Jacqueline de Montaigne

I had the pleasure of interviewing Portugal-based muralist and artist Jacqueline de Montaigne, who shares about the evolution of her work and how she transitioned from small to large-scale works, as well as her exciting plans for the near future.

Tell me about your background.

Art has always been present; my love of art, fascination with artists; how, but more importantly why, they created their art. All I wanted to do was draw when I was a child, ignoring any toys I was given unless I could somehow paint on them. Both my grandfathers were artists in very different fields but it was by spending time with my mother's father, a botanical painter, that I really got the artist's bug. My other grandfather was a BAFTA winning art director in the film industry.

I live and work in Cascais which is a small town on the coast, about 20 minutes west of our capital, Lisbon. I have also lived, studied and worked in the US, England, Scotland and the Philippines, but Portugal has always been my base.

Do you enjoy being a self-taught artist? Is there part of you that wishes you had studied art formally?

There are days when I wonder where I might be now if I had had this drive, focus and inspiration at 18 and I had gone to art college then, but I wouldn’t change anything as I love the freedom of not having been 'formally' taught. I did look at Central St Martins and Belas Artes (our equivalent) with my parents when I was 18, but I was still too busy rebelling and causing havoc.

There is the occasional material hiccup, which I am sure would have been avoided with an art degree, but many of those hiccups have led to some of my more recognised work.

***Guardian Rebel nº4 Mother Nature, pasteup by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

You're known for your paste ups and murals. Have you always worked on a large scale?

No, not at all. I only painted my first mural at the age of 36.

A few years ago, Portugal was going to build refugee camps in the south and I was representing an international human rights NGO (IBFAN) here at the time, so I thought we could paint informative murals for safe and optimal infant and paediatric nutrition in the camps which is an area IBFAN is a global specialist in. I had seen this done in Haiti on the outside walls of hospitals after the 2010 earthquake and I knew language would be a barrier between the Portuguese and refugees and images, as we know, speak much louder and often clearer than words. I contacted a prominent street art curator here to help with the project, however, the camps were never built but she did invite me to paint my first mural in Lisbon for a project called Muraliza and the rest as they say, is history!

Soon after I started to get commissions for murals, but they can be very demanding time-wise to do paste ups and my large paintings were often a way around having to work away from home for long periods of time as I am a single mum.

Can you explain what a paste up is.

A (street art) pasteup is an image or text on paper that you stick to a wall or surface and generally in public, a paper (less invasive) version of graffiti. Paste ups vary as some are printed, photocopies or in my case, hand painted. They also vary in size a lot; my first pasteups were tiny solo birds, but the last pasteup installation I did was over 40m2.

***Ornithology Addict nº119, artwork by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

What ideas are you exploring in your work?

Introspection in some shape or form, as my work is nearly always autobiographical to a certain degree. I do this through secondary texts and images or through the visual identity of my figures who are a manifesto and celebration of nonconformity, going against stereotypes and stigmas.

For example, my figures are mostly androgynous as I am fascinated with society’s need to compartmentalise gender and I love to confuse the viewer with this. My father never let me cut my hair short when I was young, saying I would look like a boy and this has resulted in non binary figures featuring a lot in my work. I am objective when it comes to beauty and wish others would be too.

On a more socially motivated front, I am also exploring and bringing awareness to mental health.

Birds are a recurring motif in your work - what draws you back to this subject?

Painting birds always brings me a sense of calm, a contrast to my figurative work which can be quite dramatic and a bit dark on various levels.

They are more of a hobby to be honest, as I have painted animals since I was a child. My childhood was quite tough when my biological father was still present, and I would take refuge in studying and drawing animals. Now I paint them to relax and shut off from work. But somewhere in the last twoyears, they have become quite popular and sell out quickly which has been great as it’s given me some (financial) freedom to focus on my more figurative work. I think they will always be present in my art, especially swallows with their strong link to Portugal, but it is not what I want to be known for, so I have to be careful with that and make sure there is a balance.

Can you share about your artistic process?

I constantly take photos and screenshots of my subjects, random people or things that inspire me. I work from physical images or objects, using them to construct my paintings like puzzles. I also carry a small sketchbook with me all the time where I plan out my work, draw and document ideas.

I have the attention span of a goldfish and get bored very easily, so I can be working on anything from two to ten artworks at any given time.

***Ciaran, artwork by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

Can you talk a bit about the evolution of your practice and your work?

