A closer look at Ërell's creative process
As an urban art center, Fluctuart takes you on a journey to meet the artists and better understand their creative process. Meet Ërell today.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your artistic practice?
Ërell, I'm an artist/designer whose work stems from graffiti. I practice a form of "urban contamination", which consists in the systematic and compulsive installation of abstract compositions in urban space. I usually act spontaneously, without authorization, in reaction to the architectural context, and install my cut-out adhesive compositions on the walls and street furniture of the cities in which I live.
The module I use is the result of splitting up a simple geometric shape, the hexagon, itself the result of a schematization of my tag. From this practice, I've retained the energy that transforms typography into a visual emblem, a logo, modular and adaptable, but also the viral, living character of the multiplication of the motif. The aim is to sporadically invade public spaces, like the tags that swarm the city's walls and bring it to life.
By invading the streets of the cities in which I work, I seek to break the monotony of public development, to bring life back to the city through plastic interventions whose formal vocabulary is analogous to forms found in nature, and to modify passers-by's apprehension of urban space by inviting them to look for signs scattered along the way.
In my studio work, I always use these shapes, which are my signature, my handwriting. It becomes a pretext for experimentation, a way of playing with the different materials I use. In particular, it's a search for balance between solids, voids, shapes and counter-shapes that can also be found in typography.
I call on a variety of techniques and skills (woodworking, metalworking, die-cutting, painting on glass or concrete...) acquired during my training as a designer.
My signature then becomes a pretext for plastic experimentation and urban exploration.
What is your background and how did you get into design?
I started in Applied Arts in 2003, which turned out to be a lifesaver for the rest of my studies. It was in Avignon, my home town. During my high school years, I became seriously interested in the practice of graffiti, which I was already doing, and then in the work of artists who set themselves apart from the movement with a different approach to the street (Zevs, Olivier Stak, Above, Space 3, El Tono, André, L'atlas...). During this period, I looked for other modes of expression and representation than pure and simple lettering, in particular minimal art and the use of industrial processes to create works of art. I went on to study for a BTS in product design. At that time, I was just beginning to develop the motifs I use today. In 2007, I made my first installation with scissor-cut patterns, covering a bedroom from floor to ceiling and living there for about 1 year. After obtaining a CAP in cabinetmaking, I entered the École Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Saint-Étienne in 2009. It was thanks to this environment and the various people I met during my studies that I was able to perfect my cookie-cutter production method, enabling me to optimize my production time and spend more time on the street. In 2011, I took part in my first street art festival in Bordeaux, the Interactive Design Festival, organized by Grandes Traversées and curated by Mark Jenkins. It was from this festival that I began to invade the street with my designs more intensively and methodically. Throughout my studies, I continued to develop my street practice in parallel, drawing on design in a cross-disciplinary way.
In 2015, I met Nicolas Laugerro Lasserre and it was then that I was able to present my work in my first solo show at Artistik Rezo and thus deepen and develop my studio practice ....
In your day-to-day work as an artist, what inspires you? What triggers the creation of a work?
Generally speaking, I work in reaction to a context. Whether on the street or in my studio, the starting point remains the support. For example, for the installation created on the sides of Fluctuart, I used the same material as on the boat's sides, so that it would resonate with the site. I then generate my compositions and determine their scale according to the space available. As for studio productions, I compose according to the plastic and physical qualities of my support and its construction.
Can you tell us how you go about creating your work? What are the different stages of creation?
Again, it depends on the context, the materials and the support. For example, in the 120B series, I start by collecting wood, preferably solid wood, and constructing a "grid" determined by the direction of the wood grain. This allows me to establish my guidelines and reveals the lines of force. Making the support is a compositional task in its own right, and I preserve the angles found in my modules, which offer the modularity of my graphic elements. I then create a digital model from a photo, in order to affix and construct my composition of motifs and make my choice of colors. On wood, I often use blue, the complementary color to the shades found in the wood, to create a good color interaction by playing on color contrasts. To this, I add full and empty spaces to let the material appear, so that it becomes an integral part of my color palette. This method is valid for this type of piece, but I work differently when I paint on metal, for example. Here, I let the material reveal its materiality through corrosion processes that I channel through my compositions.
At the start of 2020, I also began a series of stencils on paper. This one's a bit different, as my aim is to experiment with color mixes, transparency, optical blends and the textural work that can be achieved by varying the pressure exerted on the spray paint can. For the last ones I did, I was inspired by the dress of certain birds for the choice of colors...
Discover below Ërell, on Le Mur in Bordeaux
Find Ërell, on Fluctuart