— The featured artist of the 55th issue of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine is London-based AWAKE artist Marius Els. It’s an honor to share my interview with Marius here on Quill and Camera . . .
Q: What was it that got you started in digital photo artistry?
I had a lot of creative energy from an early age — which was reflected in my messy bedroom, covered with paper, paint, and drawing projects. I started training in classical ballet from the age of 6, with the wonderful support from my parents, which helped to channel my creative energy. However when my career as a dancer ended in my late thirties I lost that outlet for my creativity …
At this point I was encouraged by a friend to take up photography, as I was always snapping away, and I enrolled in an online course with the Photography Institute, specializing in portrait photography. I enjoyed this avenue of photography (and still do) but it didn’t particularly satisfy my overactive imagination.
I became more and more fascinated with photo manipulation and photo artistry and was impressed by the technical skill, emotional range, and variety of subjects that could be explored through surrealism, collage, mixed media, and abstract or fantasy art. And all of this was within reach through digital artistry.
It didn’t take long for me to begin seeing the possibilities of expressing my creativity and sharing the world of my imagination with a wider audience through this new intersection of art and technology.
My next step was an introduction to Photoshop course with the local college, and then in 2018 I enrolled in the brilliant Photoshop Artistry Course with Sebastian Michaels, and then joined the all inspiring AWAKE group in 2019.
Q: What is it you feel most inspires your work?
A huge part of what inspires and drives me is researching artists and subjects that interest me at the time. I believe that just about everything has been done before, but through an artist’s unique life experience and perceptions, combined with all the rich possibilities inherent in the new technology available to us, we can transform an old idea into something brand new.
One of my favourite pastimes is to take my camera and visit the galleries and museums of London, finding inspiration in the creativity, details, and craftsmanship of all the wonderful artists through the ages. The inspiration in these old buildings, sculptures, and paintings — it’s endless. And it doesn’t matter how many times I return, there is always something new to discover and explore.
I am mostly drawn towards the old, the nostalgic, and the fantastic for inspiration. But I always try to keep an open mind to keep things fresh. We are forever changing and evolving, and something that might not have inspired me yesterday might inspire me today.
Q: What does living an artistic life mean for you?
Living an artistic life means that I have accepted and am embracing my creativity and destiny. To pursue this path daily is a necessity for me to live with authenticity. My happiness is very much dependent on my creative expression, which is more important than anyone’s opinion (positive, negative, or otherwise) about my art work. Living this life also means I can share my art with likeminded people who understand and support me, and vice versa. Living a creative, artistic life has never really felt optional for me — it’s who I am — but embracing that life 100% takes it to a whole new level.
Q: What do you feel most influences the way you think and work as an artist?
In a broad sense there are three things that come to mind that influence my approach or creative process — my keen awareness of the visual world around me as it is, my capacity to draw on my life experiences, and then the unique way I express myself as I bring it all together.
I think artists have the ability to see the world around them through a frame, mentally photographing ideas and in an instant, then storing the images in their creative memory bank from which they draw inspiration for their next project.
Seeing colour a little differently than someone else, being unusually aware of the character or intensity of light, or experiencing energy and emotion on a different level — this unique perception will often determine my approach and differentiate my style from other artists. Which is all the more reason to stay true to oneself.
And then of course my life experience is going to set me apart from the artist next to me. Being honest and open to myself (however good or bad a memory or experience) is going to influence the creative process. And with age I am becoming more aware of our unique perceptions based on cultural backgrounds and our varied life experiences. This finds its way into our art. As a result, I find my own experiences often coming to inspire something wonderful I can then pursue creatively and feel proud of.
Q: What do you see as your next step? Where do you go from here?
As my confidence and resilience as an artist grows, my next steps are to become more proactive in exploring getting my work in galleries, staging exhibitions, and entering competitions. From the 29th of October, three of my compositions will be exhibited in the London Espacio Gallery with the London Gay Photographers Network — “Looking the Other Way 2” — which I am very excited about. I am also currently working on my website, updating and adding shops to sell prints, as well as learning about book cover design, as I think that could be an interesting avenue to explore.
.
Be sure to view an extensive array of stunning works by Marius Els (and even purchase prints) on our portfolio site here: https://artboja.com/art/zoygff/