Solo Show 26.02.2015 > 29.03.2015

FSTN
Solo Show
26.02.2015 > 29.03.2015
MACADAM GALLERY
Du jeudi au dimanche 10h > 17h
Et sur rendez-vous.
58 Place du jeu de balle
1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 502 53 61
[email protected]
www.macadamgallery.com
Communiqué
La Macadam Gallery a le plaisir
de vous présenter le travail du
jeune artiste belge FSTN.
C’est sous la forme d’un Solo
Show façon « carte blanche »,
que la Macadam Gallery introduit
le jeune prodige à sa sélection.
Vous pourrez plonger dans
l’univers marqué par l’actualité, la
rue, le quotidien et la vie du jeune
artiste et découvrir ainsi une
œuvre naissante, sensible et
mordante.
A ne surtout pas manquer !
Vernissage :
Jeudi 26 Février 2015 - 18H
Exposition :
27.02.2015 > 29.03.2015
FSTN
DRAWINGS
Ce jeune artiste belge de 27 ans ne fait
pas son âge et on lui accorde bien
volontiers son surnom. En effet FSTN
est
à
prononcer
« fiston ».
FSTN dessine depuis son plus jeune
âge et c’est à l’école Saint Luc de
Bruxelles qu’il va étudier l’illustration.
Amoureux de sa pratique, qu’il décline
sous
différentes
formes
dont
l’intervention urbaine fait partie, il
parcourt de sa main agile chaque
morceau de papier, chaque « zone »
disponible qu’il peut investir, avec UN
outil de prédilection : le stylo bille.
Cet instrument, tellement maîtrisé est
comme greffé à sa main. Il est
l’élément essentiel qui caractérise son
trait et son travail.
SKETCHBOOK
TRIPTYCH 1, 2 AND 3
BALL-PEN ON PAPER GLASSMOUNTS
39 X 13 CM
NONAPTYCH 3
BALL-PEN ON PAPER
45X45CM
STREET ART
PRESS
Car driving Brussels may have known him in his past life as patient parking attendant
Pierre, but we are taking a furious trip down the rabbit hole to other underground terrain
ruled by Pierre Coubeau: the jet-black and disconcertingly hilarious Wonderland that he
draws under the pseudonym FSTN. “Cynical? No, that goes too far! [Laughs] I’m much
too sensitive to be cynical.”
Nothing in his hands, nothing up his sleeve except a ballpoint, Tipp-Ex, a stack of beer
coasters, and some sketch books. These are the tools with which Pierre Coubeau, alias
FSTN tackles the world, holding up a shiny, jet-black mirror to it. It’s a parallel universe in
which he temporarily puts aside his peace-loving soul for a therapeutic session of kill your
darlings – or at least your characters. “Yes, it is a bit dark isn’t it. I just can’t seem to make
pretty, cute things. I once made a birth announcement and a wedding invitation for my
brother, all hearts and kind, beautiful people hugging each other. But even then there was
a fear that I would let my inner Tim Burton get the better of me. I don’t do it to shock
people or wag my finger at them. It’s just the universe that appeals to me. Black, but with
a certain lightness, humour, acerbic, sarcastic at the most. Cynical? No, that goes too far!
[Laughs] I’m much too sensitive to be cynical. My motto is: ‘Détendez vous, pêtez un
coup’. Relax, take it easy. Too much seriousness irritates me.”
FSTN recently took part in the exhibit “La Bellone fait le mur”, in advance of which he had
said that people could take parts of his work home. An exciting idea: seeing your artistic
universe like mosaic stones – little parts of a greater whole – spread around a great
number of people. “Well, that’s not actually really how it went. It was more like free salami
samples at the supermarket. Some people tore off little pieces and left quietly, but other
people attacked my work as though their lives depended on it and took home whole rolls.
So you can forget the mosaic. I think there are two or three people who have a lot of it.
