Artist Interview: Romain Thibault

Romain Thibault is a French graphic designer and visual artist, renowned for his intricate explorations of technology and mental health. His work not only highlights the fluidity of our identities in the digital age but also offers a contemplative space to consider how much of ourselves we embed in our virtual worlds.

With over a decade of experience in both in-house roles and freelancing for graphic design studios, Thibault has honed his skills in 3D art, animation, and photorealistic rendering.

Thibault's introspective approach reveals his ongoing quest to understand the complexities of the human psyche and its interaction with technology, making his work both profoundly personal and universally resonant.

We asked Romain about his art, creative process, and inspirations.

Can you tell us about your background as a digital artist? How did you get started in this field?

Like many, I followed the pipeline: creative kid always drawing and painting with "artist is not a job" type of parents, to applied arts school, then graphic designer. The urge to express myself never left, and I have fun exploring all the forms it is "willing" to take. Though I tend to work with digital mediums, I would not define my work only within the realm of digital art.

I started to consider my "explorations" as a visual art practice three to four years ago when I was granted a three-month research residency followed by a closing exhibition. For the first time I had space, time and a small production budget dedicated to my own ideas.

What inspires your art? Are there any particular themes or subjects that you enjoy exploring through your artwork?

I have a fascination for what produces the "self", a sense of identity, subjectivity and individuality. Though I am no expert in the matter, the work I produce derives from my journey to a better understanding of these ideas.

Generally, I am moved by a non-judgmental curiosity for what makes people think the way they think and what shapes their perception of reality. I also think empathy plays a great role in the equation, as I am often challenged by my own mental health, sometimes leading me to places of great confusion and disability. Because I spend a good deal of my life glued to a screen, and since the internet offers a certain window into other peoples lives and minds, I became interested in how these phenomena evolve online.

Can you tell us about Cognitive Distortions – what do disfigured human faces represent in your work?

It’s a project that explores a concept called “cognitive distortion,” doing so in relation to online image culture. It results in an Instagram account. The works I post there are created with 3d software. I collect online found pictures and collage them onto 3d shapes, with a process somewhere between collage, sculpting and 3D glitching. Their maximalist aesthetic is linked to information overload and technostress.

Roughly explained, cognitive distortions are involved in a negative circle where mental health issues and negative internal dialog skew one's perception of reality, which further reinforce one's bad mental state and a warped perception of objective events. These are quite common and pretty diverse in severity.

I build distorted self avatars and post them on social networks to note the ripples I see in my own objectivity, while exploring my individuality in a fluid and creative way. I simply believe that projecting ourselves onto infinite feeds, forums, comment sections and social networks has consequences on our mental health - while paradoxically exposing us to new information, ideas, and enriching experiences.

*Electronic Scavenger by Romain Thibault*

Can you talk about your process? How do you start a project and what defines its final form?

I can be pretty obsessive, and the origin of a new project is often found when a group of ideas are stuck together for a while and start to create a little constellation in my head. I love to play with and sometime bend those connections, then I'll add and/or remove some after some more extensive research. It all can spark from aimless creation, research on a topic I like, or just plain mind wandering.

*Electronic Scavenger (Detail) by Romain Thibault*

“A single project can be revisited and take several forms. It is usually shaped by the conceptual phase, it’s production and finally the context in which it is set to exist.”

What is a profound childhood memory?

I was and remained a really dreamy kid. My mind is never really attached to my body... As far as I focus to gather memories from my early childhood, they are all just a bunch of blurry sensations of floating.

What else fills your time when you’re not creating art?

Being there for friends and family, trying to be outside as much as I can, reading... Otherwise I'll be roaming the internets, sometimes absorbing mind-altering amounts of "brainless content", (Sign me up for a 3 hours minecraft playthrough) to stop thinking, and "disappear" for a bit. I also try and make time to play, video games mostly, as I tend to think playing has the potential to induce a sense of wonder and stimulate creativity!

What is a dream project you’d like to make one day?

I would love to gather or join like-minded artists in a collective! Though YouTube, twitch, TikTok and Instagram reduced the world to a small town, I still find it hard to genuinely connect with peoples up there. I think art practice can be pretty lonely and isolating at times, and I find myself lacking the collective experience of thinking and playing within a community. If you read these lines and feel like working on something, or just chat a bit, reach out and say hi!

Props to DAB for gathering peoples around new talents! Thank you.