Incubus’ Choice: Close-up on Patrice Murciano

What message(s) do you want to express through your work?

In a mix of B&W photos and textures like coffee stains, burnt paper or sand, I give a “surrealist” and very Gothic dimension to those pictures with additions of details such as angel or devil wings, crown of thorns… a mystic side that I have always liked and that has always intrigued myself in woman. A quote I like that goes well with my work: “Woman is the masterpiece of God, especially when she has the devil inside…” (Ed.: by Alphonse Allais)

Which artists inspire you?, who are your masters?

Luis Royo for his half-angel and half-devil creatures!! David Hamiltion too for his work between painting and photography!

What have you gained by being on the internet?

My site has about 17,000 visits per month, so I get some exhibition proposals and some sales too.

Did the internet enable you to meet new models, to find new exhibit places?

No new models yet, my photos are on the Net for too short ago.

Could you tell us a few words about the place you live/work in?

I live and work in Montpellier (France). This is where I find all my models by the way, and they are friends of mine before anything else, and not professionals!!

Your vision of woman seems to be completely different in photomontage, photography and painting. Is it a need to express something else that drives you on using other media, or a will to (make) discover a new side of yourself?

There is so much to do and to tell about woman that I have preferred to handle my new works with a new approach, as I have a different approach when I carve from her or when I stage her in a movie!!

Do you work on those different approaches in parallel, or do you put painting aside for a while?

I came back to photography after a few years. And with that photo retouching technique I would like to develp, I do not give up painting, but I devote myself more to that new approach and above all to the movie!

What are you ongoing and forthcoming projects?

Short films and a long one for 2007, and of course new photos I would love to publish in postcards and books!! (publishers, the message has been aired)

Editor’s note: You can find another interview with Patrice Murciano, from January 2003.

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