Marius Gonzalez Speaks On Finding His Artistic Medium

28-year-old Paris-based artist, Marius Gonzalez (@mariusgonzalez) has devoted his artistic career to teaching himself filmmaking and photography and hasn’t stopped working since. Since the age of 18 he’s worked with many different mediums, and according to him; “I want to do bigger films and bigger music videos internationally. I also want to work on personal films and art.” He talks to New Wave Magazine about what it was like finding his artistic medium, how he used YouTube to teach himself everything he knows, his book Isolation Program, and his film Intro, shot with childhood friend Josman.

MK: Let's start with your artistic background. Did you come from a creative background or did you fall in love with creating art on your own?

MG: My mother is a painter and I watched her work a lot when I was young. I grew up in an environment very open to art but it wasn’t my thing back then. I was more interested in sports. But I kinda found something that I love doing during highschool when I taught myself how to edit and shoot small films. I never expected that it would be my job but that happened haha.

MK: That’s lovely. How did your mother’s art influence your work? What was the moment that made you want to create art?

MG: I don’t really know how her craft influenced me, to be honest. But I have always been amazed by her paintings, her passion for art and her dedication. Because she never really was paid for that. She has to work as an art teacher to make a living. But her relationship with art is just pure. It's beautiful.

MK: How old were you when you started to experiment with art? And then, the age you started to take it more seriously?

MG: I started to draw at a very young age like all the kids in the world I guess. And I took some classes with my mom as well. But I was terrible at it and very frustrated. I wasn't good and I didn’t know how to express myself correctly with this. But when I was in highschool some friends were shooting a short film in my city. I played as an extra for a day and it was super fun. And that intrigued me alot and I started to watch tutorials on youtube to learn how to edit and stuff. I was 17. I never stopped. After that I watched a ton of music videos and I fell in love with this right away. I started to create more experimental /arty stuff in my room and my little camera. And at 18 I shot my first music video for a friend of mine and I took it seriously the second I started this project.

MK: Marius, I love that. It’s really inspiring how you started a medium, didn’t like it, and found your own way eventually. I’m a big believer in whatever is meant to happen will happen. Clearly, you’re great at what you do and you've been successful. The fact that you’re self-taught is also inspiring to many upcoming young artists around the world. You also do photography? Do you continue to work in film work, music videos, and photography? Do you favor and concentrate in one area more?

MG: Yes, I’m also a photographer and graphic designer. I’m mainly focusing on films/ music videos as a director. I feel that I’m most comfortable to create. But I also enjoy other mediums such as photography or photoshop to create different types of images. I’m also trying to learn AI stuff now, haha.

MK: That’s amazing. Tell us about your photography and graphic design. What’s your artistic process for that? AI is huge right now too. What is it like learning that? Personally, your photography caught my eye. I love the way you’re playing with photoshop and creating something entirely new.

MG: Photography and graphic design are something that allows me to create whatever comes to mind. It’s pretty straight forward. I have an idea about an image, about a technique that I explored myself and that I want to use for a specific reason. And then I try it and see what happens. Photography is a bit more professional right now because I start to work with brands and stuff, but I also do some album covers for some artists. I also published a book based on illustrations that I did during the first lockdown in 2020. I was alone for two months in my apartment and started to create one illustration a day until the end of lockdown. After 2 months, I put everything in a book called the Isolation Program. It was my very first personal project.

About AI, I just found out that everyone went crazy with this, so I had to explore it. I kinda see it as a new tool to play with.

MK: I’m really glad you brought up your book. The COVID lockdown caused a lot of artists to go through a shift. Do you think the lockdown inspired you creatively? Many artists felt more inspired to create work since they can solely focus on that. Was the lockdown hard for you as an artist at any point?

MG: That period inspired me alot. I was creating every single day and I really put every single feeling in those illustrations. It was just natural and I don't really know how to explain it but it was interesting. The lockdown was super hard for me but as a person first not as an artist. I was bored and lonely for a long time, and a lot of things happened during that time. But that program allowed me to express everything and to keep me busy for 3-4 hours so it was cool.

MK: That’s amazing. Do you plan on releasing another book?

MG: Yes. I'm currently working on my next book.

MK: This is why I love art. It allows artists to express the way they feel. And allows viewers to relate to art and not feel alone. You’ve clearly come a long way. You taught yourself how to create art and have become very successful doing something you love. What are some of your headliner moments during your career? What’s one project you're most proud of?

MG: I don’t really know there are so many highlights haha. First I would say the relationship and the journey that I share with my friend Josman is something really important to me. And every single project is a human adventure so all these moments are unique to me. I’m proud of my book but also about all my films. It's not an easy path but I feel blessed to be able to do this for a living. I’m still young so I feel like I still have a lot to learn and a lot to do.

MK: How has your friend Josman inspired or influenced your work? Do you wanna tell us about a certain film you loved working on?

MG: I’m here because of him. His journey is really inspiring. We’re from the same little town and he was different since the very beginning. He taught me the mentality and he pushed me a lot to be better. He’s my brother. And I loved working on Josman’s music videos. I really enjoyed working on “Demon” for Joanna and Laylow. The last one we dropped with Josman, “Intro”, was probably my best shooting experience ever.

MK: Thank you for sharing, that’s so beautiful. What was the process for creating “Intro”?

MG: I was really inspired by the song. It’s my favourite track; really inspiring with a lot of feelings in it. And I had this obsession to create “moving paintings” for a long time. My style is usually really dynamic and dark, and for that one I wanted to push myself to do something different. So I came up with the idea of representation of all the feelings that Josman’s talking about in his song. But in a poetic way.

MK: Wow. That’s extraordinary. What are your goals for the upcoming years?

MG: I want to do bigger films and bigger music videos internationally. I also want to work on personal films and art because I mainly work for others. And keep a good financial balance between all that haha.

MK: Do you wanna leave us with any advice for upcoming photographers and music/ filmmakers?

MG: Haha. I'm pretty bad at inspirational speeches. But if you’re doing this, keep having fun.

Find more of Marius Gonzalez's work here:

Website: https://mariusgonzalez.fr

Instagram: @mariusgonzalez