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International Art Treasures Web Magazine June 2004 |
Martin OuelletteOne man's junk is another man's treasure aptly describes the artistic eye of Canadian artist Martin Ouellette. Martin recently completed an exhibition at Gallery Neubacher. He, like many artists, found his creative gene early in life. Martin says "I've been [involved] with art all my life. My father's a painter, my grandmother is a painter. It's something that I love doing and something that I do well. When it came time to decide what I wanted to do there was no question that I was going to go to art school. Art is the only thing that I have been good at all my life."
Martin was required to move to hone his craft. "I was brought up in Rockland Ontario, a small town close to Ottawa. There is not a lot of opportunities. My art teacher mentioned the Toronto art college [The Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD)]. I'd never heard of OCAD, because it is a private school. She got the application for me and I applied. I had to get my grade 13 English ..and had to have a portfolio. The idea of moving from there and coming to Toronto was so surreal for me, especially being brought up in a French language town all my life. I applied and I got in." Martin explains one of his preferred techniques in his artwork. "It is sort of photo realistic. I photograph and then project it onto canvas or onto panel and from there I start painting." He adds, "I have the image beside me on my laptop and I reference the photo and my imagination. I like to use the photograph because it's a nice base, but I don't like to refer 100 percent to the photograph. I'm open to changing the color or the composition if there is something I don't like about it." The artist has an intriguing artist's eye as he explains that he looks for "The detail of everyday life. If you take time and look, especially in an urban city like Toronto everything is so concrete and so gray. You see streets, buildings, houses and you see people walking along the street. That's all you see. If you take time and start looking at the little objects, the little everyday details which are really beautiful to me." Martin becomes specific pointing to one image "A pole has been there for years and people have put posters up almost every week. It used to serve to something that is stapled there on the pole but now it almost becomes this mural of corporation and the past. It becomes an art piece and that's something that has been forgotten, that nature is slowly taking it back and its become natural all over again. It seems to you as a man made object and its slowly being taken back by nature." "I have a lot of those at that gallery that were torn magazines. Last year I was into realism seeing the objects like now, wires that when you look at it and you can tell what it is. I soon got bored with that, it was too in your face. I wanted to push the work a little more and relate it to a landscape. It's still macro detail maybe one inch square and it becomes another world and that's what I like about the pieces of magazine. At the same time its sensual and beautiful and the colors are amazing. It's less in your face. When you look at the title of the piece you can say, oh that's what it is, plastic and paper. I had one painting people thought was something under water when they looked at the name it totally brings it back to exactly what it is."
Martin discussed his magazine series that include the works Vogue and Sports Illustrated. " I went into a dump yard and took photos. The things that were most appealing to me were the little pieces of magazines that were disintegrating, nature was taking it back, and its become something else than a manmade object it's totally lost its purpose. It's almost the final glamorization. I give that piece another chance at fame and at becoming something else."
The artist prefers to use "Oil on canvas most of the time, sometimes wax, sometimes I use a Dremel and carve the wood and sometimes I burn it. It all depends on how I feel and what kind of texture I want." Martin names both contemporary and classic artists as his guides and mentors in his field. "One of my big influences ever since college has been Gerard Richter. At first I used to do a lot of "fuzzy" pictures because his paintings are amazing. His earlier stuff, his black and white, the portraits of black and white are all smudged and smooth. I've been looking at Damien Loeb in New York. He influences me a lot because he is also like a photo realistic artist. I like his style. I like the way he uses painting and he creates monologues with them. I've been looking a lot at Caravaggio for his darks and his lights. Those have been my main influences." Currently the artist is on a brief hiatus or vacation but does have some future plans, "In October I'm going to New York for the affordable Art Fair, I'm looking forward to it." So are his fans. |
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