Art in Focus
Toronto, Ontario

James Picard : Essential Convictions
Claire Martyn

Canadian artist James Picard, subject of a recent documentary about his life which aired on Bravo Television and currently working on several North American commissions and having just exhibited in New York, London and Vancouver, seemed like a worthwhile subject for my art column interview which I am doing on Masters of Canadian Art in the Twenty First Century.
I first contacted Mr. Picard via the telephone and was delighted to have an appointment set up for the following day at his studio. The interviews were done in three separate sessions according to Mr. Picard’s availability. I used a tape recorder to not only capture the honesty of the interview, but did not want to rely on my memory for facts I may be uncertain of later.
James Picard’s presence is unmistakable. He is a powerful, confident man and even though he appears calm and relaxed, he has an overwhelming energy about him that is almost mesmerizing.
After an initial studio tour and gratefully accepted cup of tea, our dialogue began.

CM When did you start painting?

JP I’ve painted as long as I can remember. But I drew even before that.

CM Was there a conscience choice on your behalf to become an artist?

JP I have always been creative. I never seemed to fit into the so called ‘norms’ of society so I always rebelled in one form or another. I loved music and drawing and painting was just always there. It’s a more isolated thing as opposed to music so I kind of liked that.

CM Did you attend art school when you started out?

JP Yeah a couple of them. But the instructors weren’t that good. They tried to fit you into a category which immediately gets my back up. I think I learned all I needed in the first year then after that I just mainly used the facilities.

CM Who do you feel had the most impact on your art career?

JP For inspiration I would say Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, Harold Town and of course Francis Bacon. As for direct influence probably my sister Catherine had a large impact as she died just as I was getting my art career started and it really impacted me and got me motivated to do something with my life which I wanted to do.

CM Was she a creative person?

JP Not in the way that I have become. But she died young so I guess we’ll never know.

CM Are there creative people in your family?

JP No, not really. My mother told me that I had an aunt or great aunt or something that painted but I’ve never seen anything she did and don’t recall anyone being creative in an artistic sense.

CM So was it difficult being raised in a non creative environment?

JP It was survival. It (art) saved my life and provided an outlet for all my built up hostility and frustration. I did art because I had to. The abusive drunken household just made it a little trickier to get it done. But I did it….regardless.

CM I guess most great artists came across difficulties at some point in their life.

JP I paint because I have to, not because I want to, as did Picasso and Modigliani and all the other greats. When you have to do something you do it, difficulties or no difficulties. But what makes one stand out above the rest is the experience one goes through. To come out on the other side against the odds builds, not only character but greatness. Orson Welles had a great quote from his movie The Third Man, let’s see if I have it right. “In Italy for thirty years they had warfare, terror, bloodshed – but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Now that sums it up, don’t you think?

CM Pretty straightforward.

JP Pretty fucking accurate!

CM So does all your work come from your negative experience?

JP No. As an artist I am open to everything, good and bad. It is my job to experience all I can and have and use that as fuel for my creativity and obviously the more I have experienced the more I have to draw from. And life isn’t always happy and flowery and pretty as some people would like to think or see hanging on their walls. My experiences both positive and negative are both valid, but there is an intensity and an honesty in the darker side of life that being in a vacuous bubble wearing rose-colored glasses doesn’t always provide.

CM In your documentary you mentioned that you felt other artists just “slack off” and “don’t have the same drive.” Is this your feeling because of their lack of life experience?

JP I find it rare that artists, who I’ve come across in my travels, actually paint or create because it is a matter of survival. A lot of them I find, don’t have the conviction to keep creating no matter what. I mean it isn’t easy that’s for sure. But if it’s your life’s work, then you put your life into it…..I don’t see a lot of that.

CM Does this bother some of your peers or do you ever have artists frustrated with you by making these comments?

JP I don’t really worry about what others think, I’m merely making personal observations.

CM If I may go back to your documentary one more time and ask why you choose to work in so many mediums?

JP The mediums I choose to work in reflect the feelings I have to create. Each medium allows me a different type of freedom. Also when I travel its hard to paint with oils on a plane, but pen and ink and watercolour fare pretty well. CM Does each medium present a different challenge?

