8 minute read
Grahame Menage
GRAHAME MÉNAGE
Have Paints, Will Travel
While the name Grahame Ménage may be unrecognizable to some, if you’ve lived in and around the New Orleans area, you’ve undoubtedly seen his work. From the countless backdrops he’s painted for the film and television industry (“Gladiator,” “Time Bandits,” ”X-Men: First Class,” “21 Jump Street,” “Enemy of the State”) to the walls of some of New Orleans’ most iconic establishments (Gautreau’s, Restaurant R’evolution), Ménage’s work is at once mesmerizing and timeless.
Professionally trained as a scenic background designer, Ménage’s ability to transform the mundane into extravagant works of art have made him one of the most highly sought-after muralists and decorative artists for high-end restaurants, hotels and private residences around the world.
Closer to home, the British-born artist brought life to the sylvan charm of the Southern Hotel’s Cypress Bar, its French inspired gardens of The Gloriette, and the ever iconic “Covington Postcard” poolside mural.
The once-New Orleans transplant who now calls Miami home, Ménage splits his time working on major Hollywood movie sets and decorating luxury interiors, all while seeking out his next artistic challenge (preferably) abroad.
So how does a guy from the UK end up painting murals across Southeastern Louisiana?
I was decorating an antique shop in Pimlico, South London, and this guy that I’d employed to help do some signage work, I told him ‘go outside and if anyone goes by that looks like they have money, you send them in (laughing).’ And he did. And this guy came in, very charming guy, and asks if I’d like to do a job in New Orleans. So, I thought about it and next thing I know I’m doing trompe-l’oeil work [the art of creating an illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface] in his antique gallery. This was in the late ‘90s. And then he asked me back again to do some work on his apartment. That was the trip where I’d met my wife, Linda. We were married in 2005. I was going to come over the following year, but Katrina happened, so the soonest that we could get back into her house was 2006.
You have an impressive clientele list, decorating some very famous people’s interiors. Did you ever imagine that you’d be traveling the world as a full-time artist?
No. But I was very ambitious in my twenties, which most people are I suppose. I wanted to be the best and all that. But no, I suppose not. I was very happy that it happened, though. I’ve been to some really great places that I wouldn’t have come to otherwise, and I’ve met some really good people.
Was painting murals something you’ve always gravitated towards doing?
Yeah. I can’t fix my car but I can paint nearly anything. I love painting, and I love traveling. I have no plans of ever retiring.
Besides murals and finishes, you’ve been painting backdrops for the film and television industry for the last four decades. Aside from the difference in scale, how does that compare to working in a private home or business?
My first film was in 1980, so yeah, 43 years now. For scale it means you can paint in broad strokes, because it is being viewed at a distance. So the difference in scale means the difference in detail. Working in a private residence or business means it is being viewed extremely close-up and for that, the detail is everything. The main thing is that in a private home it’s forever, or at least until they decide to repaint. For a film, it’s gone. It’s in the dumpster pretty soon after.
I was going to ask what happens to all those movie and television backdrops after they are done with them?
Most end up in the trash. But there’s a woman who’s been collecting old Hollywood backdrops. I believe she’s written a book about it [The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop by Karen L. Maness and Richard M. Isackes]. And there’s a museum [the Boca Raton Museum of Art] that I visited by chance, and they had a collection of old Hollywood backdrops. Funny thing is, I just did a backdrop for a Netflix show and people kept telling me that they’ve never seen anyone actually paint a backdrop before. Most of the work nowadays is green screen or they use what they call translights, which are these huge transparencies, which are fine…but a painted backdrop is art.
I assume most of your projects require extensive research because what you are painting needs to fit someone else’s vision. How much creative freedom do you have or does it depend on the project?
It depends on the project. I prefer to work with someone who has a pretty good idea of what they want. But I’m also very good at interpreting other people’s visions. I have a bathroom mural project coming up and they’ve sent me some wallpaper samples because wallpaper is very trendy again, the decorative French style wallpaper.
And I’ll do a number of sketches beforehand. But yes, it does take a lot of time to sit in front of a computer doing research, going through books and such. It’s just part of the job, really, and I’ve always done it.
You also dabble in abstract paintings. Maybe a little homage to Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting in a few of them?
I actually have a style of painting that I’m trying to develop. Something I once saw with a piece of glass that had some vinyl paint on the back that was completely crazed by the Miami sun. It was beautiful, flowing like a Van Gogh. And so I’ve been trying to interpret that and make abstracts from it, playing with different colors and seeing how they react. I thought they turned out quite nice, actually.
And who would you consider to be some of your biggest influences?
The man I worked with for three years from 1980 to 1983 in London. He was at the BBC for 15 years as a senior artist, and although I had been working under people for the [Welsh National Opera] company in Wales, he was very nice to me. And as a painter, he would take me onto sets and I’d study other people’s work, other people’s backdrops, people that were much older than me at the time. And I’d practice, trying to figure out how to do certain things. But my biggest influences are probably the old Dutch masters and the people that painted the old Frescos in ancient Rome. The quality of those paintings is astounding, and the colors, and the fact that they are still around today.
And you do pet portraits?
I do. Maybe I’ll do that if I ever retire (laughing). I’m not much of a people or portrait painter, but the pets, cats and dogs, seemed to have turned out OK.
Do you have a favorite project, something that still stands out as special?
Usually, it’s the recent ones that stick in my mind. And some projects because of the scale or the conditions that I had to work under. But the ones I did at the Southern Hotel, the pool, the ones at the bar and The Gloriette, I was very happy with them. I had a lot of freedom to work, the clients were very nice, the location was nice. It’s very hard to get all of those things on the same project, so I had nothing to complain about, which is unusual for me (laughing). I would say those were some of my favorite projects.
So if not painting murals and backdrops, what would you be doing?
I think it would be great to be a playwright or maybe a musician. Something that involves a bit of travel, creative freedom, and people that maybe recognize what you do. Oh, I would have loved to have been a fossil hunter…a paleontologist. But I guess there’s not enough life left in me for that (laughing). But at the end of the day, I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to do what I do.
