LOVE IS REAL. In Conversation with Gael Froget

LOVE IS REAL In Conversation with Gael Froget (*1986, Quatre Bornes, MAURITIUS) Marko Stamenkovic Gael Froget, Fat Snow (detail), 2014. Acrylics and Ink on Paper. Courtesy the artist. In his own words, Gael Froget (www.gaelfroget.com) is an artist "sitting on the fence between pop art and primitivism: he explores the trends, paints and vandalises to create unique, grotesque and sarcastic artworks that clearly bares his identity." Provoked by this statement, I wanted to dig deeper into his practice and ways of thinking. He gladly accepted it. We spoke over internet throughout the month of May 2015, just before the opening of his exhibition LOVE IS REAL. These are the outcomes of our lively conversation. 1 Gael, let us start with the project you are about to launch soon: the exhibition LOVE IS REAL. What is it about, when and where will it be held and what was the main occasion for it to happen? LOVE IS REAL will be my second solo exhibition. This time around, the works are a bit more personal and I think that most people will see their reflection in some pieces. In this body of work I have expressed the relationship I had with love, the effects and side effects it had on me since I was a kid. LOVE IS REAL is composed of small series each representing different aspects of the phenomenon at different times while I was growing up. I have been working for two years on those and wanted to express myself only through mix media paint, no digital or vandalism this time. The exhibition will be held between 4 June and 4 July 2015, in Tamarin, Republic of Mauritius, at 3A The Excellence of Art (www.3atheexcellenceofart.com) - one of the biggest galleries here representing mainly contemporary artists from around the globe. You are saying it is your "second solo exhibition" and it is going to be "a bit more personal". For uninitiated audiences, could you briefly introduce your earlier work (including your "less personal" first solo show)? Besides moving from digital towards mix media paint, you are also talking about another shift that intrigues me a lot: why have you decided to skip "vandalism" this time and how does this particular concept inhabits your creative universe? Right, when I first exhibited I was more excited about showing everything I had done here and there it was a bit messy but I wanted to show bits of my universe. At the beginning I came up with this concept that I call Art. Vandalism where I was stealing great photographs or ads and I was painting over them to create my own. Then slowly I started to evolve and made everything from scratch, touched to photography, digital art, keeping the same vibe and 2 energy in my work but at the end it was not vandalism anymore and less fun. After the ArtVandalism phase I found important to go back to the base itself: paint, I tried a lot of different mediums, techniques, and tried to focus on my universe. I started to observe african arts and crafts which is part of my culture and the idea was to create something personal from that. Breeding that to my pop and urban influences I painted this new series of work - LOVE IS REAL - which has been my personal diary during its creation. So, "stealing" and "painting over" fall under your idea of vandalism. This implies a certain dependency on already existing visual material (such as photography and ads, as you say). I am being curious: which repository of images has been the focus of your attention before - what kind of images have you been "stealing" and erasing in order to make new ones, and why them exclusively? Also, what kind of images have you been avoiding, if any? In addition to that: by turning to your own creations, as you are now saying, it seems that your work has become less dependent on preconceived visual patterns and, thus, more mature and "independent". Nonetheless, what inevitably remains present in your universe is a strong linkage with your own culture, namely, with African arts and crafts. Could you say something more about this "benevolent" type of dependency and your personal understanding of African cultural roots (which makes your work different from the former type of dependency, supposedly a "malicious" one and related to so-called vandalism)? When I started "vandalising" I was a fashion student in university and the first images that attracted me were those fashion advertisings and editorials magazines. Scrabbling on other people's work made me feel good, I suppose at the time I had this rebellious attitude or this urge to destroy things. I was using mainly photos of feminine faces where I could paint bigger lips on them, alter their make up, funk them up a little bit, then scribble off the brand names 3 and logos, sign over it and voilà, that was my drift for a while. After compiling up a fair amount of pieces I decided to scan and print them in bigger formats on fancy canvas and framed it. This is how I started getting noticed and known as the guy who does Art Vandalism. I did also vandalise photos of celebrities and did not care more about any other kind of photos or images, my thing was famous brands and famous faces. After this phase I really felt I needed to create my own content and start to express myself. I don't think I was dependant of others’ work to create my own, vandalising was just a concept which I had fun putting together, before this period, when I just started painting I was doing my own thing. When I got back to pure painting people started mentioning african influences they could see in my work that I was not aware of, that