“For me, punk is about real feelings. It’s not about, ‘Yeah, I am a punk and I’m angry.’ That’s a lot of crap. It’s about loving the things that really matter: passion, heart, and soul.”
— Joey Ramone
As we all find ourselves sequestered away into our individual corners of the world due to the Coronavirus quarantine; for many of us, our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds are the lens through which we’re seeing the rest of the world; the ‘airwaves’ through which we’re receiving our news; and the conduit by which we’re staying connected to others.
As such, for my next artist interview, I thought it might be fitting to reach out to Dennis Poirier — a painter who lives near me in Southern Maine, and one who I’ve often seen at work in Perkins Cove in Ogunquit; but he’s also someone, for whatever reason, whose work and personality I’ve mostly come to know through his Facebook feed. Such is the rushed and fast-paced era we live in, where we develop digital communities with groups of people we’ve often barely met in real life.
Who is Dennis Poirier?
Poirier is an artist who brings his own color to the Seacoast scene. He’s passionate about working from life and natural light. He’s real. He’s edgy. He’s refreshingly honest. “This whole ‘en plein air’ thing bugs me,” he states. “I’ve been doing it my whole life, we just call it painting outside.”
Poirier is equal parts authentic NYC punk rocker, old school Cape Ann/Gloucester marine painter, and Native American warrior; and his paintings invite you into them with their hiss and seethe of coastline effervescence, relentless power chord energy, and glowing hues on the canvas that mesmerize with their unusual luminosity.
My Conversation with Dennis Poirier
Hello, Dennis. You know, you’re one of the artists I’ve been in proximity to a million times; usually when I’m out taking photos down in Perkins Cove, and I’ll see you painting, or when Todd Bonita has an opening down at his Cove Gallery — but somehow we’ve never talked; at least not outside of Facebook. Why don’t we start with you giving my readers a little bit of your back story?
My background is my start in Gloucester, MA and my first school was the Boston Butera School of Art in 1973, and part of 1974. Then I turned to John C. Terelak in Rockport, MA on the advice of Don Stone.
I was the first student of the Gloucester Academy of Fine Art in 1976. Then, I left to go to the Art Students League in 1978, right after the big blizzard. Over there I studied with several teachers but the one who really had the most impact on me was David Leffel. In fact Don Stone, who lived right down the street from me, and David Leffel are – and were – the biggest influences on me as a teacher and painter to this day.
As to the type of work I’m known for, it’s marines and boats, I guess. Gloucester tends to do that to you; but I love to draw and paint everything.
So, how normally choose your subjects? What makes you pick up the brush and say, ‘I have to paint.’
It’s always the light, then the subject — but definitely the light first. If I see a woman’s face, or a barn, or a vase, and it has the right light on it, then I’m good to go.
And what are you working on these days? Anything new with regards to processes, materials, or themes?
I’ve been working with some egg tempera here and there. It’s a really great medium. And I’ve been doing lots of drawing. I always tell my students, you can’t get enough of drawing.
Some new themes I’ve been exploring are my Viking and Celtic influenced small works and portraits. My beautiful friend, Laura, inspired those. I’m hoping to see her pose for me one day in my studio and outdoors, when this pandemic ends for us all. She’s my muse, I would say, like many artists have had.
Speaking of other artists, what types of work were exposed to when you were younger that had an impact on your life or your work. What were some of the forces that set you down the path towards the painting life?
Comic books and the art of Frank Frazetta were pretty big for me when I was young. Then later on, it was Wyeths – all of them. Also Don Stone and many of the other Cape Ann greats; especially Paul Strisik and Tom Nicholas. After that, it was Rembrandt, Velazquez, Sargent, Sorrolla, Zorn, and so many more. I also really love the Group of Seven, the Canadian artists.
I’m French Canadian, as well as a bit of Mi’kmaq…First Nation Native American from Prince Edward Island.
My dad was very good at drawing, and he taught me from very young to practice. My parents always encouraged me. My mom used to buy me rolls of canvas for my birthday!
You obviously have a lot of that Cape Ann / Gloucester legacy running through you, but you live in Maine now, and have for some time. How has the great state of Maine influenced your work?
Maine is my favorite, because I’ll never run out of subject matter. I moved here back in 1982 — and originally I rented in Ogunquit. I really love Maine and I’m happy to call it home now. My old house in North Berwick is great too; and I love my new studio in my old barn.
I mentioned earlier that I really came to know your work, along with your uncommonly excellent taste in music — Ramones, Sisters of Mercy, New York Dolls, Fields of the Nephilim, Bauhaus, and so on — on Facebook. And it feels like most of us in the Maine art realm these days tend to see each other more often online than in person. Has social media played any kind of a role in the advancement of your art career?
Yeah, Facebook and Instagram are good for getting my work out there and have led to a few sales and some new students. So yes, it’s worth the time I put into it, I guess. I’m someone who posts pretty often, so people see I’m working… which I am every day!
If you could go back to the beginning of your journey as an artist – what is the one piece of advice you’d give your former self?
I would do it all the same, but maybe one more year in NYC would have been good! In my 20’s, I was in NYC and that was a blast. I lived just a block or two away from CBGB’s — and everyone knows how that influenced my musical tastes! Ha,ha! But I discovered the Ramones and the punk rock stuff really changed the way I thought. The heightened creativity they were embracing, taking risks and taking chances, that was something I wanted to do with my art. I had so many great adventures in NYC. It’s so sad to see what is going on now with this Coronavirus pandemic.
Definitely sad to see that. Scary. And it’s happening everywhere. These are some strange days. The only good thing I’ve seen coming out of this whole crisis is the way so many artists and creative-minded friends of mine are using the social distancing time to make new work. And they’re sharing a lot of that work online. Those types of social media posts are some of the few bright spots in the otherwise endless cycle of bad breaking news we’re all dealing with. Tell me, are there any other artists from the region who are making work that speaks to you – painters we should check out while we wait for this COVID-19 storm to pass?
Oh yeah. Todd Bonita, Tom Hughes, Stan Moeller, the Lussiers, and many others. Lots of great artists around. And I’m glad to be friends with them too.
So, where can my friends and readers see (and purchase) more of your work?
At Todd Bonita’s Galleries, both in Perkins Cove and in Portsmouth, Wright Gallery in Cape Porpoise, and Roux and Cyr in Portland. I’m also a member of North Shore Arts in Gloucester and Rockport Arts Association in Rockport, MA. You can also visit my website at: dennispoirierstudio.com
Thanks again, Dennis, for taking the time to share your story today. Is there anything else I should know before we wrap this up?
Not unless you want to talk about music but we would be here all day right? Ha,ha!
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Click ‘PLAY below to hear Dennis Poirier in his own words on the ‘Artists of New England‘ podcast.
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[…] Alastair Dacey. Joseph B. Davol. George Carpenter. Don Stone. Daniel J. Corey. Peter Bela Mayer. Dennis Poirier. Janet Ledoux. Charles Edwin Lewis Green. William Burpee. Madeleine Hopkins. Emile Albert Gruppé. […]
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