Mime Paris, a self-taught French artist, has made a name for himself in the contemporary art world through his unique approach to collage. With a background in art market design and contemporary art, Mime transitioned from an academic path to exploring his passion for creating with his hands.
Mime draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including ancient civilizations, particularly Egyptian and Greco-Roman aesthetics, as well as architecture and the human experience. Mime meticulously selects faces and figures from second-hand books, cutting and assembling them into intricate compositions that reflect his moods and personal journey. His work is deeply rooted in the idea of human flaws and imperfections, themes he explores through his art by juxtaposing the timelessness of antiquity with the complexities of modern life.
In this interview, Mime discusses his journey as an artist, from his early days experimenting with collage to his current exploration of “paper performances” that incorporate manual animation and liquid interventions. We dive into his creative process, the inspirations behind his work, and how he has integrated his analog creations into the digital world of Web3. Mime also reflects on the challenges of transitioning to a full-time artist and offers insights into his evolving relationship with both traditional and digital art forms.
See Mime Paris’s MakersPlace Profile
Brady Walker: Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an artist?
Mime Paris: My name is Maxime, or Max. I started my artistic journey making collages with old books I’ve collected. I’ve always wanted to create something with my hands, but I don’t know how to draw; I’m not good at that. Still, I wanted to express myself.
I used to run an Instagram account where I’d post artworks from artists I followed. I would publish collages by artists like Jesse Draxler and Isabel Reitemeyer, and I thought, “Hey, this is something I can do.” Playing with paper felt like a very easy way to express my emotions. So I started this journey seven years ago, and now I produce a lot of collages. I love the feel of real paper—the grain of it—so I always mix physical materials with digital elements.
About four years ago, I started animating my collages because I wanted to add another dimension and movement without showing my hands. I began moving the paper around without being visible, and little scenes would start to emerge. Then I began incorporating liquids into the collages—what I call “liquid interventions”—which added an element of randomness to the work. What I love most about these works—what I call “paper performances”—is that it’s a performance happening right in front of you, and you can’t predict the outcome. It’s a rare moment that you capture with the camera, and that’s where Web3 comes in. Web3 allows me to give value to these unique moments because they can’t be replicated or falsified.
Brady Walker: On a more practical level, when it comes to things like paying the bills, what was the process like of transitioning to being a full-time artist? Is there anything other artists might learn from your experience?
Mime Paris: Well, after my experience in art galleries, I worked in a design furniture shop. That’s when I started making my collages and gained some visibility on Instagram. Then I got contacted by some decoration agencies in Paris. The first time they reached out, I was like, “Wow, what’s this?” I got my first contract for 6,000 euros for a collage. I thought, “Okay, maybe I can go further with this.”
I also wanted to take a year to do whatever I wanted—to produce something that was truly mine. I make music too, but I wanted to focus on collage and maybe make a living from it. It’s not fully the case yet, so I have a lot of activities. I do 3D work, music, collage for hotels, etc. But I’m mainly focusing on my visual world of collage. It all started with that first big contract.
Brady Walker: I know you balance using old books, particularly your interest in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and antiquity, but you also work with photographers. I imagine these pieces (SUBJECT ONE, SUBJECT THREE, & SUBJECT FOUR) is a photographer you worked with. What’s the balance between collaborating with someone who produces work for you to collage and you finding material that already exists?
Mime Paris: Yes, most of the time, I try to use whatever I have nearby. In these works, the portraits were created using Unreal Engine’s human creator. So I created my own figures, then modified them, and printed them properly. It’s amazing how you can print things now. I also HD-scanned some old book pages and layered them onto the faces, so it’s a mix of printed paper and digital work.
For the two images you mentioned, I printed the paper, added some metal balls to it, just to capture nice movements, and used another shape from a real book. This wasn’t scanned—it was from an actual book. Then I added tubes behind it to make liquid flow with gold powder. The fun fact about this paper performance is that I expected the metal balls to move with the liquid flow, but they didn’t move at all. I was kind of disappointed, but in the end, the result was still aesthetically fine. So I didn’t consider it a failure. But sometimes I mint my failures at a really low price because I believe failure is a part of the artist’s journey. You can see them in my projects as well.
Brady Walker: Have you worked on any kind of automated or mechanical means of creating these paper performances, like the inside of a clock, that might be able to move things?
Mime Paris: I would love to. I’ve made one work where I programmed a small motor using Arduino. I sold that piece at an art auction. It was one of the first auctions I won. It was interesting, and I programmed the motor to move randomly, which was cool. But in the end, I wasn’t completely happy with it. I wanted something with more articulation, you know? But it’s part of my artist journey. I’ll make things more complex later on.
