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| Clet Abraham |
by Ilaria Gelichi
1. Can
you tell us something about yourself? You are French, so why did you decide to
move to Florence?
It wasn’t a
real choice, let’s say fortuity. I lived first in Rome,
then in Arezzo,
where my son currently lives. I wanted to live in a big city, but also close to
my son, so I chose Florence.
Even the neighbourhood I chose for my studio, San Niccolò, is a random choice. I
walked here once, I felt at home and I decided to settle down here.
2. How did the idea to change road signs with stickers was born?
As every
idea, this one too is the result of a route. I define myself mainly as a
sketcher, and I like communicating through drawing. Road signs are the
synthesis of communication, visually they are the symbol par excellence. I tried
to use the language of signs and the style is born directly from them; therefore, the idea
came from the sign.
3. Which
is the message you want to convey with your stickers?
The message is putting into question the
principle of obedience. We are not here to obey,
otherwise we wouldn’t have a brain. I cannot stand
those who say "if there are
rules you have to respect them":
this doesn’t mean anything to me, it means not to think with your own head.
4. Could
we define Clet as a militant artist?
Yes,
definitely. Clet has a rebellious
character, but is also a philosopher. He doesn’t
create only stickers for road signs, but also art in other forms: sculpture,
for example. I try to create different works, for not too strictly bind myself
to road signs. It's all part of a
philosophical and research journey on
how helping society to change towards freedom. Some call me a conceptual
artist.
5. Is it
different being an artist in Florence or in France? What
are the difficulties?
There’s no
difference between working in Florence or in France. I think
that Florence
is a sleeping city: I have been so
successful here precisely for
this reason, which is a desire for
openness and change. The idea of road signs was
actually born in Florence,
which despite being a city of art
and attentive to beauty it’s invaded by
signs. Then I expanded my "working range" to other Italian cities and, in some cases, abroad.
One
difficulty surely is that my work is not recognized as legal by the
institutions. I wish I could formalize illegality.
6. Which
are the positive and negative aspects of your work? And which are your plans
for the future?
My main
target is searching for fresh ideas, and avoiding to be linked only to road
signs. My success is surely something positive, since I finally had an economic
equilibrium and the possibility to invest in work. Now I travel a lot and I can
create expensive sculptures. Negative aspects are not so many: one is surely
the envy of the others, but honestly I don’t care. Then there is the fear that
a day might come, when I have anything more to say - similar to the writer’s
block. It would be very sad to find myself without any subject or content, it’s
a status of anxiety that I feel very strongly.
7. If you were to give advice
to a young person who wants to become an artist, what would
you say?
