RAYcent Gravures

Julien Garnier aka RAYcent lives in Toulouse in the south west of France, where he has been practising linocut for the past few years. To quote Mr Quincy Jones, “no one cannot live without water and music”, and this inspires all of Julien’s creations through the realisation of tributes.

Since he was a kid, Julien has been scratching on paper and drawing to “kill time”. Ever since, creating something from nothing and being able to tell stories with drawings has become more than a hobby. Coming from a family like so many others where art is considered too precarious, his choices of initial studies were based on the industrial design still realised by hand when he was a child. But, Julien’s first internship in the field quickly cooled him down, as he saw how everything in the evolution of the business became computerised.

However, Julien’s curiosity for the practice of artistic works of all kinds continued to animate him, even going as far as to paint on grains of rice! It is his passion for lino printing that now takes main precedent; “My attraction for engraving is related to the fact that it is an artistic technique that is practiced by removing matter making it for me graphically more interesting. My choice for linoleum as suppport is purely convenient, I find it softer to engrave and easier to clean between two printing sessions.”

Currently, Julien works on small A4 plates, which although limits him a little in the development of the details, it puts him more at ease in the work of the form. He prefers to work with clear plates, which enables him to paint before transferring, and the light and shade work is done directly on the board using black and red acrylic felts. He describes; “I can spend hours working on the form and the light, leaving no improvisation to the gouges.” For his impressions Julien mainly uses water-based inks, again more for its convenience than aesthetic. Discovered by chance, his printing paper of choice is HAHNEMUHLE of 150 gr.

Today, his main source of inspiration is the music that soundtracks his days, from Blues to Hip Hop. In each of his works, Julien aims to bring as many references as possible to the artist concerned. These references are not always visible at first glance, making the viewer scan the lino and look a little deeper to see all of the hidden details.

Having predominantly created portraits so far, Julien is now working on scenic representations based around musical themes. Keep your eyes peeled on his pages for more releases soon!

www.raycentgravures.com
@juliengarnier27

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