"I didn't realize, but I was already an artist on the inside." - An interview with John Fou

ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your artwork?

My entrance into the art field was juggling! I used to go to a circus school in Geneva (theatr’cirqul) and Toulouse ( le lido) in south of France in 2004. And then for 15 years I was a dancer, freelancer for different choreographers and a theatre director. Its been 7 years since I started drawing and probably 4 since I became very serious with it. I definitely stopped dancing 3 years ago. Today, I mostly work on paper and use coloured pencils.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How do you feel your background shaped your artistic practice?

The rhythm and the energy of a composition is very important to me, probably like a juggling figure 😊 When you have to pass the ball behind the back and at the same time catch another ball in front of you, you need to create a rhythm, in order to not drop the balls. Sometimes I think my composition is like a juggling figure.

On another level, I always loved making people laugh on stage and in life, it gives me a sense of security, it was important for me to keep this playful touch in my work as a painter or a drawer. There is probably a link between that and the way that I use colours in my works. I think people can be inspired by colours and each colour can connect you with some emotions as well. There are a few directions that I like to use in my drawings but the most consistent are: sexuality, animality and mythology.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How do you think your creative process and artwork has changed over the years?

It took me a while to understand where I wanted to go, I experimented with a few directions. For example, 5 years ago I discovered Alice Neel ‘ works in NYC and I immediately wanted to paint portraits. I was fascinated with that, so I painted portraits from March until September of 2019. It was wonderful but I understood after all that that I needed to work from my imagination, so I started to paint animal figures. They were fighting, in somewhat violent scenes but at the same time the     colours were very pop and light.
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Since I have been using coloured pencil the direction is more clear, each work that I do brings me to another one. In every drawing there is a discovery that I like to use for the next. This is how I work, instinctively. Coloured pencil came from a difficult emotional state, using pencil was probably a way for me to come back to something simple. Kids use a lot of coloured pencil and I had probably this desire of going back into this child-like state.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What inspired you to become an artist?

I didn't realize, but I was already an artist on the inside. I was young and a little bit lost, juggling gave me a structure where I could put my energy into, similarly to the drawing and painting. I always needed structure to fulfil my life. I don't have this romantic story of a young boy who was drawing since he was a child. On the contrary! Everything appeared very late in my life.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any particular artists or movements that have influenced your work? In what way?

The French movement “figuration Libre” (you can probably relate it with the “bad painting” movement in USA), the first artist who gave me the feeling that I could do something was Robert Combas, a French artist. He has this colourful and naive painting style that allowed me to exist as an artist, to not be scared about all the history of painting. I felt like this person was very free and personal. Today many artists influence me, like Huguette Caland, a very funny Lebanese artist. I cannot avoid to speak about the neo primitivist movement like Chagall, Larionov or Gontcharova...they have a certain poetry that inspired me...A contemporary artist that i really like is Miriam Cahn, the technic that she developed is totally remarkable. In fact I am very seduced by the gesture and the “Naive” expression in a painting or a drawing.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: How do you select your themes?

I don't really select, I am doing in my work “a romantic autofiction“; I like to explore feelings, ideas, desires that I have. In general I like to put all those ideas into bodies (human or animal).

It's been a year that I have been working on what I call “The Zoom Drawings”, it started with a photo that I took from my last series which was more figurative. It was a picture from a detail of a part of a human body. I felt that the composition was very interesting so I decided to do it on a large piece of paper.

Today a feeling of abstraction is coming. I discovered that I am zooming in more and more into the form and keeping only few details where I like to dive into, nothing is really recognizable. Making me think that I feel very connected with Jordan Kasey‘s work.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Can you tell us a bit about a few specific pieces you have created  that you are particularly proud of?

Really proud? Pride, appears at certain moment, at the end of a work that I feel I connect with, for example, but everything stop when I start another one 😊

I can speak about one an installation piece that I made: “Mon métier”. It was in 2021 and I created this “circus form”. Without any tissue, it was only the skeleton of the circus tent. All around were 6 drawings of horses. You had to enter in the middle of the installation to be able to see the drawings, then you were surrounded by it. The external part was coloured with pastel, each panel had a different colour. This piece was the perfect connection with my past as a circus artist, connecting my past and present.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What has been the most rewarding part of your career as a studio  artist?

My first solo show at Stems gallery! Everything was sold in an hour! It was a big surprise.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Tell us a bit about your latest body of work.

I want to work on this idea of explosion and energy, the latest works are mostly forms that can be related to something that is blooming. Fireworks or flowers. As I said it's becoming more and more an abstraction of the images that I created before. I start focusing on the texture as I am cropping inside.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think makes a successful artwork?

I have no idea.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Describe your process of creating a new artwork from concept to  completion.

I like to sketch on my Ipad, developing forms and composition, when i feel connected to something I start the process. The composition makes me decide the size of the paper. Each work brings me to another one.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What is your favourite medium to work with? Please tell us a bit about how the medium influences or supports the ideas behind your work.

The medium has an influence for sure, when I started working with coloured pencil, the technique of repeated lines came very fast, I didn't search for it, the material led me to that, and gave me a structure to search within that medium. The more I create constraints the more I feel free to search. The way I am using coloured pencil is very physical, the different ways of creating a line bring me to a different energy, the sound is also very present, a rhythm appear sometimes and helps me, it is very musical sometimes.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any techniques you have developed that you use  consistently in your artwork?

Engraving could be one.  Paper is very soft, I use Arches paper (350 grams) so it's a little bit thick and it permits me to leave a trace on it. After creating my composition I often use the technique of engraving on the paper with the help of a nail that I fix onto a pencil. I can create form with the engraving that will appear more when the tones of colour that I use become darker.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What has been the most memorable or most challenging piece you have ever created? How     much do you think the effort you put into creating a work is important vs  the idea behind it?

I keep in mind the installation “Mon Métier”, I had to make 6 very large drawings, they were in the same composition : a heard of horses, taken on their profile, going in the same direction. It took me a month and a half, it was exhausting. My technique needs a lot of time and work, I have this romantic idea that all the time that I am creating the colour, and all the energetic movement that I put on the paper helps to create an energy, a vibrance that (maybe) the watcher will feel.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Are there any particular techniques or materials you would like to learn how to use in the future?

I would love to become more technically proficient with ceramics. I did a few and I would love to continue the process.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What themes or topics are you exploring in your current artwork?

I am getting into abstraction more at this time, working on a technical vocabulary to explore new forms & textures.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think is the most important skill a studio artist  should have?

Patience, endurance.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What do you think has been the biggest challenge in your creative career?

It is still a big challenge every day. Art is an adventure, so the most important thing is to be adventurous. It's probably the most challenging.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: Do you have any upcoming exhibitions or projects that you are excited about?

Yes ! The opening of Plop residency the 30^th of march in London and then a residency in May at Palazzo Monti and at the same time a group show with Thom Oosterhof who is the curator who is known on Instagram as “Tesoro”.

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ARTCOLLECTORNEWS: What advice would you give to aspiring studio artists?

Patience, endurance and to be honest with your work. My dad used to say: “ if there is willingness there is a path” :)

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