Interview ...in english ;)

A while ago I answered an interview by Cinaee for Ircube.
So I thought that maybe you'd like to know a bit more about me myself and my ego ;)
And as lot of you are english-speaking people I' m translating ;))
How nice I am, am I not? ;))


So could you introduce yourself to our Ircube readers ?

My name is Emilie but I took the nickname of June Leeloo
(a nod towards “Milou en Mai” a movie by Louis Malle). I m a painter.

What can you say about your work as a painter ?
How did you come to paint ?

Hmm, I wanted to work in advertising in the first place. So I got a diploma from an Applied Art School. Then I worked a few weeks in an agency and I hated it. I stopped everything and obtained a degree in English Literature. (I should someday thank two awesome teachers I had... they made me eager for reading and painting) At that time I kind of wanted to be a school teacher. But finally I started to paint again. And I finally dared to show what I was doing. And then everything moved on and on...


Now I do paint … but it's not so simple. Ihave a very peculiar relationship with my work. When I'm done witha piece, I need a looooot of time to get on painting again. Or I need to be under pressure (a charming and beautiful 15 days dead-line works pretty well ) I think I'm asking myself to many questions and that might be quite disrupting ;)




What are your favorite techniques for painting?
I use acrylics on wood or on canvas. I also paint with poster paints, couloured inks, oil pastels, poscas.
I'd like to paint with oil paints but unfortunately, ...it stinks ;)
…and considering that my studio is in the living-room and that I have a little boy, I prefer paint with acrylics for the moment ;)

What does influence your artwork?
(This is a copy and paste of another interview I answered yesterday, better that my former one ;) )

Waouh, this is a vast question. I'd say my first influences were the cartoons I used to watch as a little girl. Then Literature of course. Pearl Buck may be the first writer who made me love asia. (I was 12 at the time ;) ) "Journey in tears: Memory of a girlhood in China" and "Farewell my concubine", then, and now Yasunari Kawabata, Junichirô Tanizaki, Yasushi Inoue, Kakuzô Okakura, Haruki Murakami...literature is a huge inspiration for me. I love haikus and poetry as well, like Baudelaire or the poems of Emily Brontë. I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice <3 ) and Lewis Carroll and Edgar Poe and Virginia Wolf and Nabokov... and lots more!

Last week I completely fell in love with The Guernesey Literary and Potato peel Pie Society. I just want to paint Elisabeth McKenna and Juliet ;)

Of course I'm also inspired by artists such as Klimt, Waterhouse and the preraphaelits, Mucha, Schiele, Rackham, Dulac, Nielsen, Beardsley, Mary Blair, Hayao Miyazaki...

and also Yoko Tanji, Juriu, Jeremiah Ketner, Lilidoll, Amy Sol, Sylvia Ji, Rebecca Dautremer, Krista Huot, Moon, Kristian Adams, Shannon Bonnatakis and lot more. I love their work.

I always paint in music. I could say there is an album per painting.
But the ones I listen the most are Cocorosie, Leonard Cohen, Alela Diane and Mariee Sioux.
But Cocorosie first!
I'd love to work with them :)

Could you describe your style ?

Not really, but people often said that my paintings are mysterious, full of restraint, sweetness, uncertainty, freshness mixed with a certain sensuality. There is also a little melancholy in them.

Any upcoming projects?

Holala yes! My first solo exhibition in October 2010 at the Nice/Nice Gallery, Hanover, Germany... and 2 group exhibitions this summer, in Los Angeles and in Portland! I'm gonna be a busy bee ;)

Where can we see your work on the web ?

Of course on my web site
but I won't be allowed to show many things before the openings.

You can also find me on facebook !
And I have an online shop here ==> boutique !


Any website or blog that you would like to share with us?

Yes of course! Moon 's ... just because :)
and Kmye 's because I was there just before answering this,
and Ericka Lugo 's because it was my "slap of the day" ;)