Here is an interview featured in Incubus’ Choice. Akiza is a character that immediately conjures an emotional response. We were captivated by this silent and simple arrangement of images and wanted to draw your attention to it. It’s dark and friendly and seems to form very naturally for this talented artist. Enjoy.

What message(s) do you want to express through your work ?
My pictures are the message, I prefer to show them…
What are your sources of inspiration ?
Typography and calligraphy, Japan, Giger, Hello Kitty, bondage, suspensions, body modifications, Fakir Musafar, icons, Chinese politic posters, Obey Giant, Otto and his dictature, symbolist painters… I have discovered afterwards Tetsuo by Shinya Tsukamoto and I loved it.
What have you gained by being on the internet ?
A lot of contacts, quite some visibility and a pathological interest in my site’s statistics.

Akiza has begun under strong technical constraints relatively to the inking: in what extend those constraints were creative of a freedom ?

I have decided to keep those constraints because they fit me well. I do not need colors to express myself, they are rather a brake to me, a constraint to work in colors. Without them, I feel freer and more efficient. I would rather speak of rules of the game. They are here to guide me, they help me to create strong and recognizable pictures. Those rules, and particularly the exclusive use and black and white, represent a huge space of freedom to devote myself to the main thing, a pleasant pause compared with my work as a graphic artist, and a technical easiness for the printing and the weight of the pictures on the internet.

Personal project, Akiza develops itself of numerous interpretations, tributes and fan-art. Do you not fear that your character will escape you and lose its uniqueness ?
This is a chance to take… Shut her in or open herself to the world, to other designers and running the risk to lose her. She is a big girl, she will decide…
Relatively to the number of portraits that are dedicated to Akiza, are you tempted to go deeper in her universe, with maybe other characters, interactions, settings, stories ?
I improve her universe in each portrait. It evolves and carries on processing itself. The stories will come gradually. Drawing will guide me. I do not want afterthought explanations with the pictures. I do not feel any need to justify Akiza. This is a speechless story, a graphic talk each one understands in their own way. This is where her strength comes from. Giger and Hello Kitty do not need stories.

Merchandising has early entered Akiza’s world as tee-shirts, posters, mugs… Is it a brake on the graphic development, or the opportunity to give yourself new spaces of creation ?
I take it as an improvement of her universe. Akiza’s white is not only paper’s and computer screen’s: it can be porcelain’s, plastic’s, cotton’s, metal’s, vinyl’s… I like to meet her on the street worn by strangers and I like to drink coffee in an Akiza-labelled mug. I wish she could be a part of the true real life and would not only be a creature for graphic designers and internauts. Akiza has reach the spreading stage. I try to make her known and every medium is useful, laudable and good for that purpose. This is also a mean of earning a piece of a living with her, to enable me to dedicate myself to her and maybe one day to live on her…
Could you tell us a few words about the place you live/work in ?
I live in Toulouse (France), in a big apartment, with an illustrator and two photographers. A kind of community and graphic utopia which is a part of the ‘tous les anges’ (ed.: all the angels) group.
Words gathered in september 2004
© Incubus’ Choice

*En Francais:
De mutations en mutations, naissent parfois de curieux phénomènes.
La découverte d’Akiza fait l’effet d’un ovni sorti tout droit d’un pays extraordinaire façonné
de signes, où la calligraphie nous enseigne un alphabet pervers : Akiza est un nouveau langage,
une icône subtile et racée qui s’impose d’elle-même, fulgurante comme une étoile filante,
comme une bulle de chewing-gum qui explose en plein visage.
En authentique coup de foudre, n’ayant pas le souvenir d’avoir perçu une telle force depuis
Egon Schiele, Akiza évoque la promesse d’un bonheur lointain et trouble, pleine de paradoxes, emprisonnée, mignonne et inaccessible, enchaînée dans un dédale de câbles et de substance
noire, pleine de secrets à déchiffrer, mais toujours prête à se livrer, abandonnée ; à la fois,
indécente et réservée, elle se dépapillote comme un paquet surprise, se déguste comme une
délicate gourmandise dont on a peur de ne plus pouvoir se passer. Sensuelle, sexuelle, délicieuse,
imprévisible, déconcertante, inquiétante, insolite, jour après jour, se révèle comme un courant
électrique foudroyant, une initiation sans fin, une découverte lumineuse dont son auteur,
Robinson, nous livre quelques secrets.
Où est née Akiza ?
Elle a été trouvée dans une forêt de câbles. Dans une gare.
Elle est revenue du Japon. Croisée dans une soirée fetish.
Dans quel monde évolue-t-elle ?
Un univers contrasté, noir et blanc toujours
mais riches en demi teintes, faux semblants.
Elle vit suspendue, observe et pose. Icône par accident.
Son monde poisseux et pur est fait pour elle, à sa mesure.
C’est un jeu d’images sur l’identité, le dénombrable,
l’un et le multiple, l’épure et le sordide, les câlins et les câbles.
Akiza est unique, et nombreuse à la fois.

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