"Life is a good joke"

‘Délicatesse des couleurs’, the tenth exhibition in Salzburg’s Hangar-7, presents young artists from France, among them the coolly analytical paintings of Sélim Saiah. With the help of the following questionnaire he undertook a cool self-analysis.

Firstly, please give us a few details about you: What do you like, what can’t you stand, and what do you laugh about the most?

What I love is music, the sun, a good coffee bar and the smell of oil paints. I hate noise and people with no sense of humor. And I like to laugh at life. It’s a good joke but hard to understand.

Which three artists – also from different genres if you like – touch you?

Goya, Titian, Bacon.

What do observers of your art usually notice first … ?

I don’t know.

... and what makes it characteristic in your opinion?

One image hides behind the next.

Please give us some insight into the working environment where most of your works are created. Is it sterile or chaotic; quiet or full of life?

In my studio there are no outside noises. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I prefer total silence. And order is very important to me. Everything has to be in its place, just within reach.

Please choose one of your exhibited works and describe in a few words how it developed and what the idea behind it is.

‘La Tentation d’Icare’ (‘The Temptation of Icarus’) starts as a ‘sweet picture’ of a flying person and transforms into a symbol of violence alone through the play of its own repetition.

What would be the ideal feeling or awareness that observers leave the Hangar-7 exhibition with?

The feeling that they’ve just seen a good exhibition. Because in the first instance you put up a picture for aesthetic reasons.