INTERVIEW: SANDRINE PELLETIER TALKS TO FILEP MOTWARY:
Dear iDEALS, with the help of mySPACE.com I found myself surrounded by people I have always admired. Finally the need of all of us creative people belonging to a community has evolved to something more than interesting. I’ve Known Sandrine’s work from here and there but it wasn’t until I visited the website she has among her collaborator ERWAN, when I finally realised that they are both responsible for some important masterpieces of the modern art and fashion world.
(PHOTO OF SANDRINE: Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin)
Filep Motwary: You know that I got impressed while looking at http://maskara.ch . I want to ask you how everything started for you, becoming an artist and soon after your work being featured in the most important fashion magazines? Sandrine Pelletier: It was a lucky accident! My work was shown through a group show displaying graphic designers' works at Centre Georges Pompidou. I was formed to be a graphic designer, at the beginning...
I guess I was very lucky to be spontaneously contacted by my galerist after that. This guy simply asked me: "Hey, those printed embroideries, could you try to make them for me? I’d like to see them hangin' on a wall» I thought it wasn't for real, as I couldn't really imagine myself as an artist... 
Then, M/M asked me (I've meet them when I was a baby designer at the ECAL in Lausanne)"Ok, we are doing the art direction for the next I-D issue, can you try to gets into a Kate Bush fan's skin and making image for us? We think it could match with you" After that, I had the motivation to keep going on my artistic works. Magazines are the best and grateful windows you can get. They can be read by everyone, at anytime. Exhibition is something more direct and rough: people are facing directly your work, for the worst or the best. Filep Motwary: Another thing that made me "wave" is the magnitude literally of your works. I mean some of your pieces have enormous sizes or need enormous spaces to displayed, How much time did it take you to finish the" Angoraphopia", or "Royal" projects? Sandrine Pelletier: No pain, Baby, no gain... Angoraphobia took around six or seven weeks of a full time job. The composition of white cats from the art piece "La Chatière" 
was supposed to contain about 10 cats together. At the time, I realized after two weeks that I'm gonna be forced to make a lot of fake cats...My working space is quite small and which looks huge into my working space can look small into a gallery space..Three weeks before the opening exhibition its always the worst moment, that moment
I realize that I'll need more and more stuffs than my initial project...it's like the embroideries....some pieces are supposed to be small in the beginning (30 cm x 30 cm, for example) and in the end they are more than 1,50 meter x 1,50. Because I've decided to add a background, a war scene behind a portrait, for example....The artwork can change till the last minute! Of course I had a preliminary drawing or sketches, but the process is very "freestyle" and can change at the last minute! This is very organic, risky and stressful. At this moment, I'm transforming myself into a demon and I become horrible. I'm very happy to have sweet and calm friends...They use to call me PAZUZU and want to call an exorcist for me just before my opening shows! 
FilepMotwary: Your Kate Bush project is one of my favourites. When iD magazine came out I felt "justified" as it was one of the freshest things I had seen for ages. What was behind the effort you made for the singer/fashion icon? Sandrine Pelletier: Since I've always been a huge fan of Kate Bush, it wasn't much of an effort. The record sleeve of "Never for Ever" remind me my childhood, I was very fascinated by that floating dress, those animals running out from Kate Bush's dress. The painted eggs for example...I was a bit afraid to do something like that, which has nothing really to do with fashion (maybe then this is the way fashion is, nothing to do with!) but more with "therapy art" you know, entertaining arts & craft for old people or depressive people... Once again, that was a commissioned project. I had to act as a Kate Bush fan, so taking the role of a fan was a bit like in a way an excuse, and putting a distance like "this is what I propose as a Kate Bush fan, this time". I strongly believe that this type of commissioned work are great because you are directed like an actor in a movie scene, but in two dimension.
FilepMotwary: Do you enjoy working for other people. Is it a matter of "cash" or a matter of "them" touching your inner self with their needs? SandrinePelletier:Yes. It's a mix of both. I like the challenge of working for others. The challenge of doing a good job while adapting to someone else's perspectives. Somehow, it brings me more than just working by myself. In the end, it's even better if the client has a budget for. And, when the client is skinned, but crazy and motivated, there is always a solution. FilepMotwary: Have you ever thought of yourself starring in a porn movie among your magnificent art pieces? How important is sex in your work and how does it reflect in it?
