Several curious eyes linger on three miniatures exhibited at the Galerie Joseph (Paris, 3rd arrondissement). “Look at the details on the windows on the second floor,” whispers a lady in front of an ultra-realistic model of the Haussmannian building which, until recently, housed the Tati store in Barbès. "Have you seen the tags? »Asks another young woman, facing a miniature representing a typical building in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. These two models, or that of a brick building typical of Saint-Denis, are the work of Nicolas Pierre, a miniaturist artist from Saint-Ouen. He is one of the creators to be exhibited at Galerie Joseph as part of the “Small is beautiful” exhibition.
“There is a little obsession with the 18th century! “Laughs Rattha, an accountant from Strasbourg who came to visit Paris. “It's true… but I'm in Saint-Ouen so obviously it's my inspiration…”, admits the artist, who explains his way of working. “I start by working from photos that I take on site or that I find on Google for buildings that have already been destroyed. Then I do the drawing and then we go to the cutting on featherboard, before painting and going to the details. For the Tati de Barbès, his most imposing work, the artist worked six months.
"The announcement of its closure motivated me to make this miniature", specifies Nicolas Pierre, who likes to work on buildings or buildings for some doomed to destruction.
“For the other two facades, it took me between a month and a month and a half,” he explains.
"These miniatures make it possible not to forget these buildings," agrees Rattha.
This is also the objective of Nicolas Pierre's work.
“It's been three years since I went back to miniature.
With this scale, it makes it possible to see these landscapes which are very banal in a different way.
It is a way of paying homage to them ”.