Interview with Nathalie Faintuch: 1, 2, 3… PENGUINS!

Interview with Nathalie Faintuch: 1, 2, 3… PENGUINS!

Capture d’écran 2015-06-22 à 14.15.13

 

•MECENAVIE: How did you come up with the idea of working on penguins?

•Nathalie Faintuch: I had the opportunity to salvage some penguins. I wasn’t the one who made them. Talking to you now makes me think of Baudelaire’s poem, The Albatross. Penguins are the most touching animals to me: they’re both chic and awkward. I love penguins, especially since the movie March of the Penguins . It was a twofold challenge for me, painting on a 3D structure and on resin, a very granular material.

 

•M: Do you plan to do more, going forward?

•NF: You always think of penguins in a group. I’ll definitely be doing a fourth, but after that, I don’t know. The fact that there is a limited number makes the project particularly special.

 

•M: How long did these pieces take you?

•NF: I spent eight months on the three of them. I was working on all three at the same time, so that I could keep things interesting. It was a long, drawn-out job. It was physically exhausting are required an enormous amount of concentration. I’ll share an anecdote with you: when it came to applying the Swarovski stones, I couldn’t make any mistakes! The paste dried in three minutes! This type of minutia made it a highly technical project.

 

•M: What message are you sending through these penguins?

•NF: I’ve always refused to be labeled, to work on a single subject. It was the logical continuation of what I was doing with painting. The penguin named Raph is an American musician, Ben is a dreamy artist in love, and Louise tells the tale (as I see it). When we talk about penguins, we often overlook the females, which is why Louise is a tribute to womankind. She’s represents the story of an encounter between multiple women and, to a certain extent, she represents me.

 

•M: What do you think about this experience?

•NF: It helped me to “grow.” It was a fantastic experience, and I’m delighted with how it turned out.

 

Learn more about the artist (in French) at: http://www.mecenavie.com/artistes/nathaliefaintuch/




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