Alexandre Benjamin Navet

The project is the fruit of six months of work. After being selected, I went to the National Assembly several times to do location scouting as I really wanted to do something site-specific. I was free to discover the different spaces, watch people walking round and observe the architectural perspectives. When I was alone, I drew elements of the setting such as the friezes and décor elements for inspiration. The Assembly offered me various options where I could present my work. I was interested in the Court of Honour because it’s very symbolic and in the gardens where interviews are given and discussions are held. My wish was to create a stroll between the two. I love the notion of public space and enjoyed asking myself where I should place the sculptures in this solemn setting.

I collect vases and they’re like actors in my paintings. The forms of superposed vases in various colours communicate with each other. And the idea of the totems recalls the beautiful verticality of the architecture where one is surrounded by colonnades. This is the first time that I’ve developed my work in 3D volume, although I’d already worked on trompe-l’oeil in my drawings. This experience has given me a huge desire to continue making sculpture.

I was also granted authorisation to paint on the garden’s chairs and benches which was an incredible opportunity. The pieces are permanent works that belong to the National Assembly.

What appeals to me is that the stroke appears on the canvas, the painting becomes the space, a piece of furniture becomes a drawing, or a drawing becomes a perspective. I like everything being in dialogue without any barriers. What I love about Jean Dubuffet is the notion of entering a space, like in his works ‘Jardin d’Hiver’ [1968 – 1970, an installation at the Centre Pompidou] and ‘La Tour aux Figures’ [in a park in Issy-les-Moulineaux]. I’d like to bring this three-dimensional aspect to drawing and give the viewer the experience and feeling of being inside a drawing.

My mother studied fine art and my parents often took me to museums. As a child, I drew a lot. My parents kept all my drawings, which is very touching! Besides that, I liked design because it combines the idea of the object, technique and art, which has been present in my life since I was very young.

I really like the work of Shirley Jaffe, an American artist who settled in Paris where her work evolved, and the British artist David Hockney as well as Matisse and André Derain. I love the colour that one finds in the Fauvism movement and I try to bring this chromatic force into my work.

The starting point was bringing the viewer into an imaginary universe and the heart of a painting. The title referenced my love for ceramics. I went to meet a ceramicist and worked with him on the pieces. I also designed a carpet produced by Codimat Collection and drew the décor on the walls. It was very enjoyable because I could work on the whole space. This project and the one at the National Assembly are both about how to bring volume to my drawings and my continuing research into French decorative arts.

Portraiture is a genre that I like a lot but that’s very confidential. My portraits are quite rare because they’re very intimate, often portraying friends and family. I want to develop this more in my work but don’t have any exhibition planned.

It’s about creating surprises and trying to radically transform the quotidian into something different, whether it’s a haute joaillerie store suddenly appearing as a forest, the National Assembly hosting sculptures in its courtyard or a theatre décor popping up in Nantes. The element of surprise evokes something joyous in us and that’s what I want to share in my projects. The idea of something being temporary appeals to me, too, because it’s about creating a memory. Ephemeral projects also offer the possibility of expressing oneself on a large scale. ‘Fifth Avenue Blooms’ on this mythical avenue was amazing because it’s not every day that one can draw on the scale of a city. It was unveiled in May 2020, just after the first Covid lockdown, so it was very moving. And ‘Façades Chromatiques’ was part of ‘Voyage à Nantes’, an initiative that invites artists to exhibit in different places in the city each year. For the latter, I researched the city’s history and archives, perusing old postcards and images to imagine what existed on the square previously.

I’m lucky that my clients choose me! They propose a project to me that motivates the choice I’ll make. I’m quite loyal to my clients, so I’m not chasing around a lot. With Hermès, I worked on the notion of how to put my drawing onto a fabric and piece of clothing. I made my drawing after visiting the Émile Hermès Museum in Paris. I wanted to show a small part of its collection and assembled the rocking horse statues as if I were a collector. At Hermès, we sought to transform my pastel drawing into something material. Embarking on a collaboration with a new client enables me to express myself in a new area, on a new subject. Each time, I ask myself what universe I can discover. It’s as if I’m constituting a library full of different books.