A Conversation with Johnatan Tremblay (TJO)

JD

Hi Johnatan, what a pleasure to have you. Welcome to CAI. How are you?

TJO

Hi Julien, the pleasure is mine!

JD

We met a couple of weeks ago, and first and foremost, I was intrigued by how you became a professional artist. Your personal background as an artist is entirely different compared to—so-called—“traditional” artists. Instead of going to art school, you started creating without any guidance or interference, driven by a certain urgency or, rather, necessity. As a result, there is something unexplainably refreshing in your works, which is arguably one of the key reasons for your success. Could you tell us a little bit more about your walk of life and how you arrived at creating these refreshing artworks?

TJO

Of course! So I was born in a small village in the north of Quebec. I grew up surrounded by music as my father had an instrument store. He raised me by himself and also introduced me to photography. I never thought of myself as an artist and didn’t really put much thought into it, although I always found comfort in creating, whether it be music, video, or photography. As a teen, I did a fair amount of drugs that would end up catapulting my mental health into the abyss. I later learned that I had a history in my family, not that I could do anything about it anymore. I started TJO as a study of my OCD and a voice for the fractured. 

JD

From a visual perspective, it is very clear you have a refined and complex technique, marked by an organic creative process in which one act or decision brings you to the next.  Could you run us through this process, from the idea or tabula rasa to a finished product? 

TJO

I always work from photography, so the first step is when I plan out studio sessions with models. I try to gather an extensive amount of material as I will use it for months afterward. I then return to my office and start printing the pictures that caught my eye the most.

I then make digital composition before reprinting the selections. Then starts the fun part. I do a mix of ink transfers, destruction, and manipulations of multiple media according to how I feel and what I want to convey. 

JD

As we have stated in our introduction, we encounter many references to popular culture, art history, and contemporary affairs. How do you arrive at selecting these references and what do you aim to achieve by implementing these fragments? 

TJO

I don’t really overthink these references. Often they are just stuff I have been exposed to recently, magazines or the internet, or that is floating in my mind. I feel some connection with these, which is why I include them.

JD

You channel your own mental distress into creating artworks in which mental health is brought to the center stage of discussion. Does the artistic activity have a therapeutic quality for you personally? And how do you try to tackle issues related to mental health within your works, for instance, with Socially Accepted Chemical Dependencies? 

TJO

Art has definitely become my therapy as far as I am concerned. It really is the only moment in my day when I feel absolutely content and in control. It’s weird because you’d think that I would also get obsessive about artworks, but it seems like my brain treats them as outlets, and I often can go hours without thinking about a single thing doing them, just floating. From there, I am also trying to connect with people just like me around the world. I grew up thinking mental health was fake and a made-up story by lazy people, which now I know is not true, and I feel like there will never be enough people talking about it. 

JD

Let’s discuss your latest series of works; think of Never Look Into Your Mind’s Attic or The Tree That Grows on Rocks. Is there any particular direction you’re heading with these pictures? 

TJO

I think recently, I have been diving into deeper levels of my psychics that are less chaotic and a lot more felt. If my earlier work were mostly around the obsessions of my disorder, I would say I am getting a lot more intrigued by pulsions (compulsions) and their deep intricacies these days. I guess I am trying to reach the source, and going deeper into myself showed me deep places that are not empty but submerged in abstractions.

JD

On a more personal note, one of my favorites is, without any doubt, 10 Pieds Sous Ton Masque (see image at the top). I believe it is one of many examples of how your collages are in an (unintentional) dialogue with historic collage artists such as John Baldessari—think of the fragmented image, blurring faces, or the abstract use of primary colors. What is your viewing point concerning these connections with art history, both intentionally and unintentionally? 

TJO

I think it is always amazing to find works of people from the past that were going in similar directions as yours and then see how you can learn from them. I am not very protective of my practice because I do not think mediums or aesthetics are things that should be owned or even less copyrighted. Art needs to move forward with culture and society. To do so, it needs to be given all liberties; this is why I look up to the Old Masters as such, masters that ran their part of the marathon and that are now waiting for us to do the same.

JD

Over at SuperRare, you always tend to add a poetic side-note next to your picture. Is this how we should approach your works as visual poetry? 

TJO

I think it is visual poetry, but I also use very few words around the meaning of my pieces because I see them as actions. It is said that words kill the strength of actions, and so I leave the art to speak for itself while still showing a direction through the side notes.

JD

Your career has known a remarkable upswing within the field of NFTs and digital art. What were the key factors for your success?

TJO

I think a major part of it was that I took a long time to understand the space and why it was important to the people in it. It is hard to explain, but once I started understanding what I was working toward, it really got a lot easier to navigate.

JD

To conclude, we are most curious about your plans for the future. What may we expect in the coming years from TJO? 

TJO

I think I want to explore bigger dimensions of pieces and projects. I want to create universes and experiences that will touch people. But for that to happen, I still have much to prove as an artist and human being. Still, I am grateful to be where I am today, and I just want to keep making art until my last breath.

JD

Thank you very much for this wonderful conversation. It’s been a true pleasure. Stay in touch! 

TJO

Thank you Julien, take care.