Mar 23, 2021

Joachim McMillan Transitions His Art To His Fashion Brand and More

Joachim McMillan born on the Caribbean island of Grenada, with an upbringing marked by the simplicity of growing up in the countryside with mountainous landscapes and surrounded by magnificent views of marine vessels in the ocean, Joachim McMillan believed from a very young age that extraordinary things can evolve from the ordinary. With this mindset and his outstanding passion to further nurture his creative intelligence and ingenuity, he ventured out into the greater world, creating a significant presence and making an even more significant contribution in art shows all across the US and internationally.

He is a self-taught artist who epitomizes what true raw talent is about. Using an impressionistic style, he does not allow himself to be confined to rules and possesses a bold spirit that allows him to experiment with his craft and seek constant growth and reinvention.

As an innovative artist, Joachim McMillan brings to the world a vibrant and unique art style that explores the energy of life through color and texture. His paintings reflect the multi-faceted nature of the human condition and the world in which we live and he achieves this by dissecting his paintings with energetic strokes using palette knives. The palette knife is his creative edge, and he works with oils on canvas to produce art that stimulates curiosity and marvels the observer. In fact, as regards the subjects of his works, there is the occasional presence of ambiguity which adds more intrigue as the viewer entertains several possibilities and explanations of what the paintings are expressing. This avant-garde style of art is unparalleled and so too is the skill of merging his art with a fashion brand.

Joachim McMillan is known for the Mozayic brand which began in 2012, first as an exceptional style of painting that then evolved to include a trendy and artistic fashion brand. McMillan remains highly influenced by his native culture; this is reflected in the signature brand’s logo created by the artist himself that includes a hand symbol, representative of a type of masquerade called 'Jab’ seen during Grenada’s carnival. The other and more significant feature of the logo is the MO concept. This was inspired by the initial letters in Mozayic and also the desire to pun on the word ‘more’ meaning an increase and using a very casual and witty variant ‘Mo’. ‘MO’ suggests growth which is certainly the direction this fashion brand is headed in. This brilliant combination of art and design seen in the products is so bold and compelling that it is sure to shatter the status quo. The visual and artistic appeal of all the products undoubtedly makes all the wearers and users stand out, making profound ultra-modern fashion statements.

He is also part of the Crypto Art Movement which promotes the use of art as a form of storage for digital currencies like Bitcoin. The paintings include a cold wallet at the back which facilitates the storing of Bitcoin offline. On each piece the private keys to your wallet are scored or painted onto the painting and visible to confirm its authenticity.

All this represents the ingenuity and creative expressions of Joachim McMillan, a true cutting-edge, world class artist and designer. His creativity has no boundaries and his art is simply timeless.

“The art of making art depends on the artist’s creativity, unique style and vision.” – Joachim McMillan

You show an interest in the Crypto Art Movement, promoting the use of art as a form of storage for digital currencies with Non-fungible tokens. Non-fundigible tokens is a block chain art market. What do you hope to achieve by jumping into the Crypto Art Movement?

What I hope to achieve is to be relevant in the art market and to make money. Sell my art with a value or make art as an investment asset. The cold wallet art is an innovative idea as new way to collect art.

Not only are you a unique artist, but a trendsetter in the world of fashion with your “Mozayic” Brand, established in 2012. There, you use the “MO” concept on your clothes. The vibrant colors of your palette are used on your clothing line.

'MO' is the short for Mozayic, developed as wearables to promote my artwork. 'MO' is to show a visibility in fashion, to be diverse, and make non-art lovers consider my art as fashion.

In your painting called “Coin City,” I notice a mosaic appearance, where the squares and rectangles cover nearly the entire painting. It is as if the background is blurry, but you used the lack of shapes to replace the meaning of blurriness. Also, the reflection of the ships are visible through the body of water. Maybe the gold rooves of the houses and buildings represent a wealthy family due to investing in cryptocurrency. What do you see when you look at this piece?

My work is about style and creativity. It’s one of a kind. My paintings are impressionism. I want the eyes see the image and the brain finish the thoughts. I have a unique style.

I know that you know you have a unique style, but I think you are not shy of saying you have one. Do you ever feel pressure to compete with your last piece of art after mentioning you have a unique style?

I am aware, I have a unique style many people or art lovers express that to me. I paint my last piece to out do the previous one. I paint to please myself and to raise my own bar. “I run my own race.”

You experiment with pixelism, impasto freestyle and mosaic style. Do you ever paint one subject, then paint over it, starting fresh?

Yes, I start out fresh. I paint in series. If I am painting seascape / landscape, I paint a few until I am not interested no more or burn out, then I move on to another series. I paint each series to outdo the other.

With your clothing line, you have added your art palette on your designs. Do you plan on adding fashion to your canvases like extraordinary designs only you can think of, made out of fabrics? I was thinking if you could take your own art and add them on your clothing line, if it ever crossed your mind to add fashion to your artwork.

I am interested in all forms of creativity, I planned on making unique designs. It is simple since is it is a unique style. Yes, I can repeat a design and make it as a fabric design. I did not get to choose one yet.

As a self-taught artist, have you ever seen an artist you wanted to learn new techniques from?

No, I don’t try to pick up any artist styles. Then is not original. I think there are many, many styles and ideas in the world for any artist to be unique. It’s a concept one just have to focus on. I really don’t want people pick up my style so, I try to be even more complex.

From afar, your painting “Sun Coast” looks like a puzzle but is really a painting with the appearance of mosaic. The colors of the rainbow in the sky somehow aren’t distracting, knowing that the houses have the same colors. Your well-rounded illusion with colors are showcased in this painting. Do you want the viewers to feel like they’re looking at a television screen by using pixelism?

The concept is to make my work look like digital bits and at the same time a mosaic makes up.

What was the longest time you spent on a painting?

Each painting is different. If I have to fight to make a painting look good, I would rather scrap it because in my eyes, it did not flow freely.

In your painting, “The Floats,” it appears like a parade and there is confetti with a crowd. The performers are large in this piece, which could mean they’re larger than life. Since the crowd can have slightly more details than the performers, this piece can play tricks on the viewers eyes. What is the backstory to this painting?

Floats is a surrealism piece. Whimsical ideas. Men on silts like New Orleans or Caribbean carnivals it about celebration and happiness.

There must have been a strategic amount of time when you were creating the piece “Capital Take Over.” The painting is in black and white, looking like cut out pieces of paper, glued to a photographs for a 3-dimensional effect. What do you want the viewers to know about this piece? This piece looks like it is too powerful of a message to just leave it up to anyone’s interpretation.

I do it in black and white so it can look historical. Black and white was very easy for me because is only 2 colors to paint and also the viewers can look at it as a back in time image of a classic photo.