Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucien Caillouet.
Lucien, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My love for art started early. My father is a popular tattoo artist here in the city so from an early age I was encouraged to do art. I never even went to preschool, instead took art classes a few days a week. Going into my adolescent years is when I started getting mixed up into drugs. Specifically hallucinogens and party drugs. Not only as a recreational user but also as a dealer. Growing up we struggled a lot, so once I realized the profits I could make from my peers supplying them with what they wanted, it was game over. From about the age of 15 until I was 19 that took over my life. Buying, Selling, flip, flip, flip. I was making good money, but everything else took a back seat. I stopped working on art for the most part, started messing up in school, and started drifting away from my family. I was losing myself to the party lifestyle and I didn’t realize it until it was too late.
When I was 19 it finally all came to a head. I was using Xanax a lot at the time to deal with the stress and anxiety I was suffering from. A lot of people around me were getting arrested, I was getting high a lot, and just all around not taking care of myself, mentally or physically. After a weekend bender that started on New Year’s Eve I ended up getting arrested for my first felony charges. Long story short I blacked out on a mixture of LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, and alcohol. While out of my mind I ended up at some lofts lobby in wicker park acting a fool, mind you it’s a Tuesday morning at about 8 a.m. Cops were called and as they were trying to enter the building I kicked the door back almost breaking the cop’s hand. I fought the law and they beat the sh** out of me. I woke up the next day handcuffed to a bench with absolutely no recollection of what happened, still tripping of the acid. My face was completely crusted in blood, my eye was swollen shut, one of my ribs was cracked, and my shoulder was dislocated. After an hour or two of me screaming for someone to tell me what I did a cop finally came back and listed about 10 charges including attempted b&e, 2 counts of battery on a police officer, and a count of possession of a control substance.
I ended up getting an I-bond out of jail for this case, but I really didn’t learn anything. My disdain for the police rose and now I needed lawyer money. So I started trapping like a mad man. Anything, Anytime, Anyone, Anywhere. I was not thinking. Less than a month later I got arrested AGAIN but this time it was much, much more serious. I got set up for a half sheet of acid (50 hits) and I had all types of other drugs in the trunk. I would go into all the details but that is for another time. I held a lot of resent for the person who set me up, the police, everyone and everything for some time while I was incarcerated until I realized that it was doing nothing for me. Instead of letting it bring me down I decided to build from my experience. That is when I started taking my idea to start a clothing line a whole lot more serious. I was waking up from dreams of paintings, designs, photo shoot ideas, commercials etc every night over the last half of the 6 months I spent in cook county jail.
I caught a huge blessing getting my cases ran together which allowed me to get probation. That blessing didn’t come cheap though. It took everything I had, everything my family had, it took everyone in my life to get me through it. That is why it has been so important to me to not let them down. My life since then has been hard, but it is finally coming together. It was hard getting a job now having multiple felonies on my record. Even though they were caught close together it makes it look like I was a career criminal. I finally got a job and shortly after got laid off, but of course I already got a new place. So I was shortly after evicted. After that I was homeless for a while. I had good friends and family so I never had to sleep on the streets but I was couch surfing for about 2 years, and my art definitely took a hit because of that. It’s hard to set up a mini studio when you don’t know where you’re sleeping. And it wasn’t like I wasn’t working or being lazy and that is why I couldn’t get a place. I had no credit and now an eviction and felonies. No places would take me at that point.
As of about 6 months ago I finally got a solid place to live and work. It’s honestly a blessing that my girlfriend and I couldn’t find a place, because now our living situation is great. I no longer have to worry about my lease ending in a few months and I have enough space to work on my art. Sense getting back into painting I have worked almost non-stop on my new pieces and the response has been great. I had already been building a following through my clothing line, Dubslife clothing company, so when I started posting these it really took off. I’ve sold in the past six months almost 50 pieces and my career is taking off a lot faster than expected.
A lot of people would be ashamed of some of the things that have happened in my past, but I’m not. I believe it was one of the best things to happen to me. It took that kick in the a$$ to get me to where I am now. I needed to go through what I went through to be this inspired to make my art. Everything I have been through makes me who I am today and how I deal with it will determine my future. And I for one think I’m going to be OK.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lucien Caillouet’s Art story. Tell us more about the business.
In my art I use skills that I have acquired throughout my life. I have never received any type of conventional art training other than an art class in high school. I use my graffiti and portrait skills combined with pouring paint to create my pieces. I use experiences I have gone through as well as influences in my life, now and in the past, as my subject matter. I also create sculptures and use many different mediums to create pieces. For my clothing brand I do almost all the designing on Illustrator and Photoshop.
I am very proud of myself for overcoming all my mistakes and downfalls to where I am now. I have come from nothing, been through hell, and I am still here. Now I have the knowledge and wisdom to tell my story through my art, and pass it on to people to maybe help them with what they are going through. I want to help people know that just because everything might be falling apart, there is always tomorrow. Don’t give up, keep working towards your goals and one day your luck will change.
I believe what sets me apart from others is my subject matter and some of the techniques I use to create my art. Because I have had no formal training I have had to develop my own style and methods to create my work. I have developed an understanding of colors and pour painting that I can now manipulate the paint to flow how I desire. There is still a random- aspect to the abstract work but I use the colors to express emotion. I have also developed a way to mask off my portraits and pour over them to give the portraits a look of being sunken into the piece instead of painting over the dried pour which many artists do.
I am going to be a featured artist at my biggest show to date for raw: natural born artists- Chicagos upcoming show “Envision” at the metro January 24th. Tickets for the show are available @ http://rawartists.org/luciencaillouetart for 22$.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see growth. I try not to follow trends, instead focusing on what I find cool or exciting. Of course my style will change within the next 5-10 years and I am excited to see where it can go.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://rawartists.org/luciencaillouetart
- Email: dubslifeclothing@gmail.com
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