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Four artworks from the blue series are now available at Artothèque de Montréal. You can rent them on their website.
INTERVIEW: EMMANUEL LAFLAMME – MASHUP ARTIST
September 18, 2015 by Casey Webb Tell us about yourself, who are you, where are you from, and what do you do? Hi, my name is Emmanuel Laflamme. I guess you could say I became an artist by accident. I studied art because my dream was to create a cartoon series. I grew up in the suburbs of Montreal with my two parents and three younger sisters. I spent most of my childhood playing hockey, building stuff with LEGOs and watching cartoons. A fortunate encounter with my cousin’s husband, Christian Tremblay (a professional cartoonist, creator of the SWAT KATS) literally changed my life. He became a mentor and encouraged me to teach myself how to draw and paint in the academic style. After a few years of practicing, I started working as an assistant in a studio in Montreal. It didn’t take long for me to realise how challenging it was to create, sell, produce and distribute an original cartoon series… so I started to think of different ways I could express myself using other means. This is when I really started to make art on my own. I worked with a model for a while, then I experimented with acrylics, pastels, collage, sculpture and digital art. I tried making portraits, still life’s, landscapes and abstract compositions. My first group show was somewhat of a turning point. I was showing my first paintings, on which I had worked for 20-30 hours each. When I saw that most people spent less than 5 seconds looking at them, I realised I needed to find a more efficient and powerful way to make art. This led me back to my main work tool: Photoshop. At the time, I was posting a lot on deviantArt. My first trials at digital collage and photo-montage were somewhat successful. The positive reactions encouraged me to go further as I began to realise the power of appropriation in art. Using pictures for their symbolic values, I started creating visual mash-ups that combined references from gaming, pop-culture and art history. As these images became more and more popular, I started to paint, draw, sculpt and print them. I took part in several group shows, which lead me to even more opportunities. (Click here to read the rest of the interview) Il y a quelques semaines j'ai eu la chance de participer à Cabane à Sucre; un projet de galerie privée éphémère réunissant une quarantaine d'artistes provenant des milieux du graffiti, du street art et de l'illustration. L'instigateur du projet est Turtle Caps, un artiste qui partage son temps entre New York et Montréal et dont les tortues distinctives peuplent les rues de la ville.
Les œuvres étant peintes dans une cour intérieur privée, on ne peut y accéder que si l'on connait les habitants de l'édifice du centre-ville. Pour que les œuvres soient vues par le plus grand nombre, des photographes, journalistes et blogueurs ont été invités pour agir comme diffuseurs de l'événement. On a parlé de Cabane à Sucre dans La Presse, Métro, Cult MTL, MTL Blog, etc. Voici quelques clichés de mon oeuvre et de l'endroit, prises par le photographe Darwin Doleyres. Photos : Darwin Doleyres (doleyres.com) For my latest exhibit, "Abri Temporel", I revisited several paranormal topics from popular culture. I was also inspired by recent theories about the existence of a secret space program, which could explain some UFO sightings. Happy UFO day! 20th Century Fake mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 1952 Washington, D.C. mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 Annuit cœptis mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 Battle of Los Angeles mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 DNA Manipulation Theory mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 Paracas Elongated Skulls mixed media on canvas 24" x 36" 2014 Roswell mixed media on canvas 36" x 48" 2014 Boeing Prototypes mixed media on canvas 36" x 48" 2014 Lockheed Martin Prototypes
mixed media on canvas 36" x 48" 2014 This image representing an attack of UFOs above a beach was just removed from Tumblr. It's a mashup; I created this composition using references from pop culture. The upper part comes from the poster in Mulder's office, in The X-Files. The lower part is a still from Jaws by Steven Spielberg. When I first posted this image, 15,000 people shared it in less than 24 hours. Since then, it went everywhere.
I am not quite sure why Tumblr censored the image, but here is what the page looks like today: Voici quelques photos prises durant la Grande Fresque de Nuit, sur l'avenue Mont-Royal. Nous étions 44 artistes à créer sur le thème: "J'aime mon voisin". Pour mon concept, j'ai décidé de représenter le voisin comme un extra-terrestre dans son OVNI. Mon amie Judith Koos Himer est venu me prêter main forte durant la soirée.
Photos: Sarah Landry Here are some pictures taken during La Grande Fresque de Nuit on Mont-Royal avenue. We were 44 artists painting on the theme: "I Love my Neighbour". For my concept I decided to represent my neighbour as an extra-terrestrial leaving in his spaceship. My friend Judith Koos Himer came to help me out during the night. Photos: Sarah Landry |
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