What inspired you to create works of art and to become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)
As far as I can go back in my memories, the drawing has always been present. His interest was transmitted to me by my mother who, at the time, painted portraits. Child passionate about stories, I very quickly wanted to learn how to put on paper the images present in my mind, then arrived my first drawings of dinosaurs and knights. Since then, only the themes have come to vary. As a teenager, fantasy and fantasy entered my imagination through illustrators who had a strong impact on my generation of children in the 90s. It was also while growing up that painting began to become a strong interest and that paintings famous great portrait painters of the 16th and 17th centuries have frozen in my memory.
What is your artistic background, the techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
I learned to draw and paint on my own until I entered the Pivaut art school in Nantes in 2009. There, I took a 3-year course in narrative arts, specializing in illustration. it was during this period that learning to paint in oils and making paintings became my greatest passion. Since the end of my studies in 2012, I have been a painter and illustrator, alternating between these two fields. My favorite subject revolves around the portrait, faces and whole bodies, often naked. The human body is a highly represented subject in the history of painting, but above all it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
I don't paint particularly with the idea of trying to stand out, I sincerely believe that one paints as one is, the particularities and the style coming naturally with practice. Through my approach, I seek to master techniques of the past in order to represent people of today, creating contemporary with old methods is the main characteristic of my work.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from almost all the audiovisual arts. Painting is the main one, I spend a lot of time looking at and studying the work of others, among them we find old painters, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Titian, and others who are contemporary to us such as Nicolas Uribe, James Gurney, Rebecca Leveille Guay, or even Hollis Dunlap. But of course the list is far too long to mention them all.
Then there are the other arts, illustration and video games in particular. I was a child of the 90s strongly marked by all modern means of storytelling, so I spent a lot of time with headphones on and a controller in my hands experiencing fabulous things. Video games have long been shunned by artistic circles, but today many authors have marked this medium as masterpieces, mastering the codes of narration in a way that has nothing to envy to cinema or literature. .
And finally there is the music, it is inseparable from my painting, I simply cannot paint if I do not have music in my ears. All genres go there, but the vast majority is classical, traditional music or soundtracks for films or video games.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
The posture of a body or the face of a person is the reflection of a thought or an emotion, I see my work as the means of telling these interior things by giving only the minimum of information by representations simple human. If looking at one of my paintings, someone wonders who the person represented is, what she has lived and faced and what her emotions are, then I consider that I have succeeded in my work. The challenge that I impose on myself is to try to capture attention on a painting in which too explicit data are absent, in order to favor the imagination. The most beautiful creation is that of the spectator of a work who indulges in daydreaming, I want to encourage this and not take the risk of giving too strong keys to understanding.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspiration from art classics or other)?
Most of the time the preparation process is very short, all it takes is a model to touch me and the subject is ready. The realization is much longer, I like to take all the time it takes, not to rush, and above all to take advantage of the painting process for myself, to give myself time to imagine and feel these emotions that I want to put on the board. It is important to have this privileged time because it is a moment of pleasure, an essential component of the painter's work. During the creation, the painting is clarified according to desires and moods, I do not calculate much upstream except the overall composition, most of the time quite simple.
Do you use a particular working technique? if so, can you explain it?
I try to get as close as possible to the oil painting techniques of the 17th century, but with today's means and techniques, it remains an endless quest, certain knowledge and materials having changed too much. Apart from that, I generally work on three to five coats of paint with complete drying between each one, this allows me to increase the quantity of material deposited and to play more precisely between the opaque and transparent zones.
Are there any innovative aspects in your work? Can you tell us which ones?
I put no limit to experimentation, if it is true that the basis of my work is quite classic, on each painting the creative process will vary in terms of technique. I am always ready to use a new type of medium, filler, oils. There are many parameters that can vary which makes each work unique and gives each its own set of little secrets.
Do you have a format or medium that you are most comfortable with? if yes, why ?
Not really, I'm very motivated by the fact of learning new things so the formats and media often change from one work to another. However, I have a preference for supports that absorb oil quickly because they adapt better to my pace of work.
Where do you produce your works? At home, in a shared workshop or in your own workshop? And in this space, how do you organize your creative work?
I paint where I live, I have a small studio set up right next to where I create illustrations. I plan to stay in this configuration in the future because I particularly appreciate the comfort of being in a personal place, isolated in a bubble where everything is familiar, calm and conducive to the imagination.
Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, for fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?
So far I have had little opportunity to travel as part of my job. Most of my trips were made within the French borders during exhibitions or appointments with collectors or gallery owners. On the other hand, I try not to miss the opportunity to go abroad to visit the great national museums in search of new things to observe and learn.
How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?
What is certain for the future is that I will continue to learn new things, that remains my main motivation, and my main objective, to never stop being interested in this environment and what it offers. . I would also like to create more opportunities for myself to exhibit and distribute my paintings, and also, to have the opportunity to transmit this passion to others. I find that imagining a future as an artist is quite a difficult exercise, but in any case I am quite confident because I don't see myself losing pleasure and passion as time goes by.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
My latest artistic production is very different from my oil portraits, it is a digital fantasy illustration, depicting a very dynamic dueling scene. I wanted to expand my repertoire of techniques a few months ago by learning to work digitally with the idea in mind that it could help me improve my more traditional work, and that is indeed what I see , like every time I step out of my comfort zone.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
My most important exhibition experience is also my first exhibition, it was a local event, a first edition of a festival. What makes it my most striking experience is that I won an audience award when I was not expecting it at all, and that I had the opportunity to discuss for the first time around my painting, with an audience. I consider this moment as the start of my career, it was an incredible dose of motivation and optimism.
If you could have created a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?
Hard to choose just one, but to play the game, I'll say "Judith and Holofernes" by Caravaggio. I am completely fascinated by Judith's face which communicates a lot of different emotions. The contrast between its calm and its resolution while the scene is of mad violence impresses me every time I lay my eyes on this painting. Without even knowing the story of the myth, it is possible to spend hours contemplating the scene by imagining the past of these characters, it is a masterpiece of chiaroscuro on which I can discuss an infinite time, and which represents everything I would like to be able to accomplish.
If you could invite one famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest he spend the evening?
Again, it's very difficult to make a choice, I would have quoted Vermeer because he is my favorite painter, but I'm going to orient myself on a very different choice. I will invite Nicolas Uribe, a living contemporary painter whose work I admire not without even a hint of envy, I must admit. His approach seems quite far from mine, but he is one of those artists whose brushstrokes are instinctive, honest and impulsive. I have a lot to learn from these people who manage to "let go" in front of their canvas much better than what I am able to do. As for how the evening would go, I imagine lots of painting and a good meal. It's not very original but quite what is needed.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
| ArtMajeur Magazine