About
Short bio
Makes8 born Thierry Valiquette in Gatineau, Québec (Canada). His mother, a multidisciplinary visual artist and his father, a part-time songwriter and full-time civil servant by default, influenced him from a young age in a world where creativity is essential and prized. He took visual arts and music lessons until the age of 12. Upon his arrival in a Montreal high school, he quickly discovers a great interest into the culture and world of graffiti and put his emphasis there. Over the next 5 years, he juggles between school and urban art, accumulating his first small mural contracts. At age 17, he left school to work for a few years with an interior designer with whom he learned the techniques and secrets of faux finishes and other interior finishes. He then studied interior design, where he realized that it was the artistic practice aspect that really connected with him, as well as auto bodywork where he learned how to transform metal and industrial materials. The following 6 years Makes8 devotes himself to drawing on a daily basis and continues spray paint art as often as possible while working in the restaurant industry where his creation time was quickly swallowed up by the workload he undertook. During all these years, he did not give up and hoping that one day he could indulge in his artistic practice full time. It was in March 2020 that he decided to take the plunge. He obtained a workspace to allow him to devote himself to his artistic practices in all media.
I remember the first time I felt art moving me, through many perceptions and emotions. I was probably 7 ish. I remember being attracted to a Mark Rothko calendar my mom had. Month after month, I was drawn into his compositions. They were simple, yet highly expressive with profound deepness, something I still find so intriguing to this day. The style I'm developing is raw, not to say ransacked. I find inspiration in playing with different materials & textures such as metals, used & discarded furniture, concrete, textured paper, sand, etc. Through the means of spray paint, acrylics, watercolors or digital and printing mediums, I am able to honestly relay the profoundness of what/how I
feel. Jackson Pollock once said ; "I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.". I like to incorporate abstract and disorganized portions to my art, supported by more graphic and linear content. In particular, by playing with transparency and by incorporating typographic elements. I am not only influenced by the environment and elements around me, but their composition. This is something that has a strong effect on my creative process. I enjoy seeing my piece change over time... both contextually and physically.