What you see above is an artwork by Lola Dupre (https://loladupre.com) an artist with a unique approach to collages and the most suitable one to give a new life to a familiar image. The main thought behind THE SOUND OF THE SOUNDS. The original photo: Kuba Styperek.
The following is an interview with Lola Dupre to offer some insight into her secret world. An opportunity I just couldn't let go of.
The pictures from your studio(s) are quite intriguing and they probably make for the best explanation of your collage making technique and process. With a simple setup that can be relatively easily recreated anywhere you can achieve a great variety of results. You’re not one short on ideas, are you?
It is true my materials and tools are very limited, this is great for me because I can travel light and it is very easy to move my studio. But sometimes I miss the collections of rubbish and detritus that collect in a studio over time. I could always do with more ideas, always.
Your style is evolving from one work to another so evidently you keep challenging yourself. Your collages seem to become always more tricky puzzles to assemble. What is the most demanding part of your work?
Thank you, sometimes I like the tricky aspects and the difficult manipulations. But I also have great respect for simple and great compositions. Sometimes I am sad to see another collage artist achieve something excellent with just a small number of cuts. Perhaps the most demanding thing is coming up with really new ideas, and the more works you produce perhaps the more difficult this task becomes./i>
You mention that the origins of your interest in collage making comes from playing with paper-mache times ago. Now your main interest is editorial illustration but do you ever consider wrapping up 3D objects with collages again?
Not really, I think it would be interesting to wrap 3D objects but I think I do not have time. I like to be able to quickly make ideas in 2D, imagine an idea and make it real before quickly moving on to the next idea, I think this could be difficult for me to achieve in 3D.
You also worked with stop-motion animation in the past and your artworks may seem to be frozen frames from a glitchy motion picture. Do you ever imagine your works that way, like a paused process that could continue?
Absolutely, I love stop-motion. I would love to do something like this in the future, but it would be a big project for me. It would take a lot of time to achieve and it would need to be a substantial commission or I doubt I could find time.
Where your treatment is applied, it reveals that there are more possible points of view on a specific subject rather than just a universal one. When you turn a photo into a collage, do you ever feel like exposing something that was overlooked or neglected?
It is funny, I think there are many options, many new images hiding inside every image. Every manipulation or reimagining can expose these hidden images. There must be so many beautiful unseen images hiding just out of sight in already existing images. But I do not aim to hide or obscure the original image, I think it is import and to see the beauty in everything.
Nowadays any piece of information lives very short. Collages recycle and remix the images that once happened and give them a new life in different context. Can you imagine this happen to your collages in a couple of years?
I would love to see it, I think everything, every public person, every image and idea should be open to manipulation, discussion and also criticism. It makes me sad when things are considered above or beyond manipulation and discussion - everything has faults, faults are beautiful.
You actually re-collaged some of your own works and in consecutive stages the process eventually leaded to a uniform, blank canvas. Would that be a point where you start the cycle over again?
It depends, I think in the past when I experimented with this I moved too quickly into oblivion. There could be countless stages in the disintegration. The blank image is still interesting it could still be manipulated somehow.
You're a sort of a nomad by choice so the internet must come in really handy. Does it give you a sense of freedom and allow to detach from the civilization? How do you feel about the internet these days?
I think there are positive and negative sides to everything and everywhere. Maybe this is why I often move to a new place, because the option is there and you want to see the next place. The internet makes my lifestyle possible, not really sure what I would without it. Today I feel positive about the internet, I think there is so much potential and I hope the possibilities are not crushed under the boot of stupidity.
You name Glasgow as your hometown. Do you happen to drop with a visit every now and then? How is it after years spent all around the place?
I spent quite a few yeas there, so I have a few connections which draw me back.. I enjoy to visit again but I think I will never live there again. I think it is a great place but also a very unhealthy place in many respects for me.
Your current whereabouts? How do you find it there?
Right now we are in Glen Arkaig, it is beautiful and stunning. We see much Deer and wildlife.. it is also an area with a lot of UFO sightings which is interesting.. But in a few weeks we will be travelling to Donegal in Ireland. I love to be surrounded by nature, and when you have not been somewhere for very long, everything is that bit more fresh and inspiring for me.
Does music keep you company at work? Do you find the urban landscape sounds distracting? Does a rural setting need a soundtrack?
I listen to music often when I work, I also listen to the news, radio and documentaries. Sometimes I love the urban soundscape and sometimes I love the sound of nature. I try to avoid developing habits so I try to move my studio often and change what I watch and listen to.
What is it that surprises Lola Dupre?
Nothing really, I am pleasantly surprised by beauty and attractive forms. But I have the belief that almost everything is true and out there somewhere in the world so I am not surprised when I find it, just pleased usually.