Behind the scenes / How it started

This was written last march for the ''March meet the maker'' trend on instagram.

Scroll down for the french version

March 2021

I’ve always had trouble writing about myself and my progress as an artist, it always felt a bit pretentious. I think I also feared judgement of ‘’acting professional’’ from those who knew me. But here goes anyway!

The act of creating and imagining things have always been part of my life,  so even as I grew up, I never considered it like a path to follow. I started to create more ‘’seriously’’ when I was about 15 years old, and since then I've never really stopped. 

I don’t have much up my sleeve academic wise, except those art classes in high school so I mostly experimented with paint and mixed medias by myself at home. I just painted anything that was crossing my mind and felt right to represent on a canvas. I still have a whole bunch of old paintings, the proportions are horrible, the color choices are debatable,  but boiiii did I enjoyed making them.

I liked painting what I felt of the world around me, mixed with my own.

There is so much mediums and techniques you can explore and I never had the interest in limiting my self expression to one style or medium. Following the waves of inspiration without limiting myself to one style just feels more genuine to me. I will always be changing and so is my art.

2019

I started **cking around and drawing opossum, rats and raccoons, which are a kind of the folk punk /neurodivergent/ outcasts Icons. A couple of people commented that it would look dope as patches. Agreed. 

A friend of mine ( Hi, Carreau ! ) suggested a local screen printer he knew of. So I got 4 different drawings printed on fabric, and started selling / trading them. 

I loved the idea of people wearing art as part of their style and connecting with each others through it.

In June 2019 I went to a DIY folk punk show in an underground venue in Montreal ( Tiohtiá:ke ) and found a quote written on the bathroom wall, that spoke to me on a deep level, which was ‘’ Follow your fears’’. It was pretty well placed in time, as I've just submitted my resignation from a stable full time store manager job I've had for 7 years.

A friend at that show suggested to teach me linocut, as it would go super well with my art style, and I did want to have something more complex to work on. I was going to spend a bit of time in Gaspésie the next day so we had to put the project on hold, until i started experimenting with linocut around October.

I’ve tried to make some handmade patches with fabric ink and linocut blocks, and I experienced with paint fabric, to make DIY bags, clothing.

Didn't go far loll

I’ve had the chance to quit retail for a while, to connect with myself, my projects, and what made me genuinely happy. Which I found was community, people, friends, shows/music and art. 

I didn't need to follow a specific path and I didn't feel lost.

 BIG SHOUT OUT to the talented screen printer Tommy Gee who gave life to my art ! www.tommygserigraphe.com