Artful Vision | Jeremy Boleyn

"Visions don't change, they are only refined." -John C. Maxwell

Self-discovery: a process so often spoken of, but so many power through their years of “discovery” only to resign themselves to a life of creative disappointment. Others will develop and embrace a vision guiding them through life’s challenges. Is there ever an epiphany? A moment of clarity after all the hard work? Artful Vision is all about that moment. More than a mere spotlight on talent, this column focuses on the moments of inspiration which came when the world provided little help but in spite of hardship, artists found their vision.

It wasn't long ago that New Brunswick-native Jeremy Boleyn was like many: an unmotivated college student in Quebec City, floating between programs, only to find himself drawing in class rather than actively listening. Despite years of repeatedly being told the streets would await him if he was to pursue an artistic career, he decided to quit school and started drawing for tattoo artists with whom he was  socially connected. But the combination of low income with loads of partying had Boleyn feeling static in every way. Just how hard would it be to get out there, to live a life which concentrated on art? "I was going to put that to the test,” he tells me. "I left the city because I couldn't take it anymore and hitchhiked my way out of there."

The level of risk in this move was the key to the reward. As an artist on the road, in a hit-or-miss start of a career, Boleyn gained needed perspective – on life and on art. Uplifting encounters brought his confidence level up enough to get him to where he was going, without knowing where he would end up. "Being on the road was the point when I felt like I was sticking it to the man", he proudly relates.  Arriving in Toronto, Boleyn found the city tough-going to say the least: his apprenticeship only paid a meagre amount, forcing him to live in a youth shelter. But this was a point of affirmation for him: he realised he could do what he wanted for a living. That he could draw, make money and survive, and that that was enough.

A move to Montreal in 2012 may have inspired the later stylistic shift which illustrates much darker thematic concerns, and imagery of sadness, disappointment and failure. He asks, "Why can't I just try to do something very different that might fail, but that might also catch the eye of somebody else?" This is a cathartic, regenerative Boleyn. Not just in tattoo-inspired drawings, but in tattoo design and now large-scale murals, his work speaks of liberation, personal and present. He seeks rawness and authenticity not only by the use of hardship and rejection, but also in risk-taking. His creative path could surely leave footprints all over the world.

Jeremy Boleyn, resident artist at Tattoo Lounge in Montreal, for this week's Artful Vision.

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