Meeting with Jean-Noël Duchemin, "tone fisherman" artist and illustrat

Jean-Noël Duchemin is an artist-navigator who likes to define himself as a "fisherman of tones". His artistic universe, colorful and vibrant, merges wonderfully with Math'moi ça , our new card game to learn math while having fun. He created the illustration and even specially created pretty zebra-striped creatures that you are likely to love. Embark with us in Brittany, to discover this artist full of freedom!

Where does this expression “fisherman of tones” come from, which you use to define your artistic identity?

I often introduce myself with this little French play on words. I don't really like the word "artist" because it's a bit hackneyed and pretentious. I prefer to call myself "fisherman of tones."

It's a marine wink, referring to tuna but without the "h". In fact, I fish for tones and that's what makes the essence of my creation: playing with bright, very present tones. I want it to be an adventure through color. So it's a term that suits me well. Especially since the marine universe is omnipresent in my work.

Was the marine world a part of your childhood?

I was born in the Channel, in Normandy. But it was more of a discovery that happened later. As a child, I knew the sea only through the beach, the coastal aspect. Around the age of 18-20, I started sailing, practicing sailing and windsurfing. It then became a driving force in my life, just like painting. The two interpenetrate and nourish me.

What fascinates you most about the marine world?

Freedom! The freedom to choose your path, your route, to absolutely not be in a formatted universe. That's what I've always appreciated in traveling and sailing: being able to play with the elements. I also find that when I paint in the studio. I've always managed my life with this leitmotif of doing what I wanted, with this spirit of freedom. And I live in a part of the world where you can be quite active on your own will, which is not necessarily the case for everyone on this planet. So I seized it and I try to live like that every day.

How did you discover your art?

I have been drawing since I was little. It is always a medium that I loved and with which I was "comfortable". However, I had another professional activity before and traveled a lot. Then around the age of 30, I devoted myself to this mode of artistic expression and since then it has never left me.

Was there a key moment that marked a turning point in your artistic journey?

There was a moment that is linked to the practice of sailing and sailing trips. At first, I worked on formatted supports, whether sheets of paper or canvases mounted on frames. Then I started to recover elements of racing boats. That's when the leitmotif of freedom came to be part of my pictorial work. And I completely left all formatted supports to only use supports linked to recovery. This can be fragments of sails as canvas, pieces of sheets or old linen shirts. But also, and this is what makes me specific, carbon composite elements from fragments of offshore racing boats. This allows me to completely leave the classic support and be in harmony with what I experience on the water, trying to be as much in harmony as possible with the elements, whether they are rough or not, beautiful or calm. This is a bit of what I find in my work in the workshop in any case.

We can see an eco-responsible approach in your work…

I think it has always been there. Since my adolescence, I have been very sensitive to everything that is the fight for the planet and ecology. With this practice of sailing during sailing trips on the Atlantic or elsewhere, it has always been something very important in my life. Sensitivity towards ecology, animals, the beauty of the planet and the fights to preserve it has always been strong in my approach. And the fact of working on recycled elements is an integral part of this desire. Afterwards I still use mediums like acrylic, but I try as much as possible to be in line with what I want to preserve.

How did the idea for this collaboration with Topla and the illustration of the Math'moi ça game come about?

It is first of all a story of friendship like all the encounters I have been able to achieve through my pictorial approach and my exhibitions. This collaboration is linked to the story that was created with Frédéric Ballner who discovered my work a good twenty years ago. As Frédéric is at the head of Topla today, he asked me for this project. It was not easy because I had left aside everything that was commissions to devote myself to more personal work. But he wanted to have my very cheerful and optimistic vision, which I transmit through colors, and all my two-tone work on which we relied to create the Math'moi ça game.

Once I said yes, it was a lot of research work. I made about forty models of zebra-striped creatures, all different from each other. It was very enjoyable and it is always with this in mind that I work. Pleasure and travel, which is sacred in the workshop and always omnipresent in my approach.

Precisely, tell us about these zebra-striped creatures that echo the fish that we can observe in your personal artistic creation…

These zebra fish come from memories of diving in tropical waters. My first dives were a shock with this multiplicity of shapes, colors, this richness! I would even say that it is unfair competition. When I returned from my trips, I wanted to set up the atmospheres that had extremely impressed me underwater. And I opted for an archaic graphic design of the fish allowing me to explore all the two-tone aspects and make the colors vibrate together. And it's been more than 20 years now that I've been working around the "Z" fish and which have become these little zebra creatures that we find on the game cards.

These are more imaginary and they were a trick to bring a small creature on which we could write the numbers. The constraints of the game card were obviously present and in particular the creator of Math'moi took the option of placing numbers in the corners, in addition to the numbers present in the central part of the card. The fact of representing a small creature with 4 legs allowed to write the numbers on these parts like a tattoo.

We find the marine universe even in these numbers, which sometimes resemble anchors or hooks...

They are called moustache numbers. They were used on the rowboats here in Brittany and represented the boat's registration number. It is a writing that I have always found extremely airy, coming from a practice of popular and very artistic art. So, I relied on that. It was also a tribute that I paid to the local marine universe.

Math'moi is a game dedicated to mathematics. What are your childhood memories of math?

Until the end of middle school, it was okay and then after that it was a little more difficult. I don't really have a mathematical mind. With Math'moi , we are more on notions of calculations, algebra. So it's good to approach this through play. This is also what we could criticize the French National Education for, for letting go of these playful practices for learning.

Your “playground” is this house-workshop that you built. Can you tell us the story of this incredible achievement?

I am at the tip of Brittany, in Finistère, which means "the end of the earth". In our country, we say that we are in the Far West. This house was also a project of freedom, a lifestyle choice. I needed a large workshop, because of the structures I work on which are between 6 and 10 meters long. When I lived in Normandy, I already had a workshop that I had recovered from a boat hull, but it was a little smaller. And then we were able to start on the realization of this boat-house-workshop project in Brittany. It was also a form of creation, in self-construction, so we had to start from the realization of the plans, from the shape... It also takes the shape of a boat with building techniques, even if the structure is completely made of wood. This is what we call a keel in the air, that is to say that we turn the hull of the boat over. It was used by fishermen who could not afford to build houses. In the past, it was found in a few places on the French coast or in Great Britain. It exists a lot on the Faroe Islands or on the East Coast of the United States where we still find foundations of overturned boat hulls dating back to the Vikings. It has always been used by sailors.

Note from the Topla team :

Jean-Noël Duchemin is the artist who brought these original and lively marine illustrations to the design of the Math'moi ça game. You can find his work exhibited at the Cité de la voile Eric Tabarly , currently in Lorient and until November 7, 2021.

The concept of Math'moi ça was imagined by Eric Zimmerman, a gameplay specialist who has been designing games for several years. The creator was keen to create a game so that each member of your family could become an ace at mental arithmetic.

So it's your turn to play!!!

Find Math'moi ça and the entire range of our math games on the Topla website.