Vital Germaine
“Our conversation focused on art, but at times Germaine sounded like he was describing the trapeze, swinging from ridged precision to free-form expression, back and forth, ultimately balancing out the two extremes.”
— Sandra Botnen, curator
“Spontaneity is scary. Every time I communicate something, I risk ruining the composition of what I already created. I have to relinquish control. But in the end, I think it is my most authentic expression”
“No restrictions. No rules,” he says. That is how Vital Germaine describes his approach to the canvass. Turqouise, red, black, and white dominate recent works, and a YouTube video titled, When an artist says, TOO MUCH, walks viewers through his process, from color choice to end result. More importantly, what Germaine does in his video is reminds us of the simple, yet fundamental practice of transforming negative emotions. In response to the insurrection of the US Capitol on January 6th, and racism in general, Germaine stands on a ladder, pours, throws and then smears paint on a canvas.
“It’s messy but it is not a mess,” he says. In many ways his art practice is a counter point to the rest of his life which is very orderly and scheduled. In addition to being an artist Vital is a public speaker, author and performance coach. He is also a former Cirque du Soleil acrobat, featured in the bungee-trapeze act in the Las Vegas production of Mystere, until an injury ended his career..
Bubble letters spell LOVE across one of his paintings. The letters can look a bit like a Cirque du Soleil poster for the Beatles show also titled LOVE. Germaine agrees but he explains the lettering is also nostalgic look back on how he used to doodle as a kid, imitating the groovy style of the 60’s and 70’s.
“I didn’t do it by design,” he says. “I came to my style of painting after years of studying, practicing and learning art.” Our conversation focused on art, but at times Germaine sounded like he was describing the trapeze, swinging from ridged precision to free-form expression, back and forth, ultimately balancing out the two extremes. What remains constant though… the element of risk..
“Spontaneity is scary. Every time I communicate something, I risk ruining the composition of what I already created. I have to relinquish control. But in the end, I think it is my most authentic expression” he says. While speaking of freedom, Vital Germaine describes how thought and intention also enter the work. “It is not all random,” he says. Working in the moment, there is still a certain composition he tries to achieve. Composition sounds like the final frontier of formalism. Visceral swings of thought, mood, and emotion do have to resolve themselves in a coherent, balanced, digestible artwork. “Marketable too,” he adds, “I do think about what I can sell.”
Finally, Artist’s selling art brings us to what is often the most confounding aspect of the art world. Paintings by abstract expressionists recognized in the historical canon go at auction for prices in the range of one hundred million dollars. But this style of contemporary abstraction is so popular there is another end to the spectrums. Large 3-D printed canvasses (I prefer to call them wall décor than paintings) are sold at Restoration Hardware and priced anywhere between one and four thousand dollars. So where does an artist like Vital Germaine fit in?
“It is about authenticity,” says Germaine. The artist has to determine for himself each time he approaches the canvas whether what he is doing is honest. After that, it’s up to the audience to connect with the work and feel what they see. “Ultimately, on some level, the artist and buyer have to agree on what is real and true for them,” he says. That is when an artwork sells.