Description
Escif did a residency at the CFA Hilaire de Chardonnet in Besançon with the students in the “bac pro commerce” baccalaureate. Having already had the opportunity to discuss with the artist and to develop an artistic reflection on the constraints and possibilities linked to artistic practice in urban space, these ten days were devoted to the shaping and situation of these exchanges.
Indeed, the high school students painted the result of their exchanges with Escif in situ, on the walls of their school.
Action
VISUAL ARTISTS IN HIGH SCHOOL
These workshops were conducted as part of the “Plastic Artists in High School” scheme proposed by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region. Through this scheme – and with the partnership of the DRAC and the DRAAF – the Regional Council of Franche-Comté aims to arouse curiosity and encourage initiatives of high school students through meetings with artists and the discovery of places of creation and artistic dissemination. Three approaches are approached during the residency: the encounter with a work through the discovery of a creative process, the artistic and cultural practice and the construction of an aesthetic judgement. Having started with a visit to Bien Urbain, the objective is to bring the students to discover the field of urban arts, as much through sensitivity as through practice.
Biography
Far from the idea to decorate the city, Escif considers his murals as pretexts for the exchange. The context is for him one of the essential ingredients. Imagery that emerges is primarily made to create dialogue with passersby. Native of Valencia in Spain, Escif is an artist internationally recognized. From modest to monumental scale his wall paintings are characterized by a style often close the satirical drawing. Rejecting the “stardom” of the figure of the artist, he plans primarily the practice of urban art as “a thinking exercise that can be shared with the public” and vowed to “bring to light some problems.”
Photo credits
Nicolas Waltefaugle