Artist Nadine Bariteau’s installation project, Every Move You Make, was presented at this year’s Nuit Blanche. Nadine began her artistic career studying graphic design; only two years later, she realized the audience dictated boundaries on creativity did not suit her needs. She now holds a Masters degree in Fine Arts from York University, and pursues her art unbound by consumers’ opinions. The Montreal native moved to Toronto four years ago.

You can visit her website here.

SHARP OBJEX: What inspired you to create the Every Move You Make project?

Nadine Bariteau: I started the project a while ago. It’s a body of work that I have been working on for the past two years: It started when I was finishing my master’s degree at York University. I was taking the transportation between the downtown area to York and, as everybody knows, it’s really long and very boring. I was inspired by little fragments of time, a drop of water down a window, the little things that we really don’t care about.

I liked capturing the movements as well.

After my master’s, I expanded the project to different modes of transportation. The shape of each image is also like a TV screen, relating to the surveillance cameras in these transit areas; they remind me of mirrors.

SO: Why did you focus on transportation?

NB: I don’t want to talk about spirituality necessarily, but I think as human beings we are here only for a moment, we’re here to pass. In life, we’re always in transit, moving through time and space as well. In my work, I like to talk about this in a really subtle way.

SO: One of the dominant patterns in your work is the curve. What does it symbolize? 

NB: It’s  a wave, but also a representation of time.

I also use it because I like to work with the wood physically. Knowing I can shape the wood and make it an object after printing is just more fun for me.

SO: Any secrets to making art that is so easy to understand?

NB: I like not being too personal. I like the fact that it can be something that can talk to everybody, and everybody can experience the same thing. It’s not only my very personal biography... Of course, although I like it when people can be touched by or affected by my art, I am not doing it for that.

SO: What drives you to continue despite the lack of money in the industry?

NB: I’m not pleased with it, but my art saves me from a lot of craziness in the world, and I think I couldn’t be anything other than an artist. I have been doing it long enough that it’s just a part of me. It doesn’t matter what the economic situation is.