And then of course there were people who were incensed: ‘You can see the wooden
frame! Oh no! You can see the wood!’ [Snorts with laughter] At Café Central, which draws
a very different crowd, the same thing happened. It’s free, you know. But I won’t be doing
that again. It’s fun to do once – live out that destructive side. But it’s still your work. There
was no higher purpose; I had no political or anarchic agenda. I just did it to see how
people would react. Hang your work on a white wall at Wiels and nobody would even think
of actually doing that. Although the work is the same. That fascinates me.”
Experiments like that characterise FSTN’s artistic practice. Essential to his world are the
sketchbooks he has been keeping since 2006. “I studied illustration at Saint-Luc, but my
work isn’t actually very illustrative. That created a kind of tension between me and my
teachers: they wanted to lead me to pure illustration – that was their job – while I wanted to
do my own thing. So I didn’t really find my own path during my studies, but that is when I
started filling my sketchbooks.” The sketchbooks allow FSTN the freedom to try out new
things, they are the laboratory in which he furnishes his monstrous universe with tentacles.
“I would systematically do a lot of research for my drawings, and I still do. That’s how you
gradually appropriate a universe. It’s essential to the way I work, and that’s why I also
display my sketchbooks at exhibitions, not to underscore specific connections, but to
contextualise my work. And then people can make of it what they will. The sketchbooks
allow me to work spontaneously; I can’t just make a drawing on a sheet of expensive,
handmade paper; that’s way too much pressure. In a sketchbook, on the other hand, you
can just let loose, and before you know it, you’ve created something. Over time, the
drawings in my sketchbooks have evolved to veritable compositions, and the typography
has become increasingly important as well. After my training – I started a course at La
Cambre too, but didn’t finish it because I had to start at the very beginning again – I
dedicated myself completely to what I thought was good. And that’s the best thing to do:
that honesty is essential if and when you show people your work. It genuinely has to come
from you yourself.”
That is also apparent from FSTN’s influences. Ranging from films by John Carpenter to
Marguerite Duras and Shaun Tan to Pat Andrea, they all filter through into his work and
hover over the pages of his sketchbooks explicitly. And yet, FSTN’s work stubbornly resists
associations that are too clear or obvious. “You know, I started studying art when I was 18,
but I’ve been drawing all my life. You gradually start developing a modus operandi. For
myself, I think it is important to avoid flying on auto-pilot. You have to keep thinking about
everything. As a comic strip artist, you are constantly repeating the same characters, so a
certain routine can be very helpful. I, on the other hand, need to research constantly and
take risks.”
FSTN has been developing his oeuvre for six years now. Since he exhibited his Triptychs
at The Tattoo Shop, exactly one year ago, it has started bearing fruit. Album covers – “I
haven’t been doing anything else here” –, exhibitions, a commission from Hotel Bloom,
and since October, a new studio where the radio plays nothing but – you’ll never guess –
classical music. It’s a studio that has featured in the Wunderkammer several times
already. FSTN’s dark universe with the twinkling light of a gruesome smile should have
switched on a light bulb for us because it was not so far from the South Station in
Anderlecht that we entered the building that also houses the studios of Hell’o Monsters,
Silio and Elzo Durt, and François Jacob. “Until recently, my studio was in the Brussels Art
Factory. But there I was on a floor where everyone did something else. For some reason
I found it really difficult to produce anything there. Here I’ve got Hell’o Monsters who work
really hard, and Silio, who... well… also works. [Laughs] It’s thanks to him that I found out
there was a spot opening up here, and I grabbed the chance immediately. It does stink of
dead rats here, but…” [Hilarity] “Hey, we can hear you!” Hell’o Monsters quickly interject.
“Relax, you guys aren’t the dead rats. No, in all seriousness, it’s a great place and I’m
enjoying
myself.”
Text © Kurt Snoekx
Photos © Gautier Houba
First published in AGENDA magazine: http://www.agendamagazine.be/en/blog/studiovisit-fstn
MACADAM GALLERY
Du jeudi au dimanche 10h > 17h
Et sur rendez-vous
58 Place du jeu de balle
1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 502 53 61
[email protected]
www.macadamgallery.com