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Interview printed in the Villager (New York City weekly paper)
"Lower East Side’s Renaissance man"
By Ernest Barteldes, The Villager


“There’s no shortage of characters in New York,” says portraitist Michael
Rimbaud. “In fact, there’s a surplus”—
including Phyllis Sanfiorenzo, above, an actress Rimbaud met on Rivington
Street.

A keen observer of the comings and goings of his neighborhood, Lower East
Side artist and musician Michael
Rimbaud has spent the past few years painting portraits of every local
resident that catches his eye — “the butcher,
the baker and even the undertaker,” says Rimbaud. In the past year alone,
he’s painted 50 portraits of personal
friends and people he’s approached on the street. Many are on view now
through February at The Theater for The
New City Gallery (155 1st Ave. at 9th street). We spoke to Rimbaud about
his exhibit, “Lower East Side Portraits,” and
what it takes to be a Renaissance man.

You’re a musician, painter and graphic designer. How do you see yourself as
an artist in general?

I am an artist with many interests, primarily painting and rock music.
Graphic design helps pay the rent and I teach
computer graphics, too. Leonardo DaVinci was the real Renaissance man. He
wasn’t only a great painter and
sculptor, he invented flying machines and submarines, weapons of small
destruction and he also dissected humans.


Your show at TNC — how would you describe it?

With Lower East Side Portraits I want to show the variety of people that
live in this culturally rich neighborhood. I’ve
lived here almost ten years and I’ve been inspired by the diversity here. I
wanted to draw the butcher, the baker and
even the undertaker. I’ve painted bartenders before they got fired and
rockers who never get tired. I love the human
face, old or young, everyone is different.

I [also] want to capture this period in New York like a 21st century Pieter
Bruegel, George Grosz or Toulouse-Lautrec.
Many of the paintings are in gouache, but I’m also doing some street scenes
and cityscapes in oil. I approach people
on the street and I ask if they mind if I sketch them. Often they say yes,
sometimes no. Everyone painted is a real
person; some I’ve known for years.

How do you choose people to paint? What catches your eye?

I want to capture all walks of life. Different cultures, ages and jobs. For
example I was doing my laundry the other
day and the woman who works there was folding some clothes by a dryer.
Something in my mind then clicked like a
camera and I say to myself, “that could be a great painting.” I had thirty
five minutes before I had to take my wash
out so I went home and came back with my paper and pencils.

Do you get to know all your subjects?

Every one is different and everyone has a story. Sometimes I’ll sketch a
scene. I once sketched a older gentleman
sitting at a bar and showed him the drawing after. He was mad, he said I
should have asked if I could draw him, but
he would have declined if I did. When I asked him for his name, he said,
“How do I know you’re not an FBI agent?”
Eventually he changed his mind. He told me his name was Henry. You’ll
notice that many of the people I painted are
smiling. I try to make everyone comfortable and have a nice conversation.
I’m not after a photographic likeness
either. I want to capture the person and make a good painting.

Who’s your favorite subject or your most unusual one?

My favorite subject is whoever is posing for me at the time. There are no
unusual subjects.

What comes next for you?

I’m going to keep on doing my portraits and city scenes, getting deeper and
deeper. I hope to find a publisher who
will put out a book of my Brazilian work too. I’d like to do a mural
somewhere like Diego Rivera did. My band, “The
Subway Sun,” plays about once a month locally. The next show is at the
Mercury Lounge, February 5th at 9:30.

How do you manage to fit all these things in?

A typical week has me juggling work, my art and music and raising my two
wonderful children, I’m also a single
parent. New Yorkers need to learn how to juggle. It’s not enough to have
the balls.

City Rocker

2008
71 x 304 cm

Band

2008
127 x 211cm

Lady Yankee

2007
127 x 71 cm

Allen Street Bar

2007
127 x 71 cm

Singer in Pink

2008
51 x 142 cm

Song of the Lost Soul

2007
painted on an actual full size wood guitar

Smoking Obama in Yellow

2008
46 x 61 cm

Portrait of Nia and Tommy

2006
96 x 127 cm

Red Hot Kiss

2008
Oil on Wood
79 x 117 cm

Modern Jurassic

2001
Oil on canvas
81 x 101 cm

Sunset of the Dinosaurs

2007
Oil on canvas
50 x 60 cm

ES335 Trio

2009
Oil on Canvas
121 x 188 cm

Portrait of Soco

2009
oil on canvas
91 x 111 cm

"To Hear More Options Press Pound"

2009
oil on canvas
45 x 61 cm

Nasty

2009
oil on canvas
96 x 152 cm

Caitlin

2009
oil on canvas
96 x 147 cm

Dinosaur inside guitar case

2009
oil on 1959 Gibson guitar case
Guitar Size

Subway Blues

2009
Oil on canvas
81 x 74 cm