The iconic image of the suffering artist, the troubled character who is in pain (physical, mental or both) because of his/her creative demon, is strong and deeply rooted in our minds. But, luckily, there’re people like Jean-Marc Calvet, whose personal story is exactly the opposite.
Calvet’s story is a tale of ailing through arts: the path of a man who put an end to his suffering pursuing and cultivating his ability as a painter. His life has been adventurous – to say the least – and he has been a shady cop, an underworld bodyguard, a wanted fugitive, a nightclub impresario and, of course, an out-of-control drug addict: all this led him to hit the bottom of the barrel.
Ten years ago he had an epiphany in his villa, in Nicaragua, after three months of reclusion with a big load of cocaine, heroin, crack and alcohol. Death was knocking at his door and Calvet discovered painting. He discovered it in the form of some paint cans under the stairs, which he began cathartically flinging at the walls. “All my hate came out,” he says. “It was like I was vomiting non-stop… I saw what was disturbing me inside. In fact, no. I saw what was killing me“.
Today, Calvet is a world recognized artist, whose paintings sell for up to $50,000. His style progressed from the early abstract expressionist “vomitings”, to Basquiat-like graffiti, to his own distinctive mark. His paintings, now, combine primal graphics with intricate levels of detail: an incredible mix of Keith Haring and Hieronymous Bosch.
As Calvet explains, through painting he rediscovered the “real” him, as opposed to the negative incarnation he had been living as. “I didn’t kill that part of me,” he says, “but I stopped fighting him. I sat in front of him and I said, ‘OK, I don’t fight any more with you because I cannot win. Now I use painting to know you and to understand why you are here.’ I use him, but now he doesn’t control me. I use my defects to make something positive. The bad becomes good. Maybe anyone can do this, I don’t know“.
Calvet’s story has been portrayed in a documentary simply called Calvet, by English director Dominic Allan.