Brady Walker: And with these paper performances that use liquid, do you also sell the physical pieces? Or what happens to the physical works?
Mime Paris: People often ask me that, but most of the time, I get pigments everywhere, and it would be really difficult to sell. I’m thinking of a way to create a performance that could be kept physically afterward.
Brady Walker: I first discovered your work when Rebecca Rose featured it on an episode of 3-2-1 on MakersPlace. I was amazed to learn that what I assumed was digital was actually physical, and I love how defined your aesthetic is. Do you find that limiting yourself to a particular color palette and minimal approach opens up more creative possibilities? Has placing these limits on yourself helped you break new ground with paper performances and mixed media rather than having no limits?
Mime Paris: Since the first time I bought my tools for making collage, I came across a cobalt blue spray can in the shop. I picked it up along with my other tools and thought, “I’ll make something with you.” That blue has stayed with me since my first artwork. I chose black and white to keep things minimal, and I add other textures—mostly gray, beige, or shades of black and white. Because the palette is minimal, I can add plenty of elements without the work feeling too heavy.
I try to push the limits of it while keeping my identity. Sometimes, I want to quit using blue because I get fed up with it. But I still love it. Sometimes, I create work without blue, but I know it’s not the blue that makes me Mime. That’s part of an artist’s journey—to change. I haven’t left the blue completely because I love it, but yes, I’ve made some pieces without it. Still, I want to keep a certain line where people can recognize my work. That’s the best compliment for me—when someone can see a piece and know it’s mine.
Brady Walker: As a collage artist, your interventions are, for the most part, quite minimal. I’m curious how you approach collage and the amount of planning or not planning that goes into it. How intuitive is the process?
Mime Paris: It’s very intuitive. But over time, I’ve developed my own vision—it’s like a routine. I don’t know exactly what the subject will be, but I have a good idea of the shape I want to work with. When I get photographs or collaborations, and they send me images to work on, I know immediately which ones will work. It’s like I have an instinct for it.
With humans and the shapes I put on them, I know exactly the proportions I want, even the texture. The skin you see on the figures is minimalist, but you can still see shadows and subtle details. Now, I’m adding more complex textures to create something that’s both minimal and intricate at the same time—something that catches your eye but also leads your gaze in a more global direction. That’s my vision.
Brady Walker: How often are you experimenting with new materials, and do you always know what you’re going to create when you pick up a new material?
Mime Paris: Sometimes when I use a material, it’s because I find it really attractive. There’s something geometrically uncalculated about it, especially when it’s organic. I have plenty of stones I collect, and sometimes I pick them up, place them on my desk, and when I’ve got the images, I’ll place the stones on the piece to see which one fits best. I like mixing different materials. It brings something really different to the paper.
[I’m experimenting with] Arduino. I’m also working with metal ink, trying to get energy from a battery I put on it. It’s a pen with metal ink that conducts electricity. So, if I move the paper and connect the metal to the battery, I can create something new—mechanical but still with an organic vision. So yes, every time I produce something, I try to incorporate a new material or texture, something new.
Brady Walker: Your swing sculpture is really interesting. Do you have anything else like that in the works, or is this a one-of-a-kind piece in your body of work?
Mime Paris: That was the first sculpture I made, and it was for Galerie Émilie Dujat. She had seen some of my works from a series called Echoes of the Past. In that series, I took book pages, HD-scanned them, cropped some silhouettes, and put my visuals behind those silhouettes. You get two ways of reading the work. She found it really interesting and asked me, “Can you make a sculpture of this?” She called me one day and said, “What you do is really good, but we can’t buy it. Find a solution to make something we can buy physically.” So I was like, “Okay, I’ll make a sculpture.” That’s how I made this swing, with help from a friend.
Brady Walker: How did your MBA studies help you in building an art career? And do you have any advice for artists who might be watching or reading this?
Mime Paris: When I studied for my MBA, yes, it was all around the art market—furniture, artworks, canvases, paintings, etc. But one thing the teachers told us was that every artist or designer has their own identity. It’s really important to have something that makes you recognizable. That’s something I always kept in mind.
I’ve seen that sometimes artists don’t think about this, and they end up creating things that don’t have a clear identity. You can make whatever you want, but it has to be done in a way that’s coherent. You can have a body of work with a proper identity one day, but it should be a series, not just one piece. That’s my opinion. Then you can move on to another style—it’s your journey. But if you create too many different things and your work isn’t recognizable, that could be a problem. So that’s something I always keep in mind, and it follows me every day.
