ÉDITIONS & MUSIQUE — JUILLET/AOÛT 2009Sang Bleu — Lausanne
Cheong Kwon, july 2009

This month I made a visit to our next door neighbors in Lausanne at Sang Bleu. Sang Bleu is an annual fashion and tattoo lifestyle publication. We spoke with the founder, Maxime Buechi.

CK : When you started the magazine, did you conceive of it as a way of historically documenting tattooing as an art ? Where did the fashion come in ?

MB : Good question. It came in because a lot of people in fashion or art reference or quote tattooing or subcultures but they often do it in a literal or uninteresting way that repeats clichés. And on the other side, a lot of people in the field of tattooing or body modification had an interest for art or fashion but no one was trying to make the most out of these interests. Tattoo magazines are what they are and some of them are good but they can be quite limited.

CK : I see your publication as being more an art publication…

MB : I don’t see it as an art publication because it would mean that I’m talking about art. I’m talking about using art and tattooing as ways of speaking about something else, which is about contemporary personality and the way people perceive their bodies and culture. People draw influences from numerous places since there are fewer boundaries in modern life. And that is the whole concept behind Sang Bleu, the name meaning nobility, to take these things that used to be perceived as vile and recreate oneself as noble.

CK : What direction are you headed in the future ?

MB : I want to make it more…I still feel that there is limitation due to the fact that I can’t pay anyone, that there is no money for the production or translation. I’m so grateful to all the contributors who work for free. I just want to be able to have someone to proofread the whole thing, and that is very frustrating.

I have a real interest for theory. In my family there were no artists, but a group of intellectual people. I grew up with literature. In university I studied psychology and wanted to study philosophy. I went to art school and wanted to bring an attention and a dimension to text that is oftentimes neglected in most visual publications that include fashion.

Having studied graphic design and art, I would like to focus in on it and publish a book with only text. There are two or three art shows coming up for Sang Bleu after this summer.

CK : Will this be mostly critical theory on tattooing ?

MB : No, it’s mostly visual artists, some wanted to deal with fetishism, some wanted to deal with revolution…including theoretic criticism and the notions visual artists have that generally involve serious mental or physical commitment.
That’s what I’m interested in.

For me, with Sang Bleu, what I’m trying to talk about, the vision that I’m trying to create, is something can be transported to anything else. It’s about how, whatever things humans do, some of them can be done with passion by taking what is genuine in everything. It’s just what people are ready to suffer for…

CK : So you think of it in terms of suffering ?

MB : In a way. It’s not that I am interested in suffering as such. It’s a question of what do you believe in enough to be ready to suffer for it for a bigger thing? And that‘s what tattooing is, it’s very literal, you get pain, but you also get something that lasts for the rest of your life.

A very good friend of mine, who I used to do graffiti with who is now studying at Glasgow Art School, told me he wants to make art how we used to make graffiti together, risking our lives. When we were teenagers, we were so involved in it. A lot of people we were with are now on trial ten years later, still for graffiti! They accept it because they think it is worth it. So that’s the approach. If I get in debt from doing Sang Bleu, so be it. I never question the choice. What do you believe in enough, to still do it, even with all the suffering one concurs from it ?

CK : How do you see the fashion part related to passion if the underlying current of Sang Bleu is about passion ?

MB : That’s an important question. The reason why Sang Bleu integrates fashion, is its’ drive is more about lifestyle than trend. It is about people who are interested and strongly committed to creating an image that is an extension of a way of life. So they are passionately committed to the fashion which is a part of their personal style.

CK : Is it an aesthetic choice that most of the photos in the publication are in black and white ?

MB : Well, I’m not good with color, as a fact. I’m not color blind, but I’m in color denial. I’m more interested in shapes. I’m a typographer, so what interests me in fashion is silhouettes more than the intricate details. But it’s also a practical choice because no color means no prepress, photo litho, which is something I can’t afford. I think black and white matches the whole concept behind the magazine. If you look at it closely, there is color, but I use it in a practical way, it helps put everything together. For me what is important is to have all the material function together in the most harmonious way possible, not just have a section with fashion, a section with tattoos, etc. It creates a documentary look, linking and mixing contemporary art with fashion and text.

www.sangbleu.com