Tapestries & sculpture making is a creative space for Lucian Murat to show his connection and inspiration towards mythology. It’s like reaching the unreachable. It’s the perfect amalgamation artworks that has surfaced to his audience in an extraordinary way
HOW WAS YOUR PASSION FOR ART BORN? WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY?
I was born in the Brittany region in France and even though I am now very emotionally attached to that place and its sceneries, back then I was searching for means of escaping it. Our parents were always going to the same old houses on holiday, and I felt this lack of references that I would fill with a passion for books, comics and video games. All had a massive role in the choice of themes displayed in my current work.
Later, I would come face to face with the great masterworks of classical art in the Louvre. What touched me and kept fuelling my drive is the sort of universal language of art and how it creates a link between us all.
CONSIDERING YOUR WORK IN VISUAL ARTS, WHAT EXACTLY IS THE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ART?
Mythology, stories that transcends frontiers and individual differences, is an unquenchable theme. It is the closest thing we have to a universal human experience, a mean to explain the unreachable.
I have written a series of text in prose, the myth of a hero named Megathesis who travels and maps a fragmented, ever-changing, ever-expanding world, a metaphor of the post internet world. I depict key moments in the story, like photographs of the most determining instant.
WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF "END OF THE WORLD" IN YOUR ARTWORK AND ITS IMPACT ON THE “COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS”?
“End of the world” is taken here as a rebirth of the world, a revelation. The merging of the internet with our daily lives has changed the way we view everything, from global conflicts to the relationship we have with our own identity. We are completely unable to visualise it in its globality, so I try to incarnate it with characters, colours, textures and patterns.
IN WHICH WAY DOES YOUR ARTWORK EXPANDS TOWARDS THE OLD FASHION CLASSIC DECORATIVE TAPESTRIES?
Tapestry and textile work are some of the oldest ways of storytelling, their histories are filled with ancient legends and myths such as the one of Philomela and Procne. Philomela turned mute after being raped and beaten by Tereus, her sister’s husband, weaved a tapestry to be sent to her sister Procne, who killed her and Tereus’ son and forced him to eat it as a way of revenge. I am fascinated with this idea of pulling a thread and uncovering the absolute horror, the things that cannot be said with words.
I am driven to these ancient handcrafting techniques and their histories; I think it helps setting my work in a long history of artistry and their time-consuming processes create a radical shift from the post internet world where we are constantly bombarded with new information.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR ART SCULPTURES AND IN WHICH DIRECTION IS THE CREATION DEDICATED TO?
I obviously take a lot of inspiration from bas-reliefs, another practice that often-had mythology and religion as a subject. My work is situated in a paradoxical relationship to materiality, with the constant evocation of the immaterial virtual world as I try to give it relief and texture. I had a conversation with artist Julius Hoffmann that made me realise the importance of texture and volume in the representation of the post-Internet era in order to give it a real materiality. Prior to that conversation, I did a lot of aerograph painting, but its smooth, almost excessively sleek aspect carried a lack of dimension that couldn’t quite express the grimy nature of the post Internet world. When I started to give texture to that world, by mixing sand with acrylic painting and burning it, it finally felt like I was relying on incarnating it. I think it adds another layer of complexity.
HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE FASHION INDUSTRY AND EDWARD CRUTCHLEY COLLECTION?
Edward and I share a passion for old techniques as well as a desire to go beyond that heritage and integrate it in modern day to day lives. This collaboration forced me to rethink the situation of the human body in my work not as an evocative silhouette anymore, but as a central subject.
ARE THERE ANY FUTURE ART WORKS YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH US TO EXPAND THE "DARE" HORIZON IN A PROVOKING COLLECTIVE SOCIAL EXPERIENCE?
I can't show you anything new because all my pieces are constantly updated. As I talk to you now, I am adding last minute modifications to my pieces for my upcoming solo show, piercing the tarps and redoing the paint while they are already hung on the walls!
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Images provided by Lucien
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