Bernard Morin - Artist
By Steve Gillman
Bernard Morin has a lifetime of experience with art, and works
in many mediums, including sculpture. He studied art in France,
and at the moment he is a professional painter in Marrakech,
Morocco. He does portraits, watercolors, pointillism, glacis,
and even knife painting. But the paintings I wanted to ask him
about are his newest creations, positive subliminal pictures.
Bernard, what did you do before
you were an artist, or before your art became a full-time venture?
I went from car technician to car dealer (during 15 years)
to owning my own garage for 13 years from 1989 to 2001. But I
can say I was an artist during that time. Every Saturday, in
my workshop, I was sculpturing some Egyptian bas-reliefs or passing
nights painting for my friends.
What made you decide to become
an artist, and how many years did it take to make it into profession
that pays the bills?
 We
were to create, my wife and I, a little tourist resort in Marrakech.
The day we bought the terrain was the 11th of September 2001!
Bye bye went the 12 suites hotel; the banks did not want to loan...
we had to change our projects.
As my passion was painting, I rented a shop in the central
market and sold to the tourists the paintings I was doing there
and the paintings of some Moroccan painter friends of mine. The
results were very good immediately, and I made about $2,000 a
month during 3 years, which is quite an income in this country.
I see that you recently designed
several stamps for the Royal Post of Magreb. That's a nice project
to have on your resume. How well have the stamps been received?
For sure, it is very nice on my resume, but it was hard to
do that. I participated in a design contest in order to commemorate
2009 - The International Year of Astronomy. My stamp was chosen
so I could enter the closed club of stamp makers. I had an interview
with the Posts Director and spoke about my project for positive
subliminal stamps. He was OK with it and I created 3 positive
stamps:
- The Happiness
- The Health
- The Wealth
The word Happiness, for example, was written so many times
in all directions in French and Arabic, that it becomes illegible.
The conscious mind sees nothing and the idea of happiness, the
seed of happiness enters the subconscious mind, passes through
the barrier existing between the conscious and the unconscious
and the state of mind of "happiness" begins to grow
in the viewer.
They sold out very quickly and I could, unfortunately, have
only one stamp of each as a personal souvenir.
Can you describe how you came
upon the idea of subliminal paintings?
It was in the 1970s. I wanted money and I wrote on the wall
of my bedroom the word RICHESSE (wealth) on a big piece of paper.
But my core belief was: "I am not wealthy!" because
of my bank account! So I lightly painted over the letters of
the word R I C H E S S E - no results. So I started to cut the
letters and remove the pieces of the letters. The more I couldn't
read the word, the more it was functioning. That's the way I
began my positive subliminal pictures, Enthusiasm, Will, Love,
Happiness, Joy.
You sell personalized subliminal
pictures that contain in them the name of the customer as well
as any quality (by way of a word) they desire. I imagine subliminal
messages like "confident," success" and "luck"
are commonly requested, but is there one message that seems to
be most popular?
Not any particular ones - I sell a little of each. If I have
to give advice, I think enthusiasm and abundance work well.
Are you working on any new kinds
of artistic creations at the moment?
Yes, of course! I have tried a special thing; a canvas divided
in half with a sort of partition in the middle. The right side
has the words: "I am Wealth Abundance and Joy" and
the left side has a drawing of the Buddha. Seeing the Buddha
with your left eye calms the mind and seeing the inscriptions
with your right eye lets the ideas enter the subconscious mind...
It does not work. I thought that the 2 separate visions would
make a sort of 3-D image in my mind. Nothing.
I have also made a special preparation for my canvas with
a word written in dark paint inside; Happiness. When we look
at the painting, this word appears lightly. I call that: a filigree
frame work, a sort of water mark like in the bank notes... for
the moment I did only two of them. I don't know if there is an
effect on the purchaser.
Finally, do you enjoy the work
you do, and are you happy that you chose to be an artist?
I really love what I do, but I can't call it work (it's a
pleasure for me). But I think that, I am an artist in my soul,
and in fact, I have chosen to be happy.
If someone wants to sell some of my art in the USA, they can
contact me and we shall manage.
Thanks again Bernard.
Note: You can visit artist Bernard Morin's web page
and see examples of his positive subliminal paintings at: www.artabus.com/morinbernard
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