BY AMY ROSE HARTE
EVERY once in a while, you challenge yourself to do something new.
More often than not, the notion fades as quickly as it materialises. But for some, the challenge leads them on a path of unprecedented self-discovery, in which they begin to carve themselves out their own creative niche.
Colin Montgomery from Gartan has certainly discovered his niche. Although he took his time unleashing it, he is now expressing himself in an overflowing and irresistable tide of colour, light, power and perfect artistic harmony. If you had told Colin 18 months ago that he would be exhibiting his own art collection in April 2007, he wouldn't have believed you. Better still, he wouldn't have cared. The 20 year-old had never expressed any interest whatsoever in art and spent most of his time channelling his energies into drumming for a local band.
In 2005, Colin began exploring his capabilities at Create-A-Link Arts Studio in Letterkenny, which provides a creative space for artists and allows them to express themselves in a communal setting with their peers. A painting module he undertook there one year ago ignited a remarkable creativity in Colin, who began to produce some startling results.
"It was somethng I chose to do and that's what came out of it. What came out of it wasn't what I expected, I thought maybe it would be just a good challenge to overcome and maybe a bit of closure, but what came out was the start of something new," he said.
That 'something new' is Colin's first art exhibition, which is being launched in Cafe Blend tonight (Thursday). 'Big shots and little tots' is an edgy, contemporary collection of Hollywood shadow portraits including greats such as John Travolta, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy.
Colin is inspired by the likes of Andy Warhol, who, like Colin, believed that part of defining a niche was defining his subject matter.
"It's the shadow that brings out the facial features so you can recognise who the person is. Most of the paintings are of people who i admire myself which has made it easier to paint. You don't have as much heart in it if you're painting something you don't really know or care about," he said.
The exhibition also includes paintings of 'little tots' such as Shirley Temple because Colin says that "people can read a lot from a child's expression and if you can capture that in black and white I think it makes a good picture."
It was a painting of himself as a child that was the subject of Colin's very first painting. It impressed Peader McDaid, his mentor in Create-A-Link so much that so much that he bought it immediately.
"I painted a picture of me when I was younger, and a lot of people liked it and said that they could see themselves in it and other people in it," he said.
"I didn't think painting was for me, it took me a while to get into it so I started doing abstract stuff. Then I started the black and white, and the first one I did was the one of myself and Peader really liked it and other people liked the style. Once I started there I just couldn't stop," he said.
The piece brought about the 'closure' that Colin had initially hoped to achieve.
"It was kind of a personal piece and it's a picture of a day in my memory that I'll probably never forget. I can remember pretty much everything from the picture and pretty much everything about that day. I find it hard a lot to look back at when I was younger because that's where all my memories come from, from when I was a very happy child"."
Like many teenagers, he began struggling with certain issues but Colin found them particularly difficult to cope with.
"From then it was a grey couple of years and I didn't look back at the past. It made me sad and emotional to look back because it reminded me of what I used to be like and I said to myself 'what went wrong?'. So I think painting that picture and facing that was a challenge and I think you need to challenge yourself to get over some hurdles in life."
Colin's new-found love of art means that he has learned how to appreciate his home environment.
"Now that I am into art, I walk past paintings and I stop and consider them whereas before I would have just walked past. I'm also more fascinated by the likes of landscape. So when I do go home its only now that I appreciate those kind of features where I grew up, like Derek Hill and the landscape."
Colin is now busy tweaking his style by adding a few colours and more detail. And watching Colin hang his paintings on the cream-coloured walls of Cafe Blend on the eve of his first exhibition, in that typical precision and conviction of an artist, it shows how much one can change.
"You should never dismiss something it might take you a while to get into it, and it you mightn't like it at first but if you really want to do something and if you have a motive inside you to do it, you can surprise yourself," he said.
"Big shots and little tots" exhibition begins tongiht (Thursday) in Cafe Blend, High Road, Letterkenny and will run for one month.
