About

Cédric Martineau, carver

It was first through drawing and writing that I started to be interested in carving. I was studying engineering, design and philosophy, and carving was only a hobby during my studies. One day, everything changed. I got a contract to carve a totemic mast measuring 12 feet high for a friend of my father. This project made me realize that I had a true passion for art. After, I worked at Langevin & Forest as head of the woodwork department. After a few years, I finally decided be a carver. Since that day, I have been living of this art and teaching young people about my artistic vision of the work.

As a carver, I searched for a long time to find an idea on which I could base my artistic creations. I wanted to write and describe many things that I was exploring through my drawings and carvings. After a long introspection and many personal assessments that were not really satisfying my longings, I found a poem written by Alexander Pope (Essay on Man). These writings allowed me to become aware of my feeling and understand how I wanted to create as an artist. I realized that these verses accurately summarized the contradictory emotions I experienced when I looked at the world we live in. But they also gave a reason to create and express myself as an artist (Read the poem).

I like to show the beauties of our planet. But I also want to present the aberrations that we, humans, bring to this world. I personally stay away from modern noisy entertainment and I instead concentrate on things that have a real meaning in life. I always try to encourage individuals to care for their environment and other people around them.

I think that our body, our ideas and our culture have come from nature. But it is easy to see that many things in our surroundings were made to distract us from our true origins. The Earth’s natural resources are mutilated and the people in power constantly try to persuade us that we need to consume more and more. In reality, we simply need to become aware of these facts and think more about protecting our environment. My art is a way for me to tell this story.

My future projects are meant to show how the world is fading and gradually disappearing around us. As living beings, humans look at the sky, with their hands full of destructive tools. We are not often enough conscious of how harmful we are to our planet and to ourselves (See Next project).