ArtAttack is proud to present our latest ‘Artist of the Week’, Louis-Nicolas Darbon. Artists of the week are selected by the ArtAttack team from the diverse and eclectic group of artist users on our app.
Parisian born, London-based artist, menswear & lifestyle blogger, Louis-Nicolas Darbon stands out from the crowd with a mixture of his two worlds of art & fashion colliding, sartorially influencing gentlemen around the globe.
I had the chance to talk to Louis about his career so far, and find out more about his artistic practise.
How did you become involved in creating art?
I’ve been painting as long as I can remember. I was very passionate already as a young kid to create and it’s just been evolving ever since. My mother is also very creative so I think I got that gene from her. My parents were always very supportive and they realised early that it is my biggest passion in life. I am lucky to be able to work with my passion in grown up years – it’s nothing I take for granted.
Having worked for some of the biggest luxury fashion companies in the world – how does fashion play into your work?
Fashion is a huge inspiration in my work, from the iconic portraits of models to the luxury logos that I use to play around with in my works. Having worked for some of the biggest luxury / fashion houses, I know from the inside that sometimes fashion is not as glamorous as it seems – especially not behind the scenes.
My art is meant to be fun and liberating, easy to understand, not too serious and full of colour. I play around with big logos; when I create portraits I want them to look as close to the original portrait as possible– glamorous and amazing. I want people to have beautiful pieces in their homes, something that make them smile – I am quite the opposite of dark and abstract art.
Your artistic style appears to be an astonishing ensemble of fashion, pop and icons – what are the major influences behind your work?
I love to play around luxury brands logos, there is something fun and easy about them that makes them pop and always relevant especially brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton. I love beautiful portraits – and as you might have seen I have something for blonde icons such as Brigitte Bardot, Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne and Elsa Hosk, who amongst others are regularly featured in my works. I love fashion photography and fashion editorials – there is always a lot of attitude and emotion that I love to capture and freeze on a canvas, and when they get blown up on big canvas sizes they become very dramatic and eye-catching in a room.
Tell us more about your illustrations?
It all started as a small project a bit more than two years ago, it’s very much a project that combines my two worlds together – fashion and art. My illustrations are only focused around menswear and gentleman details – watches, cars etc. I never thought it would become so big that I would be working on illustration projects for some of the biggest fashion brands in the world – it’s truly a dream. It’s an amazing experience to create designs and make their collections come alive through drawings, it’s something I really enjoy. They are all free-hand drawings with nothing done on a computer – these days that seems quite unusual so it’s something I am very proud of. You can check out all my illustrations work under the Instagram handle @mydapperproject.
How does a strong online / digital presence, enable artists to have a greater dialogue with their global audience?
Personally I think you can’t avoid it, these days that’s how we communicate – through social media channels. The great thing about today is that we live in a global society where no matter where in the world you live you can reach people from every corner of the world with your art. If people like it, they will buy it – it’s the generation of today more instant and connected.
The old school galleries will always exist for a certain clientèle but today’s generation is curious, super connected and ready to buy Art online, they are extremely knowledgeable and gather information based on preferences and what they find online.
I think it’s a pretty unique thing to be able to talk to your buyers from all over the world, create something unique just for them based on what they want – a special size or a special portrait with different colours – that is something that didn’t exist before.
Have you got any future projects / plans lined up?
I am currently exhibiting in a group show ‘POP MOROCCO’ with BCK Gallery down at Sofitel Hotel in Marrakech from 1st May – 30th June, I have another show in Norway coming up later in the year and working on a project in Japan which will hopefully be live the second part of the year. In between that I am working on different illustrations projects, new art works and lots of other fun things so stay tuned.
– Harry Dougall
To see more of Louis’s work, visit his profile on ArtAttack App as well his exclusive Curated Collection on the ‘Curated Art’ page! GB link below or just search ‘ArtAttack – Share Sell Network’ on App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/artattack-share-sell-network/id1051315058?mt=8
For more information on the artist:
http://www.louisnicolasdarbon.com/
https://www.instagram.com/louisnicolasdarbon/?hl=en
http://louisnicolasdarbon.freshnet.com/
If you would like to be considered for ArtAttack’s ‘Artist of the Week,’ please email info@artattackapp.com to find out more about the submission process.
artattackapp.wordpress.com 