Why am I an Artist?

Howdy Peoples

Thought I should address the question, why am I an artist?

Seems most of my life I have been creating back in the early 90's when I still had a real job, I would create beaded necklaces and such for gay pride every year in Toronto, ON, needless to say I made a killing, which would usually fiance a weekend in Montreal were I would promptly blow my wind fall. For years I worked in the main stream, but at night I would be out an about selling other things, I always had a day job, and some of them were rather high esteem jobs, but when my sister passed away I decided it was time to jump ship and move to Vancouver. Well things there did not go as planned, I got caught up in the world of after hours and selling drugs, soon I found myself on the wrong side of a pair of handcuffs. It was a rough year, and well I went back to selling but a good friend, a mentor at the time, challenged me to create a outfit for her for a local fashion show, put on by the House of Venus, (http://www.venushouse.com/v2/index.html), the piece I created, involved 16 lp's on her head all rotating as she walked, the bodice was a turntable gutted so as not to be heavy, but the table turned and the needle moved, for her leg coverings I used chain and leather, which happen to be a few of my favourite things. Well once I had her dressed and the prompters looked at her, looked at me with Mouthe's open and eyes huge, they decided to move her from the middle of the show to the end of the show, well when Chani walked out on stage, the crowd went wild, and my heart stopped, suddenly all eyes were looking for me. I was a sketch bag hiding in a corner and refusing to accept that one of my creations could cause this much of a rumble. From there I started to make my creatures, plants, costumes. I did a few more shows in Vancouver, split with my partner of the time, got into more trouble with drugs and gangs, found I needed to leave Vancouver, my world was crashing in, I went back to the only person I could trust at the time, my ex. He suggested we leave Vancouver so I could clean up, cause that is what I wanted, we went to the okanagan for a few months and worked on his uncles farm as I started to get clean and come down. We than ventured on to Nelson, and well it has been the best choice I have made in my life. The community here has helped me grow as a person and as an artist. I recently had a hanging, the first in almost two years and well I sold more pieces than I thought I would, and those that came through for the first time were surprised at what this local freak can do with wire and rock.

Now why do I create the things I do, well cause they are running around inside me head and must be set free. Sometimes it is a conversation with a friend and well I decide to create the thought they have transferred to me, their desire, their wish, I love commissions for that, hearing what another human being would like to see come to live and than going for it.

Some of my pieces have been to help me heal from all the years of drug abuse, from the root cause of the drug abuse which was grief and never understanding what it meant to be loved. Granted I have loved alot of people and still do but I did not understand how they could love me. But that's another topic for another time. Now I create to make the world smile, to make the world think, to make the world question and well to get these weird ideas outta my head and crawling around the real world.

peace

Marcel