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AS IS | Olivier Bertrand

Artist

From Marseille, France

Based in Marseille, France


Fascinated by the "metamorphosis of paper" since childhood, Olivier first created simple origami "sculptures", before settling on something more life-sized: animal sculptures made from assembled pieces of cardboard





A: Please tell us a bit more about yourself. What brought you to art?


O: I became a sculptor a bit by chance in 2019, following a knee injury that forced me to stay immobilized for a while. I then started to glue pieces of cardboard, and here I am now a sculptor. Previously, I studied economics, then worked for 15 years in visual marketing.



A: What inspires you the most?


O: As a child, I was passionate about origami. The idea that a simple sheet of paper could turn into incredible animals amazed me. Today, with the cardboard that I collect, the leitmotif remains the same: Bring life to everyday waste, give it value in the eyes of the public. As a figurative artist, movement is the most important for me, I create static sculptures, but they have to seem moving to be alive.



A: Do you have any specific rituals when you work (create)?


O: I don't need much to work with, a few pieces of cardboard, glue, and above all to feel good where I am. When the weather is right, I like to work outside, in a corner of the garden. Sometimes I work while listening to audiobooks, often classic literature, books that I had read, or should have read when I was younger.



A: What would you recommend to someone who discovers art (whether an artist or a simple admirer), what to start with ?


O: Intuitiveness is fundamental in my opinion. Of course, you have to be curious, to be inspired and nourished by everything, including the work of others, but only with the aim of exploring your own artistic paths. It is by daring to free oneself from the frames, and doing what is touching personally that one can touch others.


A: What are your three favorite adjectives related to art?

O: Pleasure, aesthetics, emotion




A: The best angle to look at the art is from ...?

O: 360°.


A: The perfect phrase to start a conversation about art is: ...?

O: "I am unable to define art."


A: Essential books to help us talk about art (or do we even need them)?

O: The field of art is too wide, there is no recipe, any experience is enriching.


A: If you could change one thing in the art world, what would it be?

O: I would like art to be able to reach the general public, that it is not intended for an elite, people having either the financial means to acquire it, or the intellectual knowledge to understand it. My desire as an artist is for my work to speak to everyone, for the public to have access to it and have the reading grid to understand it.


A: Please share your favorite (not necessarily art related) quote.

O: "To be courageous in isolation, without witnesses, without the consent of others, face to face with oneself, requires great pride and great strength."- Milan Kundera



Thank you!


For more: visit or IG



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