SandrinePelletier: Sex is not such an important theme in my work. What I enjoy the most is weird stuff, such as midget porn movies. Lately, I've seen a movie with a latino sex dwarf who's wearing a little ballet outfit and being carried from places to places in a suitcase, being pulled out only to lick old men's dicks. Such crispy stories gave me inspiration for pieces like Ronald's Children or Mademoiselle. It is more the deviant behaviours that interest me, rather than sex itself. No, I never thought of starring in a porn movie among my art pieces. Argh, maybe I should! 
FilepMotwary: From all your creations and collaborations with designers, artists, magazines...which is the one you most cherish? Would you like to be buried with it like the ancient Egyptians? Sandrine Pelletier: Yep, I'd love to be buried in a barroque chrysalide with Lady Baygon, my crown of flies. Not sure, it's between Mysanthropy and Sehnsucht, the Russian dolls. Another work I like is The flying cats installation for Tsumori Chisato, I even wanted to make a myspace page for each of them (60) (laughts!) FilepMotwary:How do you function when working together with ERWAN? He is a man you are a woman. I am sure there are moments of "heritage". If you know what I mean.... Sandrine Pelletier: How do we function?
I'm more of a Barbie freak and he's a Lego boy! My embroideries, or painted eggs works are, in a way, "woman's work" so when we work together with Erwan, I have the feeling that I become more abstract and less baroque, more "masculine", maybe 
I think our maskara's common works are "transsexuals works"- sounds good! FilepMotwary: Describe an interesting day in the life of Sandrine Pelletier. Sandrine Pelletier: You know I am nightworker....so my day start at about 11 PM eh eh....Hmm...first, I like to wake up with a cute creature next to me, telling me that I look fantastic without make up...Then I put some music: Sigue sigue Sputnik, The Cramps or even some 90's Eurodance to shake my legs when I'm making a good breakfast. I check my e mails and I read proposal for interesting jobs, Then I go to my working space, (a bit out from Paris-centre), 
and during the afternoon I'll be able to make something good in one shot. Back town, I love going to a pet shop, to watch... the puppies and kittens. So cute. And in the same area, carry on with some shopping, too. Let's imagine that I'll find a wonderful pair of Pierre Hardy's shoes on sale or Balenciaga pants. A few minutes after, I'll meet my friends in the street and we will go to a sushi bar, talking about news, gossips, mad stuff such as creating a make up brand or creating the next Madonna's sleeve record.
After that, going to an opening space exhibition would be a good option, to get the party started. The exhibition from a Greek young artist is showing huge paintings made with sperm, curry sauce and sugar. VIP are there: Paris Hilton, Boy Georges, Kelis, the guy from "Prison break TV serial" and Divine-yes, Divine, she's back from the dead just for the opening. We had a discussion about High Heels, cimema, Paris (Hilton) and about life in general. 
I gave her my catalogue This book was made for my cat Figaro. Soon after that we heard about a party called "Mort aux jeunes" ("Kill young people") and we decided to go there. It's a costumed party: the theme is "Fruit and Vegetable". We had a lot of fun there, dancing like flying carpets and talking about art, fashion, and boys after view Jack Daniel's. To finish that interesting day, I caught a taxi cab in 2 minutes to go home (I remember still having in my cell phone the private Vogue's taxi number) Filep Motwary : Share with us as much information as you can on your collaboration with Vanessa Bruno. How did it all start? Sandrine Pelletier: Vanessa Bruno got interested in my work of embroideries. She was there at the very beginning, since my first show and we were interested to work together for a long time. She knows exactly what she wants but she's also very easy to work with.
Cleary not a fashion diva. She wanted customised bag (the famous one with sparkles) with embroideries on it, at the beginning. We try to do some, but the result wasn't special enough. Just customised bags. Last month she celebrated her 10 years-brand in "Le Printemps" a big surface-shop, and she had the idea to exhibit in the windows shop some artist's works mixed with her latest collection. Then, I had the mission to work with the bags again and I thought it was interesting to make miniature models (dolls) growing out from those bags, such as "flower blossom girls". This is how I see Vanessa and her work. Blossom girls, feminine and romantic.
