Nicolas Barrome and his surrealistic creatures
A few weeks ago, Nicolas Barrome welcomed us in his Parisian apartment for a small interview. Native of the Southwest of France, this illustrator proposes a very colorful work with sets of textures and lights that make his works both complex and rich in details. He talks about his beginnings in business school, his passion for monstrous creatures, through his friends of the collective Jeanspezial, and his childhood in his mother club video.
Hi Nicolas, thanks for welcoming us into your apartment! You began by going to a business school, only to then turn towards the arts. How did this complete change in direction come to be?
I got my high school diploma in economic and social sciences, followed by a two-year technical diploma in marketing techniques. I went into it without really knowing and I quickly realised it wasn’t for me. I self-sabotaged, 2 of us out of 150 were to be expelled, and I was one of them. On the side, I have been drawing since I was a little kid, and I wondered where I could study other than at the Beaux Arts. Because that art school freaked me out. I’d always heard how it was an obscure place where you ended up being a painter underneath a bridge. The Arts Appliqués, at the time, was a lot less well-known field than it is now, I discovered the course and I loved it.
Talk to us about Jeanspezial. Who are its members, and what do you do exactly?
A group of friends and I, we thought that what we did at school was great, but we wanted to develop personal projects on the side. We went to Troyes, in l’Aube where I met the other members of the Jeanspezial collective. There are 9 of us. It’s graffiti, fun, and a few partnerships with event planning labels.
You work on many mediums, with very different tools; can you tell us a little about this?
I’ve always wanted to diversify my activity. Painting a wall is incredibly refreshing. I find it interesting to adapt a world in big, small, on paper, on the computer. At the exhibition, I did stained-glass windows, sculptures… As long as everything is coherent, you can say there’s an artistic world.
Which is your favourite technique?
My preferred technique on paper is using black and white pens. I also use Ecoline inks. I have been using this black and white technique for a while now, I don’t really surprise myself anymore. So I add a bit of spray paint, things that can’t be mastered in order to create unwanted accidents that, in the end, give a new drawing. On walls, I only use spray paints. I don’t have that graffiti culture, I use spray cans as a medium the same way I would use a paintbrush. In the end, it’s with sprays paints that I truly have my own style.
Your work is very colourful, with fading, and plays on textures and light. How did you find your style?
It’s all thanks to a friend who made me do acid etching. You work with a special iron-tipped pencil, it’s difficult to do fading. So I told myself I was going to do them using small lines. I liked the effect so much I ended up doing this with pens, acrylic paints and brushes, and now I do this for everything.
You regularly do illustrations under the name “Les Jeanclode” for ad campaigns. Why choose to work for advertising?
Simply because it’s what makes the most money. In the beginning, we asked ourselves “What do we have to do to eat properly?” Eating pasta’s cool you know, but after a while you want to stop working like madmen just to win 3 macaroni. Ad campaigns are what pay the best. We went into it without really knowing what we were going to find, and we began cold-calling every single agency like crazy. We really enjoyed doing campaigns. There are loads of guys who find them boring and annoying and I can understand, but I’ve always thought that they confront you with difficulties you don’t come across when you’re alone. And they make you draw things you never would have drawn alone. I find it gives me a good rhythm that helps me move forward.
The dog is a recurring character in your drawings; does it have a particular meaning?
He’s a bit like an imaginary best friend. I make him do anything and everything, I cut him up, he gets slapped around, he looks stupid, he’s cross-eyed. He’s always there, always happy.
There is an omnipresent rapport with animals in general, but also with food, in your works. Is there a link with your childhood memories?
First off, I love to eat! Food was very important in my upbringing. For me, eating is fun, I enjoy sitting at the table, with my friends or my family. It can even last 3 hours, I love it. I love humanising things, rendering realistic things surrealistic. Taking a carrot, putting it somewhere with a slightly stupid, sad look, I find it says a lot. You project yourself more into an image when there are instantly recognisable things in it.
There is also a rapport with monsters and creatures. My mum had a video club when I was a kid. She’d stick me in the middle of it and I’d eat up all the Star Wars, Dark Crystal and every single science fiction film from that era. I have that kind of creature culture, from Dracula to SpongeBob. The monsters I draw are seemingly kind. But there is always a dead one, cut up in little pieces. The carrot is always dead. It’s only when you look at the picture a second time that you realise it’s not so funny. I think it’s important to create an atmosphere in a drawing. But it’s never shocking, because I don’t like to shock.
You collaborated with OLOW on a t-shirt for our coming winter collection. Why choose to work with us?
I often go with affect, and I found the guys to be really friendly. The line was cool, everything was immaculate, from the website to the collection. There was also some risk-taking in not wanting to only do t-shirts. And to do that, you have to be ballsy. I said why not!
Any projects for the coming months?
I’m starting my very first book. It’s a collection where I’ll be illustrating the 50 most famous cinema creatures. So it’s perfect for me!
One last question: If you had to plug any artist whose work you love, who would it be?
Amandine Urruty! When we met, we loved the fact that we got along well work-wise. Our worlds aren’t the same but there is still that same love for illustration, for well-made drawings. Together, we started making a canvas straight away, then a drawing, and then walls. Finally, we only kept the walls.
The photos stem from Nicolas Barrome’s “Bon Appétit” exhibition held last June at our friends’ gallery L’Attrape Rêve in Paris.
Thank you to Nicolas.
Find Nicolas Barrome on Facebook, Instagram and on his official site.
To buy OLOW tees in collaboration with Nicolas Barrome, click here : SIR CORNETTO Heather grey / SIR CORNETTO White
– L.K –
