ROCHON
My name is Louie Rochon. I am an Artist. That is WHAT I do, but WHY I do it is far more important!
I've been involved in many creative pursuits over my lifetime. Graphics and imaging, water color painting, life-sized papier mache sculpture, fine art photography, luxury home design, interior decoration and cooking, to name a few. Why? Because I HAVE TO! Creating - finding a way to express myself - is literally life or death for me. Challenged with Bipolar Disorder, I am prone to long cycles of intense manic periods and seemingly hopeless, endless cycles of deep, dark depression. Art allows me a means of reducing the extremes of these cycles, making life far more interesting and productive.
My last art medium was Fine Art Macro Photography, which I enjoyed for a decade (from 2005 - 2015). The work was very popular and successful but lacked ‘something.’ Some of my work is displayed within the website. It took me many years with my cameras before they became extensions of my arms, and the lenses, my eyes.
Flowers have always intrigued me, and still do. I developed a style using extreme macro photography utilizing single source back lighting and very long exposures. I captured the essence of a flower, as I could literally capture light 'through' them. As hard as I tried, however - the deeper, more macro and abstract my work became in my efforts to express my inner self - I could not.
Photography wasn't fulfilling and I was becoming increasingly withdrawn and depressed in late 2014, thinking I would be locked inside my head forever, as there would be no artistic means of fully expressing myself. I’d painted watercolor on and off for years, always, in my mind, ‘copying’ a reflection of the world around me and painting it onto paper. At best, I could improve my style so my reflections would look as good or better than other painters. I’d always been discouraged and never fulfilled, and quit countless times. I'd given up on traditional painting.
I decided to try acrylics and began the journey to the inner world of abstract and impressionist art. It was a miraculous revelation to me. How could I have missed this glorious new medium where I could start with nothing but my thoughts and emotions - similar to a writer - mixed with what I am influenced by from the outside and record it on canvas?. I was finally set free; a voice.
My paintings may be bright, joyous and filled with bold vivid color - or perhaps dark, foreboding and troubled. Either way, they are always 100% honest, as they reflect my current state of mind. Each painting is literally a small part of my life, a sliver of me at that time of my life. I live to create.