For many artists, developing a cohesive personal philosophy for their work takes years of strict dedication to their craft. For photographer Justin Levesque, it developed without hesitation. “Photography is a record-maker,” said Levesque. “In the instance of making an image, once an image is made it acknowledges the past, the present and the future of that process.”
For the 2010 USM B.F.A. graduate, time plays a vital part of his artistic output, both in the future and the history of the medium. In addition to receiving his B.F.A., Levesque also minored in art history, an educational background he believes is vital to his and other artist’s success. “To create an image without understanding the history of the image is reckless,” Levesque said.
This obsession with time further carries on with the photographer’s most impressive installation to date, a multimedia installation entitled “twenty-four/seven,” which was on display at the Isaac Dyer art gallery in Gorham. The installation consists of 7 weeks of digital images captured by Levesque on an iPhone that consist of several images the artist found aesthetically pleasing, often times of patterened fabrics. These images are then face-mounted onto Plexiglas and back-lit to provide the same experience that is given when capturing an image with the phone. “I wanted to replicated the experience of looking in the phone,” said Levesque. “But also merge it with the idea of installation or the fine art tradition of displaying it within a frame.”
Although the three-dimensional display of the traditionally two-dimensional medium of photography in “twenty-four/seven” is impressive. Levesque directly attributes his time at the USM art department as a large influence to the transition. “[USM professor] Duncan Hewitt taught me a lot in terms of switching modes between 2-D and 3-D,” said Levesque. “His class was very much about the way we interact or navigate with a work of art.
Levesque also said he believes that one of the strengths of the art department at USM is the connection that many of the professors have with the art community of Portland and that it provides a glance into the world of a working artist. “Especially on a Friday night when they would have the First Friday, we would just not have class or we could go as a group,” he said. “So I remember several times we would go to galleries and have one-on-one’s with artists in the gallery about how to be a working artist in Portland.”
While the interaction with working artists in Portland provided students with valuable information, Levesque said in order to be successful as an artist you must branch out past the confines of the art world to gain real-world experience — something that the liberal arts program at USM possesses over going to an art school.
“To study art really intensively is great for somethings, But I don’t think it works in terms of going out and being able to make your art about issues,” he said. “I really value my accounting classes; they helped me learn another skill and grounded me a bit as to where art fits in the world.”
Levesque also believes that preparing students for the transition from being a student to a working artist is an area that USM could improve to benefit students. “The idea of being an artist is very much in line with being a business owner,” he said. “Giving artists the tools to make art is one thing, but giving artists the tools to make a business is another thing entirely.”
Despite his success with “twenty-four/seven” Levesque is always looking ahead as an artist. Currently he working on multiple collage projects utilizing vintage gay pornography and has expanded “twenty-four/seven” to cover a larger span of time. “I can’t really imagine not doing it. It is important for me to keep doing it in order to maintain sanity,” said Levesque on making art. “So even if the work isn’t that good, it is important to keep doing and is very therapeutic as a process.”
This guy is a dick