JP Of course. That is why I have worked at perfecting each one that I use. I also get bored at times working in a particular medium. It is nice to know you can move freely between them and keep creating. It is this constant imagery in my brain that makes me crazy at times and the more doors that are open to me as far as getting these out of my head the better.

CM I notice that your painting is mainly abstracted in a way. Have you abandoned the realism in your paintings that was there in the classical sense when you began your career?

JP I found that using classical painting techniques were a great learning tool. I still use them in my drawings mostly and I take from them in my paintings but once learned I find it not only too time consuming but a little tedious to create in a way something that the camera can do in mere moments. After you accomplish the technical side you search for ways to simplify andexpress your emotion with various lines, brushstrokes and colour and personalize the painting in a unique and new way. It’s all about moving forward and challenging yourself and the viewer.

CM Do you feel that people find it hard to categorize you since you’re working in so many mediums all the time?

JP I’m not concerned with what anyone thinks. I’m an artist. Classify me, don’t classify me, whatever.

CM I don’t think there are many artists that work in so many mediums. Isn’t an artist supposed to find his style and stick to it?

JP Did Picasso have a style? Did Matisse have a style? I mean they worked in many styles or periods at a certain point in time, but they evolved and evolving means change. I think most artists are supposed to evolve but are too scared to. They get caught up in this “style” thing and don’t focus on growth. That’s why there are no great masters anymore. Where is the growth?

CM Do you find as an artist you’re ever in need of inspiration?

JP No.

CM Can you elaborate on that?

JP I’m constantly inspired. I set up my life to be inspiring for me. I need stimulation. I always have and I allow into my world that which stimulates me. What ever doesn’t I don’t allow in.

CM Sounds pretty rigid?

JP On the contrary. I am a visual person. I take in what I need from all sorts of situations and imagery from all sorts of people, places and things. I’m constantly filling my source basket from the mundane to the bizarre and everything in between. I just know what it is that inspires me and I know what it is that drains me. I have no need or desire to be drained.

CM So you never get a “writer’s block” so to speak?

JP No. It seems my life so far has provided me with more than enough inspiration. I mean, look around. Look at what’s going on in the world, on your street or in your home. Artists that are blocked should maybe open there eyes a little more and look around.

CM Are you accepted more as a Canadian artist here or outside the country?

JP Good question. I suppose a lot of people know who I am, especially after the documentary was released but Canada is different that the States or Europe. I have won a number of awards in the United States for my artwork but none in Canada. There seems to be a certain amount of appreciation outside the country that I don’t get here.

CM Why is that?

JP Well it’s the Canadian way. We are much more humble and safe. We don’t want to be the first to accept something that hasn’t been proven elsewhere first.

CM So do you think that’s what will happen, that you’ll be discovered somewhere else first?

JP Take a look at our actors and musicians who get acknowledgment in America but not here. There is a cultural awareness in other parts of the world that we just don’t have here. As a country we are still too young. We have our priorities all ass backward.

CM Do you feel that you’ve been ignored by the Canadian art world?

JP No, not totally ignored. But we just don’t attach the value to art as other international cities and countries do. If you devote your life to hockey or dentistry you’re praised. If you devote your life to creating art you’re a bum. It’s been that way forever.

CM Where do you see yourself in the next five or ten years?

JP I’ll be painting somewhere, that’s a given. It appears my career has been climbing steadily for the past twenty years or so. The recognition is coming and I’m ready to be recognized for all I’ve done so far. I seem to be starting a push in Europe so we’ll see where that goes and I simply love New York and all it has to offer so New York will always be in the picture.

CM Anything you’re working on now or any plans for anything we should watch out for in the near future?

JP Well there are definitely a few “cha-r-ming” pieces I’m looking forward to starting. I have been truly inspired lately. It’s really quite unbelievable. I think my best work is yet to come.

CM I have a feeling I’ve just scratched the surface and if what I’ve witnessed here is any indication, I’m sure whatever we see from you in the future will be quite outstanding.

JP It’s all part of the trials and tribulations of being an artist and striving to capture it on canvas.

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