speak about your story with Pedro Winter and Ed Banger. As you said previously, it was a new step for you right ?  

Yes, big time. I was working at Because Music (French label & distribution company based in Paris). I also had an embroidery label called Cheeky Boom with my ex-girlfriend. Ed Banger was being distributed by Because, so sometimes I saw Pedro there. As it was soon the 10th anniversary of his label, we wanted to propose a collaboration. So I met him and showed him my works, and it clicked directly. He asked me to draw the Birthday announcement card of his first kid, which was crazy for me, one week after we met! Soon after I quit Because, I asked Pedro if he was looking for contributors, he said yes and I started working with him. I didn’t replace So_Me, because you can’t do that as a young artist. So_Me was there from the start and created more than 10 years of Ed Banger’s visual identity, so strong! My job is more to bring something new and fresh, for example when I work on the new record sleeves, flyers, or ad graphics. Plus from Pedro to all the artists on the label, everyone is super nice, I’m stoked.

What about this “Shy Selfie” series of posts on your Instagram recently?

This special series is gonna be for my upcoming exhibition at gallery 12Mail. Every 2 or 3 months I try to think about concepts to emulate people in my works, to exchange with my audience, create something of it. So for this series, I asked girls to take pictures of themselves, send them to me, I would draw them, and post the pictures on my Instagram account. And it worked well, I had very good feedback. More and more, I grow to like this idea of making people participate. Next time, I could ask girls to take a photo of their tattoos, and I would re-draw that, they would post it on their account, etc. I alway have lots of ideas like this.

You have also worked on some really nice collaborations, with brands or with other creative entities. I guess this is also something very important for you too…

Yes, I just had a collab on a chocolate bar with Le Chocolat des Français, I designed pyjamas with Little Vicious, I worked with Cliché on a series of skate decks, with One Teeshirt in London, with Ron Herman, a Japanese brand… for me, it’s very important, apart from my artwork, to do these kinds of collaborations, it entertains me and helps me develop my career for sure.

Social media plays a very important role in your life and work, you post a lot on Instagram and Facebook. It seems you really understand this modern way of communication and take it very seriously…

As an artist, because you don’t do exhibitions or collaborations all the time, using social media is the only way to exist every day in this world. It’s essential. I’ve had my own strategy since the start: first, I posted photos of my works, then I scanned them, then I started posting Indian ink tattoo drawings, to what it is now. And in 1 year it’s gonna be different. It’s really my path, and it’s part of my job as an artist. Since I studied communications in school, I have a strategy for this: I pay careful attention to the schedule of my posts, depending if I want to touch the French public or people abroad, in the United States for example. If I post in the morning it will be for the French audience and I can post messages in French… it’s a full time job. I’m my own content and a community manager, and as my audience grows, I need to be more and more serious about it. See, it’s through Instagram that I met all these incredible people I’m working with now!

 

Interview : Guillaume Le Goff

More infos : 
jeanandre.bigcartel.com
hvw8.com/jean-andre