FLIP THE SWITCH: Part II of "What is an Artist?"
I am reminded of the time I went to the inauguration of Omen’s mural All it Takes is a Little Heart in Ville St-Laurent, in the fall of 2014. He addressed the press and city officials with a smile, “Remember when you used to call the cops on me? Now you pay me to paint walls.” This is Omen. He is larger than life.
After reading Sarah Thornton’s 33 Artists in 3 Acts dissection of the question What is an artist?, I sought answers from the artists represented by Station 16 Gallery. Omen was one of the first artists to whom I reached out. He is in Panama painting at the moment and posted his definition through social media: “Artists are people who take you through the world and lend you their eyes. It is more a burden than a technique. The artist has to be both egotistical and sensitive enough to want to convey this vision to the rest of the world.” These words were greeted with much enthusiasm, as is most of what Omen publishes. Fans and friends added comments: “The artist must make things in order to achieve this since what they see is often not yet named or explained in words.” “What we do as artists is a service to humanity,” chimed in another.
