Although my French is a little sketchy, I believe I’ve just introduced you to the coolest cat in France. Félix Larher, practitioner of photography, art and animation. In between cutting and pasting a name for himself in magazines such as WAD, Tank, Spoon, Le Monde and French Vogue, he found time to speak with le magasin minuscule de Lifelounge. That’d be us.
DP: How did your whole cut ‘n’ paste style come about? Was it something you’d played around with before becoming an internationally renowned photographer?FL: I just did it to enjoy myself during the long nights of winter and to do something different than just being a fashion photographer. And it’s fun to do … and also useful for decoration.
DP: Your work has quite an erratic and free flowing style. Is there much pre-production with your shoots or do you prefer to just go out there see what happens?FL: No there isn’t much pre-production. You get a good spot, good model and some happy spontaneous mood and all just works.
DP: How do your clients react to this? Don’t they freak out?FL: The client is lost or they love it. I did a job for Citadium (the biggest sport shop in Europe) and i did all their decoration outside / inside and they let me to do things as I wanted.
DP: Your work has quite a funny and sinister side to it, sort of like a dark comic. Where does this influence come from? FL: USA, USA, USA and some movies of Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wendres and the painter Jean Michel Basquiat.
DP: You reference a lot of American flags and burger chains in your work. Are you making a statement?FL: There is no specific deal. I love America as much I hate it.
DP: I first discovered your work through a friend of mine who works at an advertising agency in Paris. How do you find working with agencies compared to magazines?FL: Magazines usually let me do what I want. But with advertising, most of the time, I have to adapt my work to their project which gets a different result.
DP: If you weren’t a photographer, what do think you’d be doing now? FL: I’d be a scientific researcher studying whales in a nice wood house by the sea.
DP: Finally, being the Sweet Edition, what’s the sweetest thing about being Félix Larher?FL: My deep love of the countryside and gardens give the impression I’m a very
underground boy with dreams of being a gentleman farmer.
DP: Thanks Félix.FL: Oh, and don t forget to mention my website
www.felixlarher.comDP: Sure thing.