After that, I did a part of the stenography for her last showroom, in The Museum of Modern Art. We used white ostrich feather to make big feathered circles, sort of giants white dreamcatchers, hanging from the top of the room, and we kept the amazing natural day light of the Museum. The result was more like an exhibition that a showroom. FilepMotwary:Do you like Un nouVeau Ideal ?What is your honest opinion? Sandrine Pelletier: You know I like it baby otherwise that interview won't be so full of gossips and stories!;)
(PHOTO OF SANDRINE: Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin)
Filep Motwary: You know that I got impressed while looking at http://maskara.ch . I want to ask you how everything started for you, becoming an artist and soon after your work being featured in the most important fashion magazines? Sandrine Pelletier: It was a lucky accident! My work was shown through a group show displaying graphic designers' works at Centre Georges Pompidou. I was formed to be a graphic designer, at the beginning...I guess I was very lucky to be spontaneously contacted by my galerist after that. This guy simply asked me: "Hey, those printed embroideries, could you try to make them for me? I’d like to see them hangin' on a wall» I thought it wasn't for real, as I couldn't really imagine myself as an artist... Then, M/M asked me (I've meet them when I was a baby designer at the ECAL in Lausanne)"Ok, we are doing the art direction for the next I-D issue, can you try to gets into a Kate Bush fan's skin and making image for us? We think it could match with you" After that, I had the motivation to keep going on my artistic works. Magazines are the best and grateful windows you can get. They can be read by everyone, at anytime. Exhibition is something more direct and rough: people are facing directly your work, for the worst or the best. Filep Motwary: Another thing that made me "wave" is the magnitude literally of your works. I mean some of your pieces have enormous sizes or need enormous spaces to displayed, How much time did it take you to finish the" Angoraphopia", or "Royal" projects? Sandrine Pelletier: No pain, Baby, no gain... Angoraphobia took around six or seven weeks of a full time job. The composition of white cats from the art piece "La Chatière" was supposed to contain about 10 cats together. At the time, I realized after two weeks that I'm gonna be forced to make a lot of fake cats...My working space is quite small and which looks huge into my working space can look small into a gallery space..Three weeks before the opening exhibition its always the worst moment, that moment I realize that I'll need more and more stuffs than my initial project...it's like the embroideries....some pieces are supposed to be small in the beginning (30 cm x 30 cm, for example) and in the end they are more than 1,50 meter x 1,50. Because I've decided to add a background, a war scene behind a portrait, for example....The artwork can change till the last minute! Of course I had a preliminary drawing or sketches, but the process is very "freestyle" and can change at the last minute! This is very organic, risky and stressful. At this moment, I'm transforming myself into a demon and I become horrible. I'm very happy to have sweet and calm friends...They use to call me PAZUZU and want to call an exorcist for me just before my opening shows! FilepMotwary: Your Kate Bush project is one of my favourites. When iD magazine came out I felt "justified" as it was one of the freshest things I had seen for ages. What was behind the effort you made for the singer/fashion icon? Sandrine Pelletier: Since I've always been a huge fan of Kate Bush, it wasn't much of an effort. The record sleeve of "Never for Ever" remind me my childhood, I was very fascinated by that floating dress, those animals running out from Kate Bush's dress. The painted eggs for example...I was a bit afraid to do something like that, which has nothing really to do with fashion (maybe then this is the way fashion is, nothing to do with!) but more with "therapy art" you know, entertaining arts & craft for old people or depressive people... Once again, that was a commissioned project. I had to act as a Kate Bush fan, so taking the role of a fan was a bit like in a way an excuse, and putting a distance like "this is what I propose as a Kate Bush fan, this time". I strongly believe that this type of commissioned work are great because you are directed like an actor in a movie scene, but in two dimension.FilepMotwary: Do you enjoy working for other people. Is it a matter of "cash" or a matter of "them" touching your inner self with their needs? SandrinePelletier:Yes. It's a mix of both. I like the challenge of working for others. The challenge of doing a good job while adapting to someone else's perspectives. Somehow, it brings me more than just working by myself. In the end, it's even better if the client has a budget for. And, when the client is skinned, but crazy and motivated, there is always a solution. FilepMotwary: Have you ever thought of yourself starring in a porn movie among your magnificent art pieces? How important is sex in your work and how does it reflect