DANDELLION ART
Artist that makes grand installations from the smallest details Interview with Botanical Artist Duy Anh Nhan Duc.
La Botanica: The scale of your work is grand and miniature at the same time. This makes it so unique. How did you start using flowers as the medium to create art?
DAND: I started with drawings. They were illustrations of a fan- tasy world where trees and plants ruled as the masters. Little by little, I needed to go beyond the limits of rep- resentation, I wanted mate- rials, colors, smells, shapes. Plants became the main medium. It is by developing this singular palette that I build my artistic approach.
LB: Your artwork takes a lot of patience and a steady hand. Do you meditate or do any other balancing and breathing exercises? Do you have “seasons” in your artwork process? Does it depend on nature’s state?
DAND: Time and patience are key; they are essential in my work. We need time to work with nature. I live and work with the rhythm of the seasons by collecting each plant that I work with myself. And they are all wild. It is one of my favorite moments. I used to work with fragile and delicate seeds or plant, for example, dandelions. Months have been required to under- stand how to invite dandelions to my creations: first, how to pick it up, then how to dry them, how to transport them, and how to apply! To create a monochrome of dandelion seeds, I repeat the same gesture hundreds of times, pliers in hand. It is a meticulous job that I particularly like because it’s a special moment with the plant. It is a kind of meditation for me, and during this time, I need to coordinate my breath; otherwise, all the seeds (take out would) fly into the air!
LB: By adding jewelry pieces, you glorify the plants and make them timeless. Do you have your favorite jewelry piece that represents something important, or a good luck charm?
DAND: I’m 37 years old, but I kept my childhood look. I think even more today now that I be- came a dad. I can see a lucky charm or a good star in many things that I find. Of course, a four-leaf clover searching or blowing on dandelion seeds. I believe in luck. However, I especially believe that luck is in everyone.
LB: Are there particular flowers or plants that you like to work with?
DUND: The dandelion al- ways holds a very special place in my work. For me, it evokes all the beauty of the world and at the same time, all its fragility.
They are a wonderful ingenuity of nature. Under dandelion’s apparent fragility, they are one of the most skillful and vigor- ous species in the plant kingdom. They evoke untamed nature, free and wild. The dandelion is ever-present in my work. They fascinate me: the architecture of their seeds arrangement, the lightness, and brightness of their feathery tuft and above all, their ephemeral nature. It blooms in almost all parts of the world. No matter who you are or where you come from, the dandelion exhales for everybody a sweet melody of childhood. In its presence, we are all caught up in a universal pleasure, with only one thing in mind, to blow and see its thousands of shooting stars fly away. It has the faculty to connect us imme- diately with the inner child that is in each of us, at a time of our life where we still cultivated this privileged link with nature.
LB: We are looking forward to seeing more of your work. If you like to share your near future plans, we would be ex- cited to hear.
DUND: I worked this year on the artworks for Hermès, which are at the moment exhibited in their boutique in Georges V in Paris until the end of January.
I also worked on an art installation for one of the future train stations of the Grand Paris Express. And I am pre- paring an exhibition for the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris, which gave me a carte blanche.
