Antique hipsters and neoclassicism

© Leo Caillard
Leo Caillard tells why ancient heroes — we are and what you need to learn from them.
— You were born in Paris. Can you describe Paris of your childhood.
— The Paris of my childhood was a bit different but not that far from what I am seeing now. Paris is an old and immortal city, builds are same as centuries ago and only some modern towers appear arrant Paris. The main difference is about humans habits. Parisian don’t look at city because of pressuring daily routine and smartphones. That is why I try to bring back the beauty of museum sculptures into our daily life.
— Disguised antique sculptures into modern clothes. Who are they?
— They are Greek Gods and iconic figures from the past.
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
— Why did you decide that antique sculptures need to be more modern?
— Because of their beauty. They must not be just the old stones from the past. Antique sculptures define who are we today and these sculpture from the past are more modern than we can consider.
— Describe the process of creating these works. How does this happen technically?
— Sorry, but I will not explain the whole process, as I have some secrets of creation ;-) I can just say that the process involves different things, such as photo and photo-manipulation, but also real sculpting and tailoring for stone statue. It depends on what I am allowed to touch them or not.
— What is the name of the genre or style in which you make your pictures?
— According to my opinion it calls Neoclassicism — it is modern way of art, we have seen more and more since 2010. As we are living in a fast changing society, we need to look back into the past to create better future.
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
— Your sculptures. Are they antique personages who want to be in trend?
— No, they represent us. We think that we are tend but we are just antique characters who are try to hide ourselves beside closing and another changes of appearance. We are all same — nationals from the past.
— What are your sculptures made of? How do you make it?
— Marble mostly and bronze. It is main materials, that I use. Sometimes I use mold reference from Louvre Museum. Sometimes I do it by my own if it is more contemporary sculptures.
— Tell us about the most laudatory and most negative reaction (recall, comments) about your work that you know.
— Artist must not pay attention on reactions, they need to create new art and allow people decide for themselves — if they like work of art or not. I think that looking at marks and reactions is not really good for art.
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
— Do you work alone on your projects or you have team? Tell us about it.
— I work alone on creations and ideas. For production I have team. Especially on large size sculptures as working with marble or bronze is very hard to do all by yourself.
— How can a young artist make a statement today? What are the most effective ways you know and can advise?
— Social media can be useful cause it get direct connection with the society. But it is also good way to loose yourself as an artist in the middle of an infinity of images. The most important for young artist - make really important things. And for that, all we need to put culture in the middle of our life: go on museums and theaters, read press, talk with people, listen to the music. We need to spend time to full fill our brain with polygamy links for the culture, then the ideas will come, cause you will know how to understand the world where you live.
— Have you ever worked in another spheres of work? (For example graphic designer, advertisement…)
— I did some work in the advertising, but I don’t do such work in this sphere any more, I focused myself on art.
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
© Leo Caillard
— Do you have plans for future?
— I can tell that there are many plans :-)
— Tell about the artists who can inspire you.
— So many of them. It is hard to make certain list but let say… Ugo Rondinone, Damien Hirst, Xu Zhen, Maurizio Cattelan, Andreas Gursky, Solve Sundsbo, Praxitele, Michelangelo, Le Caravage, Francis Bacon, Egon Schiele, Prince, Neil Young, Rineke Dijkstra, Bernini, Jackson Pollock, Liu Bolin, Giotto.
— How many countries saw your works?
— If we are talking about the exhibitions, so only 5 countries.
— What can you advice to watch or read in the internet about modern digital art?
— Blogs, for example, fubiz.net. Just follow things that you are interesting in.