Interview
Matthieu Vigée
Matthieu Vigée is a native of Southern Louisiana who currently resides in Oregon. He has been drawing and painting since early childhood. He has a Bachelor of fine arts with concentrations in painting and printmaking.
Matthieu currently works with watercolor on paper, and also creates mixed media pieces such as collage, assemblage and shadow box works.
What is your background and how did you start your journey?
“I grew up in Southern Louisiana, a place that is rich and unique in both nature and history. As a child, I was fascinated not only with my local environment, but also with the world beyond that I discovered through reading National Geographic Magazine and encyclopedias. I started drawing as soon as I learned to put pencil to paper. In addition to drawing, reading and listening to music, I was also interested in being acquainted with the local flora and fauna as I felt more comfortable with nature than I did with humans. My parents considered me odd but still supported me by providing me with markers, colored pencils and paints, and eventually, painting classes around the age of nine.
I took art classes in high school and went on to study painting and printmaking at university. During my initial studies, I fell in love with intaglio. The intricate process, the history, the smells of the materials required during the process such as the solvents, inks, grounds, even the acid etching solution, all fascinated me. I even enjoyed the pains of the wear and tear on my hands working with these materials. My experiences with the materials and knowing the history of the concept made me feel more connected with my work as well as the past lives and works of artists before me. As my university studies progressed, I began taking painting classes and felt an equal connection to that medium and process. Eventually, I found myself on a path of combining the two, leading me into becoming a mixed-media artist.
I began encompassing multi-dimensional works by utilizing books, boxes, pressed flowers and leaves, objects found around me, as well as exploring various varnishes to create different effects to express my ideas and emotions. I felt less restrained as an artist exploring mixed-media concepts in this manner. I had wonderful support from key professors at university. There was one in particular who took me under her wing and nurtured me from the beginning to the end of my studies. I still look up to her as my greatest mentor and supporter. We are still in touch and I call her my ‘Art Mother’.
Since then, I’ve explored other creative outlets such as tattooing, jewelry making, and writing, but none of these mediums made me feel as complete or as connected. So here I am now, returning to how I feel most comfortable expressing myself. I find myself with a constant flow of ideas running through mind so quickly that my hands can't keep up.”
What inspires you most?
“My inspiration comes from many sources. The cycle of nature. The four seasons. The duality of life and death. How life and death has affected humanity from the beginning of consciousness.
Inspiration also comes from questions I contemplate such as: When was that moment in time that someone made the first marking? How and why? What inspired them? How is it that so many cultures around the world have so many original markings in common yet they didn’t know about each other until migration and trade came into existence?
The concept of human communication that has developed over time is something I find most inspiring. How this once simple communication eventually developed into art, literature, music, architecture, culture, fashion, spirituality and even cuisine are the marks of civilization in my mind.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Once again, the duality of life and death. The cycle of nature. I tend to lean more towards death, though not in a morbid manner. As a child, I feared death. I didn’t understand it and I was raised in an environment that viewed it as morbid and dark—especially if discussed too much, or even expressed through a creative medium.
After studying death in culture, art, literature and music, I began to understand that it’s not morbid or dark, but a part of the cycle of nature. It’s a part of the journey of all living beings. Enduring the grief and sadness of the passing of a loved one is not to be stored away, ignored, or kept under lock and key. It’s always present, and looking at centuries of cultural customs revolving around death is an interesting facet of our evolution and development of our consciousness. It’s a vital part of how we view our very existence and live our lives. Therefore, death related themes in my work are more about the acknowledgement of the cycle of nature and the lifelong struggle that each being has inside to understand their own existence as well as their consciousness. Examples of this concept in my work include dead flowers in a still life, or a tree covered in snow during winter, or incorporating pressed flowers and fallen leaves into my assemblages. I enjoy bringing new life and beauty into what has recently passed. A modern-day Memento Mori, if you will.”
How would you describe your work?
“My work is a combination of Impressionism and Surrealism, with heavy influences from various ancient cultures, and the interpretation those cultures had of the environment around them.”
“The celebration of life and death as it developed culturally over centuries fascinates me infinitely.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I admire many of the great masters of course, such as Michelangelo Caravaggio, Albrecht Durer, Francis Goya, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel. Though my work is nothing like theirs, they do inspire me greatly. More contemporary artists that influence me and are a bit more evident in my work, especially in my painting include Vincent Van Gogh, Gustave Caillebotte, Claude Monet, and René Vigée Lubrun. The Surrealist artists René Magritte and Joseph Cornell also make their way into my mind.
