Julien Segard does not want to define himself as an environmental activist or even as an artist with a cause—but for all his lack of definition, his solo exhibition, titled 'Anywere But Here', is here to make a difference.
With this show, the French-born and New Delhi-based artist makes his debut solo in Kolkata at gallery Experimenter. The series comprises drawings, paintings and installations, using charcoal—less as a metaphor, and more as an "enabler"—and are a depiction of "the landscapes that speak to me and in a way choose me," says Segard.
Vogue chats with the artist on blurring boundaries, Baudelaire and how, for him, "beauty often appears in unexpected places".
1. The juxtaposition of natural and manmade elements in urban spaces is a matter of longstanding environmental and artistic debate. How does your work attempt to depict this 'concrete jungle' in a different way?
What comes out in my work is related to my experience as a person and an artist. It is an expression of what helps me communicate and what draws me in. The destructive, imposing and at the same time, the constructive flow of elements I draw are what fascinates me the most. I confront elements of living in the city constantly, but it’s not about an environmental and artistic debate. It is more a visual response anything else.
2. 'Derrière les ennuis et les vastes chagrins. Qui chargent de leur poids l'existence brumeuse' – Elevation, Charles Baudelaire. Like Baudelaire, you seek to throw light on that which is hidden and often disregarded. How does your work aim to soar above this 'obscured' vision?
Baudelaire had a very interesting way to touch essential questions starting from trivial situations he would see, for example on a street.His way to describe the inner landscape was also very visual. He was a great observer. Like him, I spend a lot of time at staring at things with a natural attraction for economically challenged areas. In cities this economic divide is more pronounced and adds a specific texture to the landscape, that I admire. Use of material, recycling of objects and reclaiming value from things discarded have a certain value which is interesting from me.
The implicit ascetic nature of having less and striving to attain something that comes with a certain type of scarcity, has had a great influence on my work, alongside various other influences like music, street life, discussions, the food I eat or the temperature outside.
3. Several artists use 'found objects’ in the city, which, they then recycle to create a new narrative in the existing environment. How do the natural materials you reuse complement your drawings and paintings?
Many artists since the beginning of the 20th century have used "found objets" for different reasons (economical, ethical, environmental issues, etc...). For me using found paper and objects is a kind of resurrection. Starting a new work with something which already has a history, allows a continuation of a story, which if left the way they are, would possibly be not usable in time. This value in the idea of passage of time and in the material itself finds its way into my work.
I like to use the natural state of elements (materials from nature) and landscapes and then contrast/corrupt/intrude into them with industrial components or chemical products, to finally create something which, is at the same time, alarming and beautiful.
4. It seems as though it is in art that paradoxes can exist in an apparent state of harmony. Man and nature, the natural and the artificial, anywhere and here—tell us about your interest in the battle of paradoxes.
I'm glad to see that you see these aspects in my work and infer some of the references I would have used. I like to see how my work can get people thinking. Contradictions have always inspired me, and without paradoxes, without ambivalence there is certainty about things. Growing up in a petit-bourgeois town in south of France certainly pushed me towards the opposite. Certainty is limiting for me and it inhibits my liberty to evolve organically with my work as well as life.
5. Where is anywhere but here for you?
Everywhere.
'Anywhere But Here' is ongoing at Kolkata’s gallery Experimenter until September 19
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