Interview: Frédérique Nolet
Luca Curci talks with Frédérique Nolet during BARCELONA CONTEMPORARY 2021, 2nd Edition, at Valid World Hall Gallery.

“Born in Congo, I lived my childhood in France in the Var. I was marked by a feeling of freedom and space and impregnated by nature. Back in Belgium, I studied art and then taught at an Art Academy in Brussels. Currently, I live on the land where I grew up. My artistic approach has always been based on the theme of nature, initially vegetal. I work with graphic signs, abstract on a surface, often of paper as in search of an afterlife. In the drawing, I like the detail, the subtlety, the lightness, the comma, the point, the delicate and assertive trace, the superposition, the vibration, and also the gesture and the strength of the contrast. I like to place markers and areas of silence to symbolically try to reach an Essential by a path that leads there. Although I focus on drawing, in a complementary way and according to the inspiration by the social context, I work the tension between the image and the sense. In parallel to the graphic work or with it, according to the desire and the period, I approach a questioning on today’s “values“.”

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Frédérique Nolet – For me, art is a sensitive expression in a given time. The expression can be manifested by a person or group more or less related to his or her time and reflecting it or lagging, and even, precede it in future events or culture through an artistic sensibility and intelligence. An artist can also be a mirror of a sensory perception that is his own, in a more emotional than mental connection.

LC – What are you currently working on?
FN – Currently I work writing, the sign sensitive, light, imperceptible or supported and this for a long time with the difference that my support refines and that after trying to cross it by the scratched and perforated material (bark, cement) more than 20 years ago, I am now working on lighter and more subtle support and expression. It seems to be getting to the heart of the matter.

LC – What is your creative process like?
FN – My way of working is an attempt to connect with the deep myself or this Elsewhere. Confident, I set a point, a line and I walk a path, usually from the bottom to the top, letting my expression run while awake with my gaze and my feeling. I want to make people sensitive and strong at the same time as I live a moment that is still a fight. I like to miss, do and undo because then a letting go and surprises are revealed and are much more interesting than what I could have done «by myself».

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
FN – The theme is related to nature and spirituality and sometimes it is more mental than sensitive when I work on a societal theme generally related to the fate of the animal.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
FN – I am generally satisfied with a job that has been completed, but I prefer to have a step back. I no longer look at it as I have experienced it. It will be discovered by viewers. However, there is still this feeling of not getting to the end of my quest, and fortunately.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this festival? How did it inspire you?
FN – The festival is a very active event where many artists can meet. It is a dynamic concept with young artists instead.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this exhibition? How is it connected to the theme of the entire festival?
FN – My work was part of a sensitive register. It is an invitation to an inner journey in opposition to the hubbub of our time. Today many works are expressions of «shock». Having regard to this, here, by the drawing I bring I hope a return on myself, necessary I think to find a little calm and not to get lost. From my point of view, the work presented (Mountains of April) is savored with visual and emotional sensitivity.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
FN – ITS LIQUID PLATFORM is very active and offers exposures/selections in many countries.

LC – Do you think ITSLIQUID GROUP can represent an opportunity for artists?
FN – Yes, I believe that ITSLIQUID GROUP is an opportunity for artists.