made me curious and I started exploring more. My style is very simplistic and minimal yet very bold and warm and that’s what I found my work had in common with African arts: African masks also had always been objects I admire and had such a big influence on my work. Having said that, I come from an African island where you can really feel the African roots when you walk in villages and old part of towns, with all the hand painted sign boards: our pirogues (fishing boats) beautifully decorated with texts and motifs, those intrigued me since I was a child. With those African influence I also mix my signature style, which is the urban and street art flavours from where vandalism also comes from. It is, perhaps, a time to reflect upon your roots. You come from an African island "where you can really feel the African roots...". You are talking about the archipelago of the Republic of Mauritius, where you were born and raised, and where you continue to live nowadays. It is, perhaps, a time to reflect upon those roots, how they keep shaping your ways of being, your world views and, in particular, how they contribute to your sense of image-making. Pardon my ignorance, but what does it feel like to be a Mauritian in the twenty-first century? Broadly speaking, how does it relate to the quality of being an African and, furthermore, to the very fact of experiencing an islander's identity? In a more 4 narrow sense, what could you say about contemporary visual arts over there and how does your own practice fit the existing cultural paradigm - or deviate from it? Finally, despite its connections to the aesthetics of hand-painted sign boards and pirogues (about which I'd be very happy to know more, from your own perspective), would it be proper to assume that your work challenges some given local patterns of (visual) thinking - and, if so, could you help me situate the "subversive" potential of it in a more precise manner? The strongest feel really in Mauritius is diversity, it is not really what one would expect from an African island if he or she doesn’t know the history of Mauritius. The Mauritian population, as you might have heard, is multiethnic, with very strong roots from India, Africa and Europe mainly. I am myself an example of this diversity as my origins are mixed and untraceable, so that would categorise me as ‘Creole’. As a kid I was always wondering where I should fit until I realised that it didn’t matter as I was simply a Mauritian. Being a Mauritian right now is living on a small island with an identity crisis caused by its huge diversity in ethnicity. It might sound like something negative but it really isn’t. It is very exciting times for me as I am witnessing the birth of the Mauritian culture. The identity crisis is not on all the levels though, most of us are already over it. If you look at my group of friends during a regular hang out session you will think we are shooting for a Benetton campaign. Visual arts in Mauritius is a very dormant discipline compared to islands nearby or Africa itself. There are many good artists here but unfortunately much less exhibitions and happenings. After spending a few years in Asia sharpening my skills I came back to Mauritius and showed Art Vandalism that created waves in the art world as it was something new and maybe not to expect from a Mauritian artist. Taking this risk made me being noticed and recognised as the new wave or new generation of artists. What I’m really happy about is that it had encouraged other artists to also come out without fear. I then continued with putting together recurrent events with live art performances supporting other artists, and try my best to keep it going on and on. Yes, my work challenges 5 given local patterns and I would die a happy knowing I have been able to contribute to create a style unique to Mauritius. By the way, Mauritius is not an archipelagos but one single island. "Mauritius is not an archipelago"?! How come? Is Wikipedia lying? Whatever the case, let us go back to the "archipelago" of your own works at the LOVE IS REAL show. Would you be so kind to say something about each and every of the "islands" making part of it especially for those who will not have an opportunity to see the exhibition in person? Mauritius is a single independent island: I don’t know what Wikipedia says but maybe they were talking about the Chagos archipelagos with which we have a very strong link. It's funny to relate this exhibition with archipelagos because it is perfectly appropriate. LOVE IS REAL is a strong theme that splits in five different directions: 1) African masks: I painted a series that express identity crisis or identity on its own, using inspiration from African masks which represents broadly where I come from and what I relate to; 2) Flowers: It's all about my discovering oneself, a lot inspired from my teenage years; 3) Superheroes: with a mix of super heroes, African masks, and childhood memories, I wanted to show the two contrasting cultures that influence me in solid and fun pieces; 4) Afterlife creatures: a much more complex and subtle series of work, illustrating my dreams - painted with eyes closed, as if I was dreaming; finally, 5) Angel: the first series that was created around the Love theme... it shows pure, raw and intimate love featuring this guardian angel who is a beautiful and mysterious lady. I assume every lady is a mystery, unless otherwise approved – which might be the reason why some loves are meant to be real (and some not...). Thank you so much for this conversation, Gael, it’s been a pleasure. 6