in it? SandrinePelletier: Sex is not such an important theme in my work. What I enjoy the most is weird stuff, such as midget porn movies. Lately, I've seen a movie with a latino sex dwarf who's wearing a little ballet outfit and being carried from places to places in a suitcase, being pulled out only to lick old men's dicks. Such crispy stories gave me inspiration for pieces like Ronald's Children or Mademoiselle. It is more the deviant behaviours that interest me, rather than sex itself. No, I never thought of starring in a porn movie among my art pieces. Argh, maybe I should! FilepMotwary: From all your creations and collaborations with designers, artists, magazines...which is the one you most cherish? Would you like to be buried with it like the ancient Egyptians? Sandrine Pelletier: Yep, I'd love to be buried in a barroque chrysalide with Lady Baygon, my crown of flies. Not sure, it's between Mysanthropy and Sehnsucht, the Russian dolls. Another work I like is The flying cats installation for Tsumori Chisato, I even wanted to make a myspace page for each of them (60) (laughts!) FilepMotwary:How do you function when working together with ERWAN? He is a man you are a woman. I am sure there are moments of "heritage". If you know what I mean.... Sandrine Pelletier: How do we function? I'm more of a Barbie freak and he's a Lego boy! My embroideries, or painted eggs works are, in a way, "woman's work" so when we work together with Erwan, I have the feeling that I become more abstract and less baroque, more "masculine", maybe I think our maskara's common works are "transsexuals works"- sounds good! FilepMotwary: Describe an interesting day in the life of Sandrine Pelletier. Sandrine Pelletier: You know I am nightworker....so my day start at about 11 PM eh eh....Hmm...first, I like to wake up with a cute creature next to me, telling me that I look fantastic without make up...Then I put some music: Sigue sigue Sputnik, The Cramps or even some 90's Eurodance to shake my legs when I'm making a good breakfast. I check my e mails and I read proposal for interesting jobs, Then I go to my working space, (a bit out from Paris-centre), and during the afternoon I'll be able to make something good in one shot. Back town, I love going to a pet shop, to watch... the puppies and kittens. So cute. And in the same area, carry on with some shopping, too. Let's imagine that I'll find a wonderful pair of Pierre Hardy's shoes on sale or Balenciaga pants. A few minutes after, I'll meet my friends in the street and we will go to a sushi bar, talking about news, gossips, mad stuff such as creating a make up brand or creating the next Madonna's sleeve record. After that, going to an opening space exhibition would be a good option, to get the party started. The exhibition from a Greek young artist is showing huge paintings made with sperm, curry sauce and sugar. VIP are there: Paris Hilton, Boy Georges, Kelis, the guy from "Prison break TV serial" and Divine-yes, Divine, she's back from the dead just for the opening. We had a discussion about High Heels, cimema, Paris (Hilton) and about life in general. I gave her my catalogue This book was made for my cat Figaro. Soon after that we heard about a party called "Mort aux jeunes" ("Kill young people") and we decided to go there. It's a costumed party: the theme is "Fruit and Vegetable". We had a lot of fun there, dancing like flying carpets and talking about art, fashion, and boys after view Jack Daniel's. To finish that interesting day, I caught a taxi cab in 2 minutes to go home (I remember still having in my cell phone the private Vogue's taxi number) Filep Motwary : Share with us as much information as you can on your collaboration with Vanessa Bruno. How did it all start? Sandrine Pelletier: Vanessa Bruno got interested in my work of embroideries. She was there at the very beginning, since my first show and we were interested to work together for a long time. She knows exactly what she wants but she's also very easy to work with. Cleary not a fashion diva. She wanted customised bag (the famous one with sparkles) with embroideries on it, at the beginning. We try to do some, but the result wasn't special enough. Just customised bags. Last month she celebrated her 10 years-brand in "Le Printemps" a big surface-shop, and she had the idea to exhibit in the windows shop some artist's works mixed with her latest collection. Then, I had the mission to work with the bags again and I thought it was interesting to make miniature models (dolls) growing out from those bags, such as "flower blossom girls". This is how I see Vanessa and her work. Blossom girls, feminine and romantic.After that, I did a part of the stenography for her last showroom, in The Museum of Modern Art. We used white ostrich feather to make big feathered circles, sort of giants white dreamcatchers, hanging from the top of the room, and we kept the amazing natural day light of the Museum. The result was more like an exhibition that a showroom. FilepMotwary:Do you like Un nouVeau Ideal ?What is your honest opinion? Sandrine Pelletier: You know I like it baby otherwise that interview won't be so full of gossips and stories!;) 