My favorite contemporary artist is a French photographer by the name of Charles Fréger. His book, ‘Wilder Mann’, is an endless source of joy and wonder for me. Last but not least, my experiences exploring the grounds of Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris has been an infinite well of inspiration for me. I photographed many tombs but mostly the wrought iron during my many visits there. I have painted and drawn some of these gates many times over and I still do so to this day. I even have some of the iron details tattooed on me.
It’s important for me, personally, to note influences do not always come from a famous name or any name at all. I dearly love the woodcuts and engravings from the Middle Ages, and ancient artwork found within the cave systems of the world. The ancient architectural masterpieces—dolmens, pyramids, castles, chateaus, cathedrals are also high on my list. So are locks, keys, windows, doors, roofs gates, and even passageways. They are all tiny details that reflect the inner workings of the mind of someone who’s name we may never know.”
What is your creative process like?
“This is very difficult to describe. My mind is constantly working and I’m inspired by so many things. Music, history, and nature all come into play. Ideas pass through my head constantly and so quickly that I must maintain a mental storage unit in my head of art that I would like to create.
When I paint, I choose an image, select my pigments, and then begin laying the groundwork, and build from there. It can take me anywhere from two days to two years to complete a painting. While painting, I’m working more towards capturing light and the forms created by the atmosphere, rather than the subject itself. With mixed-media works, it’s a constant process of stumbling upon objects and materials that pile up.
Recently, I came across some wooden boxes and then started collecting leaves and flowers. I spent weeks arranging them either in my head or physically in my art-space. As is the case with me, moments happen when everything starts to organically and magically fall into place, and suddenly other ideas and elements begin to build up. The pieces can transform into something entirely different from what I first envisioned. I get glimpses of a finished work in my head initially, but usually, I let the materials and my ideas manifest in a serendipitous manner.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I feel like artists have many different roles in society as they have different motivations and innate motivations. Since the dawn of mark making, every work has had a different purpose. There is story-telling, whether it be a historical recording or whether it is mythological or religious in nature. This aims to help people interpret their environment and their own existence, and create a culture based on those elements. Some artists over centuries have been involved with political messages, and still are today. And then in a more contemporary manner, there is expression of emotion in order to deal with personal feelings and experiences.
I feel like this format was not initially established to connect with other people, but more of a break from the religious, political and general social themes in art that were more prevalent over centuries. As artists began to create works that were more personal, over time this concept became a doorway for artists to not only deal with their personal feelings and experiences, but find a connection to others so as not to feel so alone in this world. Everyone has a role in society and evolution. The connection between artists and that process is in constant flux. The world is constantly changing, as is art and how people view art or even consider what art is. It’s all quite subjective and fluid.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“Artists have many different roles in society, as does everyone, and those roles are evolving. The connection between artists and the evolutionary artistic process is in perpetual flux.”
Please tell us about any previous exhibitions you found noteworthy and wish to share.
“During my undergraduate studies, I had a wonderful group of peers and mentors. Together, we curated many exhibitions and events that were fun and prolific. That was three decades ago, decades filled with too many experiences to mention or describe fully. I’ve not been featured in many exhibitions since then because I’ve mostly kept my work to myself.
Reflecting upon that time period however, I have two favorite exhibitions that I can describe in a bit of detail. One was a juried exhibition that I entered called The Medicine Show. I learned of it through a program at the university I attended, and applied through the mail with slides. By coincidence, I had recently stepped on a rusty nail and had to get a tetanus shot. I decided to use that nail to make an art object titled The Tetanus Shot. How perfect for an exhibition called The Medicine Show! I used a piece of an old wooden dowel and a few rusty metal scraps to create a syringe, with a rusty nail as the needle. I was accepted into this exhibition, shipped my piece to the gallery but was unable to attend. I was nevertheless thrilled to be featured and spent weeks trying to imagine people looking at my work.
My favorite exhibition, which was my strongest, was my senior thesis in university. Two semesters of hard work, thought and dedication culminated into a solid body of thematically and visually consistent mixed-media art to present to the public. Not an easy task. I had so many ideas which I had to tie together, and four mentors to whom I had to present on a regular basis for criticism and guidance. I was struggling with many personal issues at the time, and trying to translate my emotions into an aesthetic that was a combination of beauty and sadness. That year was heavy with catharsis but it helped me grow and really forced me to take my ideas, techniques and skills to an ethereal level that I was only able to recapture recently. The photos and links to this exhibition are in photo slides which I will be converting into digital format. I look forward to sharing that moment in time with the world once again.”
