Get to Know Luc Tessier

The Artogone team asked the abstract Montreal-based artist about his artworks, process and inspirations. Tessier shares his perspective on art and art-making, as well as what is most fulfilling to him as a visual artist. From classical composers to pop art legends, read below to find out which artists have sparked Tessier’s imagination.

Luc Tessier
Roll Over Beethoven by Luc Tessier
Artogone: Tell us about your creative process, from the idea behind the artwork to its completion. 

Luc Tessier: I often start with an idea in mind of the final work, a feeling, certain colors, shapes. The whole process from beginning to end make it so the final work often resembles only a little, or not at all to my initial idea, because the whole creative process has taken me elsewhere.

Most of the time, I start working because I have a need, a taste, a desire to create, to express feelings and sensations. Even if I’m not in front of my computer or in my studio with my brushes, the ideas come and go. I think of all sorts of ways to improve myself, new ways to surprise the “spectators”. My primary goal is to make people react and feel emotions while looking at my work. Not because it is a landscape (and I have nothing against landscapes) but rather because of the shock colors can bring, making sensations emerge.

How has your practice as a multidisciplinary artist evolved over the years? Have some technological advances had an impact on the way you make art?

I’ve always drawn, from a very young age. I even drew while I was studying music. A little later on, I did photography. Everything attracted me in art, music, painting (abstract, figurative), cabinet making, horticulture, photography, theater, etc. I came back to painting after a tragic event. It was my emergency exit door. After painting hearts, drawing and painting Guardian Angels, I was looking for a new technique, more striking, more explosive. As for music, there was classical guitar, folk and progressive rock. For visual art there was drawing, painting, photography and it was by wanting to mix all of these techniques that my series “New Lands” and “Perpetual Movements” came to be. So, yes, technology has “helped” me to express myself better, helped me in my research (to find other things) and to be freer.

My work is called “digital art”.

At the computer I paint and I draw. Once the computer work is finished, I make high definition prints. I finish them with epoxy (resin) to get more intensity and contrast.

Music seems to hold a special place in your life. Can you tell us more about your relationship to music and how it influences your visual art practice?

Music was my first love. I must have let it go at some point in my life. But it always carries me to different worlds. It always brings out different emotions. That’s one of the reasons why my works often share their title with a song, a band or a character. Since it is by creating while listening to a piece of music that the work in question is born – I listen to it, and then listen to it again and again and again.

 

Can you name some artists (musical and otherwise) that have inspired you?

David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and all the musicians they played with (Tony Levin, Robert Fripp, etc.) Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Paganini, Mozart, Picasso, Dali, Mc Escher, Andy Warhol, not to mention the actors that I find captivating to watch. What I like about them is their freedom, the risks they took to present their worlds, without fitting into a mold. They are always looking for new sounds, new worlds – their intensity too, softness versus passion.

In a broader sense, what has your art taught you about yourself or about life?

Art has taught me about myself that I don’t like routine. I like to research, to surprise myself and the “spectators”. Art (music, painting) has helped me express my feelings. For me, art is a way of life, of trying to put some beauty around me.

For many years I had no idea what art was for, or what an artist was for, their usefulness. It was during exhibitions that I got my answer, from the visitors and from some comments like, “It’s like we’re in Heaven” or “It’s like Sunshine”. I saw people crying because it touched them deeply. So I understood the usefulness of ART and the ARTIST.

Discover the artworks currently available in the artist’s studio:

 

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