@fifikoussout

Instagram: @fifikoussout Website: www.fifikoussout.com  

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I’m half French, half Portuguese and I live in Sweden. One side of my family is very poor, uneducated and very vibrant with fiery latin feelings. The other side is very bourgeois, academic and uptight. I am the product of both worlds. Moving to Sweden was a way to reach a neutral territory where I could be myself.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

Monkeys, leaves, plants and trees… more monkeys, and flowers. A lot of nature in general. I have two sides in me that sometimes make me want to create something poetic and delicate, usually using collages of old illustrations, and sometimes something urban, graphic and more computer generated..

3. What is your favorite medium and why?

So far, the computer (and my digital drawing tablet), because it allows me to draw, detour, and re-assemble illustrations endlessly, which helps with the “blank page syndrome”.. It doesn’t need to be perfect on the first draft, that’s quite liberating.

4. What is your artistic process like?

Honestly? I overthink a concept for 2-3 years, and then when I finally see it somewhere else, I rush to create it so I won’t beat myself up too much for waisting my potential/intuition.. I’m a slow creator. Things need to mature slowly in my brain before I actually create them in one day or in one week.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Botanical gardens, nature, the internet, details of any kind… look at this seashell pattern, imagine it blown un on a dress! Look at this satellite view of a quarry, the structure would look so good on wallpaper.. and so on..

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

Art rarely changes the way I view the world. I’d rather say that I look at the world like it is art. Looking at art changes the way I see my own art, which is not always a good thing. Sometimes you get influenced into altering your initial /singular vision.

7. Where did you study?

I have a Master in Fine Arts from France (Rennes) and after that I studied Multimedia Design at KTS in Copenhagen.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an agency?

No not in an agency. You know how they say “If you don't build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs”? To me that’s what working in an agency would feel like. Serving someone else’s vision. The way I work now, I’m so rich with time and freedom, I work on PRECISELY what I want, EXACTLY when I want to. I wouldn’t have it any other way. So in five years I hope to be doing exactly what I am doing now!

9. What about in ten?

I’ll be a painter. Big canvas, rich colors. A la Hockney. Or Ken Done. I want to believe that I’ll be very much in contact with the primitive artist in me, painting with no fear of “what is right” or any obsession of control.. just pure colorful expression..

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

Create a world outside of this one, where you will feel happy and inspired.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Fries with mayonnaise. Or padrones.

12. Favourite book?

If I have to name one I’d say “Hey Nostradamus” by Douglas Coupland. But every book he writes complete one another as part of a reflection on our human condition, on occidental society, its absurd rules and issues. A very disillusioned and poetic look on life..

13. Favourite genre of music?

Any genre of music. Any music can create a magical moment, whether it’s a church choir in a mystic movie, or a cheesy RnB song heard at the supermarket with a good friend… looking at my favorite playlist now, and it goes from Dead Prez to Anne Sylvestre to old Iranian songs from the 70s… to Sufjan Stevens, Gregorio Allegri, SiR, Johnny Flynn, Emiliana Torrini, Caetano Veloso, SZA… So anything really.

14. What are your hobbies?

Analyzing concepts and Debating with my best friend, Singing, Sewing, Gardening, Learning about things like Remote Viewing and Synesthesia.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

I would be a perfumer. Or a psychic/psychologist part time gardener/evening film critic… with a small cat shelter on the side.