Eight artists who haunted the halls of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris posed before Boris Camaca’s camera in a portfolio devoted exclusively to their unique personalities, published in the latest issue of Crash. Attired in Moncler Genius, each artist embodies their own form of creativity and irreverence. They echo the eight designers who each put their own spin on the Moncler DNA, from Simone Rocha to Craig Green. The Moncler Genius project takes a step further today with the opening of two concept-stores called The House of Genius in New York and Tokyo where all the pieces from the eight collections are sold until the end of the year. Here is the portfolio brought to life in a series of videos capturing the mood of each promising artist.

ADRIAN VAN MELLE

“I create a narrative body of work that combines images, texts, objects and videos to make up a complex story that viewers can read on many different levels.”

I’m preparing an exhibition at AU LIEU – éditions extensibles, the exhibition space I manage in the Jaurès neighborhood of Paris, then I’m doing a solo show at the Beaux-Arts School’s Galerie CROUS in February.

ANNABELLE AGBO-GODEAU

“I work on the ways in which identity is staged, while drawing inspiration both from my family’s origins and archival images and screenshots. I use my paintings to explore the artifice and performance at work in folklore and the idea of ‘staying true to one’s roots’.”

I graduated last June. Now I’m trying to spend another year at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where I did an exchange last year: painting practices are very dynamic there and much different than anything in Paris.

MEHDI BESNAINOU DOUNKAS

“My work is multidisciplinary and investigates contemporary popular values. I use several media and prisms of representation to highlight society’s trends and transform them into systems that blend drawing, video, installation, music and performance. I use word games and symbolic systems to craft an artistic universe and a critique of standardized society, which describe the globalized world we live in. I’m very curious about my generation and its street culture – which I reject at the same time as it fascinates me.

I’m working on a new TV series in which I play most of the roles (host, advertising actor, reporter, etc.) and use accessible pop language that is just as relevant to contemporary art as more mainstream media. I’m also preparing an EP of songs that I write and play (voice/guitar) under the stage name Mehdi Palmtree. Some songs are already on the web (YouTube and Soundcloud). I’m doing writing residencies to develop a show at Main d’Oeuvre in Saint-Ouen and at La Villa Mais d’Ici in Aubervilliers.

APOLONIA SOKOL

“I paint large figurative paintings depicting famous women from history and inspired by mythology and art history. I only paint with oils. My models are mostly strong women who inspire me.”

Recent solo show at The Pill gallery in Istanbul. Solo show at Andersen’s Contemporary in Copenhagen, while in residence at LungA in Iceland. Exhibition Tainted Love in collaboration with Confort Moderne at Villa Arson in February. Exhibition Mademoiselle through January 6, 2019 at CRAC contemporary art center in Sète, France.