Sex and the City of Love in drawings by Simon Frankart at Petites Luxures

ART

Sex and the City of Love in drawings by Simon Frankart at Petites Luxures

Text: Anna Mar

Photo credit: Petites Luxures

November 29 2023

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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?

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.

Your illustrations are imbued with the theme of sex, love. Have you ever received criticism from the conservative part of the audience?

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.

In your opinion, what is the expression of human sexuality regardless of gender?

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.

Your imagination knows no limits. What are the sources of inspiration that fuel your personal art?

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.

You have so many tattoos! Is there at least one of them that you drew the sketch for yourself?

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” 🙂

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?

Difficult to tell, I was happy with every collaboration I made. Last year, we made a collaboration with Olympia Le Tan, and I feel very proud about it, this is such a great French luxury brand, I love their products, halfway between great luxury and pop culture, incredibly hand-embroidered, they made collaborations with so many great artists…

I don’t particularly dream of any triumph, I have to say, I am very happy and proud to see my work exhibited outside France (I felt something very special the day I received a pic of my first book for sale at the MoMa art store in NYC), I have two upcoming solo shows in Roma and LA, so as long as I will be able to make my work travel around the globe (and travel myself), I will be happy!

Share with us your upcoming projects.

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!

And the last question. What are the French particularly good at: food, art or love? You can choose only one option. 🙂

I would say that, whichever of these 3 options you choose, Italians are surely better at it 🙂

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