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U.E.– When did you start painting ? M.C.– I started making portraits with oil pastel when I was 13. Then, five years later I went to Paris Fine Arts School, where I am now in the fifth year. U.E.– And what were your first motivations? What is the first recollection that you have related to painting? M.C.– Well, when I was 7, 8 years old, my mother used to be very impressed by the family portraits that I made. This was quite meaningful for me. By the time I was 12, I noticed she was sad because I had stopped drawing, and she motivated me to continue. U.E.– Did you draw frequently when you were a child ? M.C.– Actually I wasn’t a great talent when I was a child. I remember that I used to steal some drawings from a friend of mine, who made nice pictures, just to show them to my parents. They were fascinated by those drawings, even if they weren’t mine. But I really started when I was 13, making portraits and faces that I imagined. U.E.– So you didn’t use models. M.C.– I also used models, but most of my drawings came out of my imagination. In the beginning I did mostly family portraits, because faces fascinated me. As I had my parents and relatives surrounding me all the time, I could |
draw them easily using oil pastel on paper,
which remains my main technique. Though, I was never limited to
it.
U.E.– Where do you find inspiration/motivation for your work? M.C.– I always have my last painting as a basis for the next one, it gives me a new perspective. I am also interested in all things contemporary. but my motivations are more free-styled, such as finding a funnier perspective, or even lighter, or simpler. Basically, I find a subject that interests me and then I start exploring it. Right now I am focused on the fashion universe and life in companies, which are for me important elements of the contemporary society. U.E.– The contemporary society is one of your motivations... M.C.– I’m interested in people’s lives, their thoughts, but this enduring motivation has always acquired different forms of expression. U.E.– How do you see the evolution of these forms in your work? M.C.– I’m always trying to expand the picture. I began by drawing heads, then I pictured people’s feelings and placed them in a different scene to disturb the viewer. In my early works the viewer is a voyeur; I’m trying now to change this by provoking or confronting the observer. |
