October 01, 2019Artists

Interview with Artist Claudie Lamarre

So, tell us a little about yourself and your creations:

My name is Claudie and I am a 24 years old female artist and surfer from Montreal, Canada.

My ideas are around themes that reflect my lifestyle and my interests; surfing, skateboarding, traveling and road-tripping. And I also draw a lot of naked bodies.

Her Waves Art by Out of the

What inspires the art that you create?

My style is minimalist while my approach is sometimes curious, controversial or provocative. Throughout, a style that is pure, simple and light, I try to share my views on subjects and modern issues such as sexuality, feminism, equality, environment, consumption, social media, international culture, politics, socialism and many more.

Sometimes, my intention is to create a sweet visual while other times, I want to defend an idea based on a situation that shocks and provokes me. I think the fusion between these two objectives is establishing a good balance and allows a bigger community to flourish around my art. In fact, my mission is to charm the observer, by the beauty, the creativity and the finesse of the style while confronting the human mind.

Tell us about your brand Out of the

I started Out of the in the spring of 2018. Before that, I was always very shy and discreet about my work; I thought what I was doing was useless. I was consuming so much art on Instagram and Tumblr when I realized that I could also try to reach and touch people with my own work. I started to share my art under the name Out of the as I wanted my art to be more collective and less connected to my personal life - even if it is. The goal of this micro- business is to create a sense of community with people who share the same "vibe", culture and lifestyle. These values are all shared throughout different types of arts and design.

The name Out of the was born from the expression “out of the box” due to the fact that I always felt a bit like an outsider. However, I didn’t want to put the term itself in a box, as I want my art to be free and have a unique significance for everyone. The educational system made me realise that I was constantly trying to break the limits and get around the rules. I was never able to respect the classic process and methods of school which made it hard for me and gave me a lot of difficulties. For a long time, I felt that I sucked until I realized that I was just always challenging everything and that could also be another form of intelligence.

Her Waves surf artist interview Claudie Her Waves We Can Surf It

What is the biggest challenge you face as an artist/entrepreneur?

I realized how lonely this path is. As an artist, I really need my space in order to be able to create and as an entrepreneur, I need to be working almost 24/7. So, since the beginning of Out of the, I am becoming a kind of a lone wolf. Also, my circle of people diminished a lot since I am doing this full time. This brand made me realize who were the people who really supported me and who were the ones that wanted to benefit from me. It’s also a lonely world because I don’t know a lot of people who have this lifestyle and understand it. My friends are mostly professionals in law, finance, and health care while I am drawing titties…

As well, people don’t know that I am working 70 hours a week and that I can make money from my designs. They mostly think I am free from responsibilities because I am not doing the classic 9am to 5pm job - but in fact, I am doing 8am to 11pm. In my case, I don’t have a constant payroll check or money coming in my bank account every Thursday. So if I am not working or if I am sick, nobody will get my back. I've realized how much of a hard-worker and a risk taker you need to be in order to succeed as a freelancer.

Her Waves artist interview Out of the

What have you learned that you would love to share with others starting their artistic journey?

You have to realize your value real quick in this game. As an artist, so many people think that they can pay you with “visibility” or by crediting your work properly as they are going to use it and sell it. The worst mistake that I made was to accept to work for visibility - aka for free. This just brings up more contracts without any money which is kind of reducing for the profession of artists. We have a value and a price just like anyone else who has a formation, equipment to pay or a talent. More likes and followers won’t pay for your food and house.

Artist Claudie Lamarre out of the

How long have you been surfing and what does surfing mean to you?

I have been surfing 6 years now. It’s a love/hate relationship as I am passionately in love with surf but, damn it, I am such a kook. As a little girl, my dream was to be an international surfer. In Montreal, we do have river surfing on the Saint-Laurent, which I enjoy it sometimes but I prefer the spirit of ocean surfing. Many times a year, I drive to the nearest surf spot from my town, which is a 5 hour road trip in New Hampshire, in order to ride the choppy waves of the east coast. I've traveled a lot but I've never had the chance to do a surf trip yet. I am dreaming of practicing every day on some left waves in clear water without my full wetsuit on. I am drawing/working hard on it!