Biografia
Ukranian artist Nikita Kravtsov and French artist Camille Sagnes Kravtsova are partners in life and collaborators in art. They have been making audio and video work together since 2015, using painting, embroidery drawings and collage to create animations of social commentary and absurdity.
Statement
Absurdity is our reaction to the world around us, to society and its effects. Absurdity is contrary to reason: meaningless, aberrant. The absurd escapes all logic. A situation can be absurd, a behavior, an image … The world also becomes absurd, a notion that will no longer shock because it will soon be the norm.
We combine, the long and meticulous work of embroidery, with rapid, expressive and living sketches. The lines create a kinetic movement, an attempt at optical illusion, a short and fast movement fixed by the embroidered drawing.
The fusion of two opposite rhythms: the speed of drawing with the slowness of the embroidery creates a 2D image. From a metaphorical and philosophical point of view, it is as if the hare was advancing at the speed of the tortoise. It is the effect of this ratio at the speed that interests us.
Why embroidery? Because it is a craft technique, a knowledge in the process of being forgotten. Embroidery is a decorative ornament on a fabric. Why a sketch? A Sketch is not “finished”, it is just the first step, a quick note of research, preparation for a work, it is not a finished product. The slow and long process of embroidery gives a chance for the “unfinished” drawings to be accomplished. When these two media are mingled, they create the absurd language we use to illustrate our ideas. In addition to painting and embroidery, we recycle old 1920s magazines and kitchen towels adorned with motifs to compose images, and thus give a new meaning to outdated objects.
Through our works, we witness violence and realize projects that carry an anti war, anti-violence message as shown in the last two video clips we have made “War is over” and “La guerre froide.”
