Boris Garanger is 33 years old and was born in France. After his Baccalauréat (for UK French equivalent of the A levels, for US high school diploma) he decided to spend a year abroad in Bournemouth, England. It is said that travelling shapes the youth. As he bounded with youngsters from all over the world, he came back with an extremely developed intercultural sensitivity. Bilingual, he enters the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lorient where he spends a year discovering several techniques. With an increasing desire of wanting to pursue his formation in visual arts, he entered in second year at the Beaux Arts de Rennes with an option in Art. There, he will develop a strong interest in contemporary art. He spent his 4th year at the Ecole La Cambre in Brussels, with an option in sculpture. After a year, he took the decision to leave. Out of a longing for adventure and a taste for risk taking, he spends a year travelling (Madagascar, île Maurice, …) and is inspired pictorially by these different landscapes… He undertakes a special formation of metal and iron work. His daily jobs in the construction business have given him a certain expertise in assembling and building, which is not unrelated to his artistic project… Then came Switzerland, Canada, the United-States… Yearning for new landscapes, encounters, knowledge, and greatness, Boris Garanger soaks in experiences from his different travels in order to feed its creation.
As he came back to France in 2018, he decided to settle there, as well as fully and definitively commit to his artistic work. He regularly takes part in events and contests.
Has a particular face struck you during the yellow vests protests ? Do you recall all the faces ? You probably remember the boxer, Christophe Dettinger, who was on the news for several weeks because he knocked a cop down. Do you remember any other faces ? Probably not. Not that much.
You keep in mind clashes, violence, crowds, demonstrations, blue vests against yellow ones, a great energy, yet one rarely takes individualities into account. You have one image in mind, one of well-equipped policemen facing angry yellow vests. Why this particular one and not the thousands of faces that were part of the procession ? “Group mentality”. Indeed, gathering is a way to gain strength, power and therefore impact. This solidarity towards adversity brings a kind of effervescence, vigor, adrenaline which increases forces, in the abnegation of one-self. The group and its motivation take over individual inspirations and one’s morale. The man becomes the link of a chain that generates an almost unstoppable mass : momentum.
The crowd puts in place a process of fluid mechanics that uniformizes the peloton. An illusion of invulnerability is created. This also produces misbehaviors. People stop feeling responsible for their action, they hide behind the group to commit violent actions, by conformism, by imitation. Opposition resembles a stereotype. One of the group’s goal is to divide the opponent in order to rule.