Camille LaMontagne: Changing the Face of Art and Identity

Artist: Camille LaMontagne

Photography by: Graham Meyer

When we think of Fashion it's easy to overlook the work of A Make-Up Artist. In some cases that is precisely the point. The Clothes are the focus, unless you are watching a John Galliano production that is. His work is pure theater, high Art Fashion at it's best. Camille LaMontagne is a fan of Galliano's work and has plans to make her own mark on Fashion runways around the world.

As you can see she explores "Identity" through Illustration, Make-Up, Sculpture and Modeling. Camille is also an accomplished Portrait Artist working in Oil and has won numerous competitions for her work over the years.

She admires the Art work of Nathan Deyoung, Levi Van Veluw, Cindy Sherman and her Father, Paul LaMontagne who is a retired Commercial Artist.

When Camille talks about her work as a Make-Up Artist, her face lights up like a Solar Panel. Her Vision and energy is refreshing and so is her work. The black and white photograph of two Women in knitted headscarves speaks to her complex creative abilities. It stopped me in my tracks when I spotted it on display at 515 in Royal Oak. I will be adding a copy of this photograph to my collection in the near future. It has the quiet impact of a hundred secrets waiting to be told.

The face sculpture made of tissue paper required creative engineering and a lot of patience to produce. It's clever and intriguing. The same is true of the dotted self-portrait project. Her black and white illustration book is a study in transition. Camille modeled for the full body black and white shot and altered the image to create an eclectic visual story.

Author Leonard Koren, wrote "Beauty is an altered state of consciousness, an extraordinary moment of poetry and grace." Camille works in this realm fluidly and with boundless passion.

Keep an eye out for her work in galleries, runways and in print as she further explores the Art of Identity, Make-Up and Fashion Illustration.

Camille can be contacted at cla@collegeforcreativestudies.edu