What inspired you to create works of art and to become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)
As far as I can remember, I have always created amazing and bizarre works according to my parents. As a child, my interests were different from those of my classmates. I was obsessed with Dinosaurs, Prehistory, Origin of the Universe, UFOs and ghosts! I now make up for it by offering my "funny" surreal visions to others. On this subject, I love this sentence of the Belgian surrealist poet Georges Henein which replaces long speeches: "Silence will forever remain the most recommendable surrealist manifestation!". In short, I believe that I create to fight against the sad ambient normality!
What is your artistic background, the techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
I started drawing around 5/6 years old. I drew emaciated faces. But never a body.
Between the ages of 8 and 12, I wrote a lot of Poetry… Without rhyme. Comics between 10 and 16 years old with the creation of a character that I called "GOULP"; Shadok atmosphere. This character also made me win a contest on the TF1 television channel. In the 80s, at Mas de Tesse high school in Montpellier, I did a secondary cycle (second, first and final class) called A7. The studies were oriented towards the history of Art and Drawing. Between the ages of 18 and 30, in parallel with my job as a tennis teacher, I took up oil painting and modeling (surrealist style) with a few exhibitions at a local level. I even made board games...
Then, I went through a long time without creation except in my work where I always, I think, innovated. About ten years ago, the artist string began to vibrate again. I started in the "SPICTURE". A word that I invented and that described well what I was doing. A mix between Painting and Sculpture. Relief painting using clay and acrylic. There, currently, I "tweak" images. I practice digital photomanipulation.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
It would be pretentious to say that I am absolutely different from other artists, but my works have some specificities that I really care about; surprise effect, surrealism, strangeness, eccentricity and weirdness!
Where does your inspiration come from?
From Google Pictures! ! ! I draw from this bottomless well where the source spits out a continuous stream of images! This inexhaustible source is the basis of my work. She is its marrow substance.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
Hybridization, the logic of the absurd and subversion are in a way the gateways to my artistic bias... Even if I'm evolving a little differently at the moment.
From birth to death, from the individual to society, I try to spare no one. I handle surrealism with a certain derision.
My reflection on the world is sometimes poetic, sometimes caustic but I hope always sharp.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspiration from art classics or other)?
Improvisation, improvisation and improvisation! It's the “digital collage” (I call it hybridization) of photos and images that initially have nothing to do with each other that gradually creates the work. It's self-creation! Like an invisible path that opens under my feet as I move forward, the work takes shape, materializes and begins its existence.
Do you use a particular working technique? if so, can you explain it?
For the draft or the model of the work, I work on my computer. I do “Photo-manipulation” in other words digital collage. This process suits me well because I am no longer limited by technique. I work on images that I collect on the Net then that I transform or transmute. My “challenge” is the mixing of these diverse and varied images which apparently have no connection between them. And which finally, once associated, create a new reality and open new doors. So I distort reality and I make it (I say it modestly) surreality. But the result is, I believe, not a mess because I like realism in presentation or representation. Even if I work on images (photographs), I feel closer to the painter than to the photographer. Subtle and immortalize a moment like the photographer, is not my purpose. I am not spontaneous. I can spend several weeks doing my digital work. And, I keep coming back to it…even at night!
Are there any innovative aspects in your work? Can you tell us which ones?
Innovative, no, because I use digital collage, which is a technique that has already been used and worn down for many years. My software is not more innovative because it is basic, free and usable online like Pixlr and Befunky. We are far from Photoshop! Like what, the technique is not everything.
On the other hand, can wanting to take up the torch of surrealism (which has fallen into disuse?) be akin to a form of innovation...?
So if so, I am innovative and I proclaim myself with other Neo-surrealists!
Do you have a format or medium that you are most comfortable with? if yes, why ?
I use almost essentially only 2 formats; the square and the rectangle 4/3.
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 mainly work in front of my computer. More in the evening and I always work listening to rather uplifting music; Porcupine Tree, the old Genesis, Föllakzoid, Dean Hurley, Mark Korven, Ludwig Gôransson in particular... Go listen to them, I guarantee you a trip to other spheres!
Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, for fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?
I would love to and of course I did some exhibitions but my current job (I'm still a tennis teacher) prevents me for lack of time from moving up a gear and exhibiting more. Unfortunately, I had to decline interesting exhibitions, notably under the Louvre Pyramid, in London and at the Florence Biennale. But, I have nevertheless established privileged relationships with collectors with whom I communicate in particular through the Artmajeur platform.
How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?
My career as Mr Strange is relatively recent. I take this opportunity to thank Artmajeur to whom I owe a lot. This site made me known and facilitated the opening of doors... I therefore consider myself at the beginning of the "Mr Strange" adventure and I hope to move from the status of an emerging artist to the status of a confirmed artist. . Of course, it's not just up to me. But it's a daily struggle to be visible on social networks and show that we exist!
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
My last significant work and which obtains a certain success is called “To Be or not to Be”. You will find it on Artmajeur. It depicts a gorilla, standing in front of a large window, in an empty, all-white room. The gorilla is majestic but alone. His gaze is lost in the distance. He seems to think... The work is meant to be surreal. It is a photomanipulation.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
This is an international competition that I participated in in 2018/2019 called the Arte Laguna Prize. I had applied quite by chance with a work "The Dice" (visible on Artmajeur). The works had been exhibited at the Arsenale in Venice in a fabulous showroom. "The Dice" had reached the final after 3 selection phases. I have fabulous memories of the quality of organization, the quality of other works and the presentation of trophies. Fantastic !
If you could have created a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?
Without hesitation, “The Treachery of Images” that René Magritte painted in 1929. Better known as “Ceci n'est pas une pipe”. For this painting, it is important to note that for Magritte the image of the pipe is not actually a pipe. Here, Magritte plays on a subtle boundary between the imagination, the content of the canvas and what the viewer perceives when standing in front of the painting. In fact, his will is that the viewer releases his interpretation, his own conclusions.
That's exactly what I'm looking for when someone looks at one of my works. It's up to her to give the meaning she wants to my work!
If you could invite one famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest he spend the evening?
I can't keep just one. So, I will propose an evening with two artists. These 2 artists that I greatly appreciate are physically dead but their energy still permeates the artistic milieu. They are Salvador Dali and René Magritte, both surrealists but with totally different personalities. I will invite Salvador for his flashy eccentricity and René for his crazy conformism!
The invitation card would carry this little sentence:
“We will imitate men as little as possible in their enigmatic disease of tying knots! »
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
