BAG AGAINST THE WALL
A graffiti artist trades his spray cans for off-the-wall accessories.
For some graffiti artists, getting caught means the end of the career.
For Gilles Jourdan, it did the opposite. After spending years covering the streets of Paris with his trademark ‘60s-inspired swirls and colorful graphics, the artist was picked by The Sak to create an iconic print to cover the brand’s new eco-friendly sakroots totes. The result is a blissful mix of brightly colored birds in flight and “peace” bubbles. NYLON recently spoke with Jourdan and his partner, Cecilie (both part of the Gilles & Cecilie Studio) to find out just how you can accessorize a piece of art. Turns out it’s a totally off-the-wall experience.
REBECCA WILLA DAVIS
How did this collaboration with sakroots come about?
G&C: The Sak was interested in partnering with a graffiti artist to design a print that reflected their brand. During my first meeting with The Sak, both parties were pleasantly surprised to learn just how similar our values and goals were as well as our creative vision. The relationship was a natural progression and we worked together to create a visually appealing print that also told a story and reflected The Saks’ feeling of peace and harmony among all living things.
What inspired your design for the print?
G&C: The starting point for the project was "the Peace bag". We were asked to take all this in consideration and interpret the message with our style. We did a lot of research around those values and we started to sketch from the words or stories that we found.
How did you get into art? Are you classically trained, or self-taught?
G: I started with graffiti in the South suburb of Paris—this was my main interest. At 16, I decided to pursue my education in the arts, and studied art history, fine art, and visual communications, before graduating from Central St. Martins.
C: I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. After staying in Bali for four months when I was 18, studying philosophy, I decided to become a professional artist/designer. I worked at a foundation in Oslo before moving to London to attend Central St. Martins.
How did you get interested in large-scale paintings?
G: I first got interested in large-scale painting during a competition with other teams in the graffiti scene. It then it turned into an obsession - doing bigger, more detailed paintings. The largest format I did is two twin walls in North Paris. The walls are seven meters high by 50 meters long. You don't get to learn such things in school, but painting large-scale murals ended up being my specialty or signature. You get to learn a lot of techniques, meet people, and travel.
C: I like to move while I am drawing and it just makes sense to me to draw larger scale murals and illustrations.
Who are some of your favorite up-and-coming artists?
G: Harmony Korine, Beatriz Milhazes, The Os Gemeos, and Dan Tobin Smith.
C: Michel Gondry, Margaret Kilgallen, Rob Ryan, and Henrik Vibskov.
If you could do a large-scale painting inside anyone’s house, dead or alive, who would it be?
G & C:
1) Oscar Niemeyer. We love his architecture, and we would love to collaborate with him.
2) Someone with a big swimming pool. It would be very exciting for us to do this type of project and see our painting under water.
3) John Travolta—not for his house but his plane, I think he owns a Boeing 737.
4) Rocco Forte—in one of his hotels or spas.
Pax Eco Canvas collection, $55-79 at thesak.com
This story was published on February 25, 2009.
