Artist Addiction #6
DRAN 52
Based in Toulouse, Dran is a multi-talented artist who uses a variety of media such as installations, paintings and drawings to convey his ironic viewpoint. He is also a fan of the absurd and has published a number of books featuring his funny sketches parodying and exhilarating things from everyday events to extreme circumstances with great doses of surrealism.
“The artist is Dran. Many of the pictures are based on a homeless puppet, Scribouille, whose life is devoted to art. “My life is devoted to drawing, thinking, and having fun. The puppet Scribouille’s daily life is similarly devoted to making the world around us a little less grey. The puppet isn’t me, but there is a lot of me and others I love in him. I’m glad to invite everyone to the intimacy of it all. No special effects, just a classic artist living in the street trying to do poetry as he can. He needs to be happy. He doesn’t need money, or new clothes. It’s simply an idea to create. The drawing was always there in my life, I can’t explain in a few words, but you know, when I was younger, I used drawing to express frustration and anger. By continuing to draw and think, and mix the two together, I began to feel better about life. Really better. Drawing took me away from the boring in life. I love them all for different reasons. For the wall it’s the same, whatever you can find and whatever speaks to you. Painting a wall, it’s all about the moment, the place, the people you are with. The atmosphere is all part of the process, which you can’t necessarily see in the finished picture.”7