Flexibility is what keeps contemporary artist Valentin Dommanget sharp and creative.
I invite my audience to focus and think on topics that are close to them but with unusual tools, so their perspectives are inevitably extended. Experiencing an art piece or an exhibition is wandering in a realm of surprises.
How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your work and art?
I challenge people’s outlook of the world by inviting them to look at windows shaped in ways they didn’t see before. By binding different inputs, such as digital and ancestral traditions, I create bridges connecting a dimension to another. Therefore, I invite my audience to focus and think on topics that are close to them but with unusual tools, so their perspectives are inevitably extended. Experiencing an art piece or an exhibition is wandering in a realm of surprises. One has to be open to new explorations. After any type of trip your reality is wider and sharper.
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What is the primary role of an artist?
Each artist must have his own purpose. I don’t think we can universally state what the role of an artist must be. There are so many types of artists nowadays. In my case, I’ll say my ultimate goal would be to gain a bigger voice and enough power to influence my audience to take decisions that I think are right. I wish I could bring some good feelings to the people by first pleasing their eyes and feeding their mind with substantial thoughts. My pieces are aesthetically strong but I hope my texts give some clues to live a sensitive and beautiful life in the digital age. Creation to me is essential.
That was the focus of my exhibition How To Make an Exhibition based on YouTube tutorials. I wanted to demonstrate that anybody can be creative and learn new skills from online content. I want to help people become confident and trust the fact that they can be creators too, from passive viewers to actors. Another important point for me is freedom. I fight for it in my everyday life and I guess artists must be guardians of freedom. Besides freedom of speech, we must be independent from a society that intends to alienate and enclose our souls in boxes.
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How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating work?
Concept is not hard to get. The hard part is taking decisions and accepting that you will only spend your precious time on a particular thing, so that you can produce a solid body of work. It is the hardest part of being an artist. The only tip I remember when confronted by the “crying white canvass” is to be curious and trust oneself. If you are excited about a topic you’ll want to go deeper. You will then truly know where you have to channel your energies and immerse yourself into a new realm. Inevitably, from this some artworks will emanate.
Life is a marathon. Sometimes not creating any work is actually processing and fermenting some ideas for the next pieces. So I try to avoid seeing an obstacle as unproductive. I stay positive and see it as a springboard.
Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years. Tell us about your commitment to your current medium.
Currently I have been focussing on ceramics. It has been an old desire to master this medium and after a trip to Japan in 2018 I knew this was the right time. I spend most of my days learning about clay and wheel-throwing. I have been experimenting with the basics and have now I gained enough skills to link them with my ongoing discussion concerning new technologies and traditional art. Evolution to me is the accumulation of knowledge, so you can still share the same message but in many different languages. That’s how you increase your audience.
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Let’s talk about your career, or if you prefer artistic journey. What were your biggest lessons and hiccups along the way?
My biggest learning is that no matter where you get, nothing is stable, so better go with the flow. I taught myself how to maintain a certain lifestyle so I can always have the time and the tools to be productive so that the journey can continue. That’s what is important – flexibility.
How does your audience interact and react to your work?
People always seem to react in a good way. My art is not autobiographical. It is about all of us. It’s filled with good vibes. So, if you take a break in front of one of my pieces you will find a way to enjoy it. If you are visual the colours might please you, if you are tactile the materials might catch your attention, and if you are cerebral there is a lot to talk about in what I do.
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Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and process. What inspires you?
Even if my work is not autobiographical, I’m inspired by my past and the times to come. I was born without Internet and totally got into it when I was a teenager. I’m living the dream of any science fiction fan, inspired by themes of interconnections, ultra-connections, and new extensions that technology makes possible. I’m also aware of the human condition. Ideas like reincarnation and spiritual values that go with it are fundamental. That’s what I look for in a machine and the act of creation.
What are you looking for when you look at other artists’ work? Who are your maestros?
It’s hard to please me when it comes to “artists” from the commonly accepted art world. Too many of them are fakes to me. Ninety-five percent of the time I am bored by what I see in galleries. So, I recently decided to avoid exhibitions, especially performances, because this is not my thing. I guess some people forget that art should be universal and not only talk to elites. Or it is a demonstration of ego, which contradicts my views. I prefer raw artists, living far from fame to devote their lives to a higher purpose. I’m impressed by craftsmen who can work on the same technique all their lives, like Japanese ceramic experts. So at the moment I’m reading about the life of Raku Kichizaemon. Some of my favourite artists are also those anonymous people on YouTube who share their videos and teach us how to be creative.
How do you balance art and life?
I live in my studio. Art and life are the same to me.
What was your first sale? Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery or an agent?
My first sale was during my first group show in a garage in London, when I was a student. I needed money to buy a subway ticket to go back home after the show. So I found my first collector for a very small price. Then sales happened faster when I started to be represented by galleries. I’m now in an in-between situation where some of my sales are going through galleries and some I handle.
Exhibition view. Digital Stretcher Studies Infinite Plus 2018. ESCape CTRL. Curated by Domenicode Chirico. Lily Robert gallery. Photo by Eve Campestrini.
How do you resolve the conflict between the commercial and the creative?
Since I want to totally focus on my art, I had to make money from it. I have no complex with that anymore. Even if it’s hard to see some of my pieces go away, I’m happy as it means I can invest more and continue to produce new ones. I’m grateful to the people who collect my art. It seems they understand my practice most of the time. I’m producing some pieces that I know will end up in catalogues, but I’m also playing around with many other things in my studio that will never be shown in gallery exhibitions because they might not have commercial value, but who cares.
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How does your interaction with a curator, gallery or client?
This can be different from person to person. For me, it’s only about feelings and connections between people.
Are you more of a studio artist or naturally collaborative by nature? How do you feel about commissions?
Even if I like the idea, I rarely collaborate. However, I have organised many group shows. So, I was in charge of promoting other artists’ works. This is a way to share your vision about different bodies of works.
I think commissions are great. It gives me a framework which is comfortable sometimes. I like to take them as a challenge. I have to adapt my practice with external contingencies.
What is that one thing you wished people would ask you but never do?
I wish people would ask me if I would like to go on the moon because they have an extra seat in their spaceship.
Digital Stretcher Studies Ditych 2018. ESCape CTRL curated by Domenicode Chirico. Lily Robert gallery. Photo by Eve Campestrini.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
I’m working on new sculptures inspired by the ones I did during an art residency in Casablanca last summer, sort of new age spears by fusing ceramics, metal and 3D renderings. At the same time I should be showing some new paintings linked to my previous abstract pieces. As for the rest, it’s a secret!
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.
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