By Olimpia Bellan

BEHIND THE ART OF FRANCK GÉRARD |
Mixed-media French artist Franck Gérard is a master of blending worlds. Graphic design, architecture, photography and film-making artfully give life to a visual language that feels both timeless and futuristic. His limitless creativity draws from a rich repertoire of influences spanning fashion, art, and technology. With an intuitive grasp of complex forms, Franck Gérard creates pieces that take us to the crossroads between the physical and the digital, past and future, where light, shadow, colour and texture interplay to create a striking narrative. Drawing from a deep well of experience, his artistry speaks of innovation and culture. His visual experiments merge techniques like AI and 3D and take us into an ever-evolving exploration of abstract and geometric concepts, exquisitely accompanied by his electronic music soundscapes.

What led you to become a visual artist?
Images and graphics. My career has been built up between design, photography, and artificial intelligence, which I integrated into my creative process at the end of 2022 for some of my works. What led me to become a visual artist was this desire to explore new visual territories and question the boundary between the real and the virtual. Each project is an experiment, an attempt to take the image where it has not yet been seen, by creating a personal aesthetic language that is constantly evolving.

In your art, a wealth of experience in graphic design, architecture, and photography is interwoven with a knowledge of disciplines like fashion and art. The naked eye sees futuristic visuals, but on a deeper look, nuances of traditional, classic elements emerge.

What’s behind your creative process? 
My creative process is based on the fusion of past and future. I explore futuristic aesthetics while drawing inspiration from classical references such as painting, architecture, and graphic design. I like to play on the tension between the tangible and the virtual, the organic and the synthetic. AI is a tool that I rework graphically to give it its own direction. My objective is to create works where every detail interacts with the perception of the spectator, while blurring the boundary between the real and the imaginary.

How do you find the balance between abstraction and representation of reality?
The balance between abstraction and representation of reality is at the heart of my approach. Abstraction structures the image, while figurative elements, such as a fragment of a face, anchor the work in the human. This contrast creates visual tension, a double reading. I want to play with perception, to suggest rather than impose. By combining minimalist forms and realistic details, I seek to bring out an aesthetic where past and future, real and unreal, come together and offer a timeless vision.

Your art meets at the intersection between two worlds: the physical and the virtual. What led you to this crossroad?
This crossroads between the physical and the virtual came about naturally. My background in design and photography led me to push the boundaries of the image. Artificial intelligence has opened up a new creative space, where the algorithm and my artistic intervention interact. But the image only has meaning in its materiality. Printing on specific media gives my work a tangible presence. I explore this tension between the immaterial and the physical to create works in which these two worlds coexist and interact.

Your multidisciplinary approach combines traditional and cutting-edge techniques. How do you decide when to use each medium, and what does each bring to the story you are trying to tell?
The choice of medium depends on the emotion to be conveyed. AI and digital technology enable us to explore the unexpected and generate new forms. But this first phase is followed by meticulous graphic work to structure and refine the image. Then, printing on physical media anchors the work in reality. Each material, each texture influences perception. My goal is to combine these dimensions to tell a visual story that transcends the image, playing with the materiality and perception of the viewer.

Current and upcoming projects?
I am working on several projects at the same time. Two of them explore mystery and futuristic iconography. I am also experimenting with different printing techniques. Finally, I am developing a video project in which I combine AI with Super 8 aesthetics. Each project deepens my research on perception and the image.

How visually thirsty are you?
My visual thirst is constant. Each image is a field of exploration. I am in search of an aesthetic between the real and the unreal, between graphic minimalism and visual intensity. This curiosity pushes me to experiment, to cross disciplines, to test new media. The image is constantly evolving, and it is this perpetual movement that nourishes my work. Experimentation is essential: each project is a research project, an attempt to capture a still unexplored vision, a balance between control and the unexpected

Read FRANCK GÉRARD interview on BMI:MAG limited edition, find your copy at @bluemarlinibiza and throughout Ibiza’s hotspots