The French have a well-deserved reputation for being romantic, driven by passion and enjoying life in all its forms.
Paris, “the city of love” often appears as a background character in his illustrations and I’ll try to be little bit witty by saying that sex and Paris go together in Simon’s illustration like coffee and croissants or oysters and French white wine.
Well, I never really thought about “creating” Petites Luxures, it started almost by accident… One day when I was sick in bed, I accidentally made a few unfinished drawings, and looking at them a few days later, I found them interesting because of their “unfinishedness”. Then I discovered that this kind of drawings was working well with erotic themes, because of the space left for the viewer’s brain to imagine, and that the inspiration was coming easily to continue the series. I think that I was creating the kind of erotica that I wanted to see as a viewer, and that I was not finding in the available erotic creations at that time. So I decided to create an Instagram account to post these drawings, but I’ve even not chosen the name itself, at first I was aiming to call it “luxures” but it was already taken on Instagram, so I picked “petites luxures” without even thinking about it. (“Luxures” means “lust” in French, one of the seven deadly sins, so I thought that it was fun to join it with the inoffensive “petites” which means little, small).It’s only when the instagram account was created, when I saw quite a lot of people starting to follow and comment, that I found this project interesting enough to be continued on a longer-term basis.
I studied applied arts in Paris and got my diploma 21 years ago, then I worked as a graphic designer and art director for 15 years before deciding to make “Petites Luxures” a full-time career. I do think that an art education can be useful when it comes to applied arts, to know at least the basic rules of typography, layouts etc… and also to learn how to put ideas and concepts inside the pictures you create. But about art, it is not that clear, art creation can be almost everything, and except some specific techniques and savoir-faires in painting, sculpture etc… I think that some people can run an art career without having ever been in an art school. Nowadays, you can learn a lot of things by yourself if you are curious enough.And above all, more than a full art education, I think that you need to have a good visual culture if you want to be a good visual artist. To know what has already been done in your field, what visual signs and symbols can have the meanings you are searching for, etc…
Always the words! As a (almost) former graphic designer, I can’t imagine a picture without any idea in it. For years, my job was to create a picture from an idea I was given, so from one idea I can create at least ten pictures! But on the contrary, if I create a “gratuitous” image, free of any meaning, finding afterwards a meaning -and therefore words- to put in it, especially with a kind of pun in it, this can be a very long and painful exercise for my brain.
Not directly, fortunately, at least not often. I think that I’ve found a way to show sex that seems softer and more elusive than the usual erotica and porn stuff, so I guess that conservative people have enough work to do with more offensive things. I already had received criticism from intolerant people (homophobic etc…) or from people who found my work, on the contrary, not inclusive enough. But I am not a magazine, I don’t pretend to have an editorial line, I only draw what comes from my heart and my head. On the other hand, I already had a few problems with Instagram itself, they already removed some of my publications because of their subject.
Difficult question, to my point of view every and each human being has her/his own way to express sexuality. In my drawings, I try to show my way to feel it, and for some reason it seems that it strikes a chord with quite a lot of people, so I’m happy with that.
Almost everything, especially non-erotic things. I really like to find ideas in my everyday life, and then turn these ideas into erotic scenes, this is the fun part of the creative process for me. Give me the name of a meal you ate, a song you’ve heard, a cloth seen in the street, and I will love to create something erotic from it.Regarding concept, starting from something already erotic would kill all the creative process, I would not have anything to add. And visually speaking, I really love to collect old-time and vintage erotic books, magazines, pinups etc… So when I have some free time, I take some random book on my shelves, quickly draw some details I like inside a sketchbook, then forget about it. And weeks later, I take the sketchbook back, and try to build a new drawing from these little sketches.
In fact, I drew most of my tattoos myself, but almost none of them is in a “petites luxures” style. This one is the only one to have a reference with Petites Luxures: it looks like a peach, but it is meant to be an apple-ass: It was tattooed in Brooklyn in 2019, back when I went to New York for my very first US solo show. I was in “Big Apple” to show my ass drawings, so it became this “asspple” 🙂
Different exhibitions to come, then: One currently in Lille in december with some friends, another in Rome in February & March, and one in Los Angeles in April and May. Three new books will be published in 2024 (2 with authors, and one made only by me), and also a few great collaborations with great brands, can’t wait to show more about these!
I would say that, whichever of these 3 options you choose, Italians are surely better at it 🙂
