Even though we had been hearing news about the Covid-19 outbreak in China for months and Europe was trying to be prepared for it, the unprecedented health crisis caught us all by surprise. “Quarantine time was rather sudden for us in France; all the projects in progress were stopped or postponed. We had to adapt to the situation very quickly,” Florent explains. But before the government asked citizens to stay at home as much as possible, the artist had the opportunity to escape Paris and live in a more relaxed, natural environment – “The conditions on the new site allowed me to spend the lockdown in the best way possible, much more relaxing than it could have been for me in Paris.”
When he left the French capital, he found himself immersed in a totally different environment, where he found “another rhythm of life,” which he says “paradoxically gave me a form of freedom in work.” As a result of this new, more relaxed pace, Florent had the opportunity to focus on his personal work. “Working in new conditions was rather inspiring for me,” he says happily. And it turns out, he even had the time to create a new series – A picnic on my Velux window.