I am an ultra-contemporary artist who merges cutting-edge technology with raw human emotions to create groundbreaking works that transcend the boundaries of traditional art.
| Born | 1974 | Paris (FR) |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | French |
| Lives and works in | Paris |
| Movement | Post Internet |
| Media | Painting, Net art, Drawings, Sculpture, Installation art, MediaNFT, Conceptual Art, Figurative Painting, Neo-figuration / New figuration, New Sculpture, Post Digital, Post-conceptualism, Satire, Humor, Conceptual Painting |
| Period | Ultra-contemporary |
I am N. Valen, an ultra-contemporary artist based in Paris. Not deceased since 1974, I first pursued studies in Computational Statistics before embarking on the creation of systems for emotional and functional delegation. These systems externalize essential human functions – such as prayer, anger, health, or sleep – by transposing them into delegated or commodified processes.
In this approach, I am both the designer and the actor: a 'human machine' producing these emotions or states on behalf of others. Until now, I have worked entirely anonymously, adopting multiple pseudonyms to keep my identity obscured. My work offers a critical reflection on the boundaries of our humanity in a society where even our most intimate actions can now be outsourced.
I seek to reveal the gradual disappearance of the poetry of life, erased by programmed mechanisms that smooth out our daily lives and eliminate randomness.
Irony and poetry are my tools to explore the boundary between the sacred – what elevates us, the intimate – what deeply belongs to us, and the trivial – what is reduced to banality, in order to question what remains truly human in an increasingly systematized world.
My works invite spectators to feel a tension between fascination and discomfort. I want them to become aware of how modern mechanisms trivialize human emotions, automate our choices, and diminish the richness of unpredictability. Why strive to reintroduce poetry and randomness into our lives, even at the cost of discomfort, when an automated system offers us a smooth and often satisfying daily existence? My creations pose this dilemma, questioning what we lose in this pursuit of comfort: the intensity of emotions, the unexpected, and the complexity that make life profoundly authentic.
Drawing from my experience in systems of analysis and quantification, I repurpose this obsession with numbers and indicators in my art. I question what it erases: emotion, unpredictability, and the poetry of life—a unique reflection born from my journey.
I believe I became an artist the day I fell victim to my own systems. These tools, which I had helped design to analyze and optimize performance, ultimately led to my own dismissal.
My work stems from a personal reflection on contemporary society, influenced by concepts such as automation, the commodification of emotions, and the poetry of the unpredictable. Rather than relying on artistic references, I draw my inspiration from the systems that shape our lives, blending technology, science, and humanity.