Dear Timothee, it’s a great pleasure to have you in our magazine and i want to introduce you to our readers.
1. Tell us about your childhood be a painter from young age?
Hello, well I have been a painter as a young child, yes, as for a hobby ! And I was also since young interested in poetry and the experimental mathematics…
Unfortunately after some personal life events, my early years’ production has been lost, and I would not be able to find it now. There were difficulties at these times with my family – who wanted me to become a lawyer or a politician, and it was not very easy to let them assume that I would finally be an artist.
During my teen age, I did also practice street art !
2. What are the material you are using to paint ?
Well, I use a wide range of materials, from the gouache and paint markers, to acrylic tubes and Indian inks also… I have a variety of supports too, so I could paint on wood or on reclaimed cardboard or plastic, as well as on paper or on canvas…
3.What painting means to you?
This is a difficult question ! Painting means a lot to me. It is to me a way to both express my feelings and my thoughts, and to try to share a good message, to the world ! I like the combination of aesthetics and of harmony, and I see art also as a personal therapy from my past traumas, because I used to face really challenging or tensed situations.
4.When you started painting?
Well, these disciplines have accompanied me throughout my whole life, actually. When I was a child I used to practice them as for leisure, and gradually it became a more and more important part of my daily activities… Until a moment around 2015, about 10 years ago, when because of the successes I was gaining in literature and photography at first, I decided to commit fully to the arts !
5.What was your first book title?
My first book was entitled « A moment of craziness » and it was about a difficult moment that I had spent in an hospital, at the end of my eighteen year. The book was published in 2007.
My first exhibition was entitled « From the sea to the garden » and it presented a crossed perspective between some images from my holidays at the sea in France, and the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris which I lived just aside. It was at a cafe and wine bar called « Chez Georges » in 2006, in Paris, Latin Quarter.
6. From where you get inspired? What are the painters you admire?
I am inspired by many different art trends and artists ! It is the same for literature, I have the chance to have read a lot of books and I take inspiration and insights from many different sources…
As for the painters, I am very much impressed by the birth of modern art in Paris, France, at the turn of the 20th century, what was called « The first school of Paris » with prominent masters as the Delaunay Couple, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Serge Poliakoff, and so on…
7. Could you share something that happens during your exposition and really. … catch your attention
Well, yes, thank you ! My shows are always a time for sharing my ideas and my views about my painting work, and what I enjoy a lot is when it happens to have young children or teenagers visiting, and that spontaneously one of them shows a great admiration or appreciation for one of my frames ! Like « Oh, this is so beautiful ! » It happened quite a few times already.
I have another special moment to enjoy at my shows is when sometimes a collector takes some interest into various paintings at the same show, and then buy three or four works, simultaneously ! So I have like a « big sale », which means a lot, and also I can see a great manifestation of interest here also !
8. What are your plans for the future.. Do you prepare a new exposition?
Yes ! Actually today as I write to you I am planning on four personal art-shows for the next year, 2027. There will likely be one in Paris next to the Museum of Modern Arts, one in Madrid, and one in Shanghai. Plus one other show this time of photography, in Paris, in my neighborhood of « Butte aux Cailles » which is an art district in our city.
7. Do you believe that ‘ethics’ exist in nowadays?
Yes, I hope so ! Ethics are important to me. I might be somehow an old-mannered man, maybe ? Anyway yes I believe that as Jesus Christ said « We should not reject the wisdom of our Ancients… » – and yes the morality and ethics are an important part of our civilization I believe, and I try to share this thought in my artworks, with symbols of love, or faith, and hope, and equality, and so on…
8. Share a phrase from your book.,…
Yes well in one of my recent books I have quoted an old French proverb, saying : « To the innocents will come abundance… » I like this phrase, very philosophical…
Why you choose this phrase
I like the old proverbs, because they have endured through the crible of time… This one particularly : when you are innocent I guess you would not be in need for greed or envy, or jealousy, and this may be the best way to experience abundance, for a simple life ?
I take it that after all, we are all simple and we are not individually such important nor such clever beings, under the skies. So let’s live simply and plainly maybe, instead of complicating too much or complaining too much, and perhaps that would be a good way to enjoy life at its best ?
9. Can you give an advice to new writers… or painters ?
Well yes, thank you ! I would advise them to work steadily and to be enduring and determined in their creative process, because it is a well known fact that the first years of a professional art practice are very often difficult and can sometimes be disappointing seemingly… After about ten years of good work and of experiencing the art-world and the community around them, though, it is very often that the artists can finally get a better recognition and enjoy their reward, for this compelling commitment to creating and reflecting on their ideas in the world.
There is an Italian proverb that states : « If you move with calm, you will move sanely and you will go far… » I always try to keep these wise words in mind when planning for my next projects.
Thanks again dear Eva for your interest to my humble work.
Timothee Bordenave
