Paintings & an Interview: Serge Lecomte
Those were the days; Walking on water without making a splash; Counterpoint; Icarus plucked
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
WALKING ON WATER WITHOUT MAKING A SPLASH
COUNTERPOINT
ICARUS PLUCKED
(JK): Serge, Thank you for sharing your work with us. Can you tell us who or what inspires you?Serge Lecomte (SL): Everything in the world inspires me, but I am particularly drawn to all the creatures in the natural world. I especially love insects, fish, birds, orcas and other-worldly creatures. Painters and writers have influenced me since I was a child. I have always loved the surrealists and Dadaists. I like distortions, twists, and new ways of looking at things.
JK: How do you know when a piece is complete?
SL: I have a problem telling when a painting is complete. I still have a tendency to fill up the canvas if there is a white space. Now I pull back and leave space. This allows the image to come out instead of drowning in details. Although there is nothing wrong with filling up the canvas either. Depending on what you're trying tro accomplish. Just leave it to intuition and put the brush down, let the paint dry and see if you want to change anything.
JK: Is there a story behind any of these pieces you'd like to share with us?
SL: “Icarus Plucked" and "Those were the days" have an environmental message. The bird population is declining every year due to climate change, poisons, lakes drying up, and the fish are endangered because the water temperature is rising in lakes, rivers, and oceans.
JK: What are you working on now?
SL: I never know what I will work on. I usually get hit by ideas. I write them down and think about them, but not every idea makes a good painting. But once I get up, take a 20 km ride on my bike, sit by the ocean and come back home, a painting is born in my head. But once I work it on canvas, changes will take place with or without my control. Surprises are always welcome.
About the artist: Serge Lecomte was born in Belgium. He came to the States where he spent his teens in South Philly and then Brooklyn. After graduating from Tilden H. S. he joined the Medical Corps in the Air Force. He earned an MA and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Russian Literature with a minor in French Literature. He worked as a Green Beret language instructor at Fort Bragg, NC from 1975-78. In 1988 he received a B.A. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spanish Literature. He worked as a language teacher at the University of Alaska (1978-1997). He worked as a house builder, pipe-fitter, orderly in a hospital, gardener, landscaper, driller for an assaying company, and bartender.