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The French have a well-deserved reputation for being romantic, driven by passion and enjoying life in all its forms.
Simon Frankart, graphic designer and illustrator, is known as a creator of the Instagram account Petites Luxures. Through his black ink drawings he shows us the most sensual aspects of everyone’s daily life, such as sex.
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.
Launched in 2014, his erotic-poetic project has attracted over 1.2 million followers worldwide with its minimalistic unique style and playful titles.
Hi, Simon ! Let's start our interview with a fundamental question. How did you come up with the idea of creating Petites Luxures?
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.
Tell us about your artistic background. Do you think that an artist/illustrator needs an art education?
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…
You attach a witty phrase, a kind of play on words, to almost every illustration you do. What comes to your mind first: the subject of the illustration or the original phrase?
Your illustrations are imbued with the theme of sex, love. Have you ever received criticism from the conservative part of the audience?
In your opinion, what is the expression of human sexuality regardless of gender?
Your imagination knows no limits. What are the sources of inspiration that fuel your personal art?
You have so many tattoos! Is there at least one of them that you drew the sketch for yourself?
I know that you’ve had a lot of very cool collaborations with different brands. Which of them do you consider your professional victory? And what creative triumph do you dream of?
Share with us your upcoming projects.
And the last question. What are the French particularly good at: food, art or love? You can choose only one option. 🙂
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