I have always painted, exhibited and sold my work here and there since the age of about 13, but I was really lacking artistic identity, drive and conviction. At the time, I saw it more as a ‘paid hobby’ than a career.

I was not confident painting what I truly wanted, instead falling into a commercial art trap, painting modern abstract from when I was 20 - 30. That was ok, but not fulfilling.

I then dropped professional art all together, disappearing to study health sciences and medical ethics when my youngest son was born. In the eight years I took off from painting, my new line of work reached some of the highest international platforms in the world such as the UN and WHO and is officially being used for policy development in Portugal. This has all been incredibly rewarding and empowering, and has given me the confidence that I had previously been lacking in my art, in everything really. What I learnt and achieved during this period greatly influenced and changed my life and I have become very outspoken and passionate about using art for social change or bringing awareness to stigmatised subjects. I am an activist through and through and am always searching for parallels in art and activism.

My art has since been used around the world by the same NGO that I represented as well as to linked organisations, not only to promote human rights and change, but to ensure that these campaigns are free from commercial influence and conflicts of interest when promoted to the public.

***Ciaran (detail), artwork by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

2020 meant a number of your projects were postponed. How did you adapt to the curveballs that 2020 threw your way?

I cried for a few days thinking the (art) world as we knew it had ended. It was heartbreaking as I felt that I was only now really getting started. Fifteen out of eighteen shows as well as an art fair in London that I was participating in were postponed or cancelled.

It was a blessing in disguise though as I’ve had time to follow up on galleries that have shown interest in my work or to link to new ones like Landmark street art gallery in Cumbria and the Ben Oakley gallery in London. I launched my first limited edition print in the UK with Landmark and they have also just sold out an original series of my birds. Ben Oakley invited me to exhibit in his December group show in London which has led to other projects with him. I had time to connect and network with quite a few other artists abroad which has led to future collaborations and shows.

I did a podcast with Gary Mansfield for The Ministry of Arts which was exciting. I discovered The Curators salon in one of his podcasts and through you, ArtCan, which has since accepted me as a member artist.

I also took the time to produce and send out my first catalogue with 28 originals (from cancelled shows) on the 1st of December to try to make up for 2020's lost earnings and it sold out which was a massive boost. It’s been a very hard year for me emotionally, but professionally it’s been rewarding.

Which artists do you look to for inspiration?

Tracy Emin had a huge impact on me after I saw her work at the Tate in 1999 for the Turner prize. Her raw autobiographical artworks that take unfiltered experiences and traumas, turning them into painfully honest, sometimes grotesque, but at the same time beautiful artworks, is simply unparalleled. I love Peter Lindbergh’s celebration of androgyny and Paula Rego and Swoon’s story telling and activism. I was also influenced and inspired by the whole moody grunge and punk scenes with the Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.

***Mother as Nature, artwork by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

What is your studio like?

Organised, spotless and full of books. An entire wall is sliding glass windows from floor to ceiling with pine trees outside which block any direct sun so the lighting is perfect for watercolours which is my main medium. I have the Atlantic Ocean a 10 minute walk away on one side and the Sintra hills on the other so I can’t complain.

What is the most memorable thing someone has said about your work?

I still get blown away when random strangers write to me about my work or to tell me they bought something of mine from a gallery or saw a public mural of mine because imposter syndrome still creeps in from time to time.

What are you working on now or working towards?

It is a busy year ahead which is amazing. I am currently focusing on meeting deadlines for a few collectives shows in both Lisbon and London. The first is here and is called 'Change' which will be with ten international female artists for a new project called Culture Matters, then a collective show of international street artists with a Brazilian gallery and then the ArtCan opens 'TRANS | FORM' in London.

***Boys Shouldn’t Cry, artwork by Jacqueline de Montaigne***

There's a possible solo in Lisbon in June or November but it is still being discussed with the gallery as everything has been moved about due to the pandemic. In September/October I will be exhibiting and painting my first public mural in London with the Ben Oakley gallery and that will be a two-man-show along with ATM, a British street artist. There is a mural in Cumbria with Landmark Street art gallery being discussed and also a few mental health awareness murals here, funding permitting.

And somewhere in-between all that, I will keep busy with my commissions and my paste ups to keep the (calmer) but ever-present rebel in me happy.

You can follow Jacqueline on Instagram @jdemontaigne.