Biography

Presentation

French artist Antoine Bouillot, approximately thirty years old, caucasian, bilingual, lives in the Westman Islands, South Coast.

Antoine Bouillot is a mysterious artist. He belongs to a small artistic elite that creates tomorrow’s trends for the biggest luxury brands. He has designed perfume bottles, cosmetics, sports cars, architectural projects, music videos, adverts… But officially, he doesn’t exist. His name is nowhere to be seen. Only a handful of high ranking insiders are allowed to get in touch with him. This small artist community which the Luxury industry calls upon when its lacks inspiration, is one of our society’s best kept secret. Like a super hero, Antoine Bouillot lives in the shadows, but his power radiates across the world.

In 2007, Antoine Bouillot decides to work solely for himself and dedicate his time to filmmaking and creating contemporary art.

Through installations and original pieces, his work mixes pop and luxury references, hence displaying an over exposed image of the desire to consume as an identity reflex.

Biography

Born in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, Guyana, Antoine Bouillot is the seventh child of a Swedish mother and French father. His father, a deap sea diver, died in the excavation of the Señora de Atocha wreckage, a Spanish galleon containing approximately 400 millions dollars worth of gold which sunk in 1622 off the coast of Florida.

Antoine Bouillot sets off on his self-taught journey. At fifteen, he moves to Paris and starts working for Japanese designer Issey Miyake.


Extract from an interview published in the magazine DealerDeluxe, 2007

« When I came back to France at the age of fifteen, I spoke better English than French. At the time, I wanted to work in the fashion industry. I found a backdoor entrance through “someone who knew someone who knew someone”… I called each one of them. I ended up speaking to someone working for Miyake who invited me to a fashion show. I loved it so much that, to  thank him, I stayed behind to help clean the chairs. Then, little by little, he called me back for every show. There were about fifteen shows per year and as I spoke English… » Where did this all lead to? Throughout his teenage years, Antoine helped elaborate the concepts used in the fashion shows of Issey Miyake, Issey Miyake Men, IM Pleats Please and Final Home.

« Then, along with two other guys, I started my own company, L’Épicerie (“Grocery store”). I was nineteen, twenty years old.» : Antoine talks about this period lightly, as if the experience was of no consequence whatsoever. However, the name is misleading, no groceries were ever found in this concept store. Instead, items by Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs or Gaspard Yurkievitch were frequently presented and sold, and mentioned in the press.

After a few years, Antoine decides to leave L’Épicerie and concentrate on artistic direction. Today his skills are as varied as visual indentity, architecture, design and product development, adverts and music videos, and adapt to all kinds of support and industries: expensive hotels, cars, cosmetics, perfume, fashion… Antoine explains: «My projects are extremely varied, but it doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t at what scale the project is, what counts is the way you go about it: you need to analyse, find an idea, and then to devide the project into stages. You must always bear in mind who the project is for, how you do it, what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. I’m no DPLG architect. Legally, I’m not allowed to sign the sketches of a house, but I draw it all and have it validated by an architect.» When one is able to diversify in this way, while beind self-taught, what drives the artist ? Well…everything! Even the most random things. When asked what he’d like to do next, Antoine replies: « I’d always dreamt of making a music video broadcated on MTV. That’s why I created TheParallaxCorporation with my friend Pascal Forneri – to make music videos: we started in Janaury and we’ve already made five. We started by making three videos for a Norwegian band called Data Rock. Their music is electro and rather trendy. We were lucky to have the same tastes as the band. We love 80’s teen movies like Breakfast Club. It’s cheap, nothing much happens, but we love it! That’s what inspired us for the first video, that is shown regularly on MTV2. At the moment we are also working with Rachid Taha and Ninja Tunes.» So, what is your ultimate dream? To direct a feature film and to launch my career as an artist in my own right! We’re going to bet that, once again, this relentless creator will hit bull’s eye!»