V-FILES vol. 1: meet the ✅artist Dom Laporte (CAN)

It’s time to meet the artists behind all the murals you find on our platform,time to meet our verified artists.

Here’s a fragment of his bio found on his Street Art Cities artist page:

Dominic Laporte is an accomplished muralist and illustrator based in Ottawa, Canada. His artistry seamlessly melds traditional painting techniques with mixed-media approaches, primarily focusing on themes rooted in the natural world. His portfolio includes large-scale commissions for prestigious institutions such as Canada’s Museum of Science & Technology, Live Nation Canada, Street Art Toronto, among others. Together with his partner, Anaϊs Labrèque, Dominic is a co-founder of DRIFT, a mural production and public art company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. At DRIFT Mural Co., their mission is to enhance communities and celebrate local identities through transformative public art initiatives.

1. Who is Dom Laporte?

My name is Dom Laporte, and that has been and is currently the name I go by as an artist. It is my given name at birth as well. I was raised in a family of artists and found myself on a path to pursue a creative path from about 6 years old. My mother was an incredible painter and craftsman, and my brother is a graffiti artist so both of them influenced me in a big way. I eventually started doing graffiti and had many names over the years before focusing on illustration and more so murals/public art as I got older.

2. Where is home?

I grew up in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I’ve lived in Montreal and Toronto, both for fine arts and illustration programs. Both scenes and disciplines had a big influence on my style but my time doing graffiti on the street, as well as murals, and working on my painting chops in the studio, has helped my define my mural practice now.

3. How did you end up in the world of street art?

My introduction to Graffiti was finding my brother’s sketch books and seeing him and his friends trade handstyles when I was about 11 years old. I immediately got involved and he taught me to now be satisfied with something just being ‘okay’. Work on your craft. I think it took about 5–6 years for him to ever tell me something I did was dope. I enjoy graffiti as a place making devices and murals in general as a way to interact with the public. This type of work isn’t hidden behind closed doors, it’s out there to find and interact with.

4. My first?

I had my first gallery showing in 2009 at a small gallery called La Petit Mort, which has since closed. My first real mural project came in 2014, where I collaborated with my brother and two other friends (very influential in the Ottawa scene, SNIKR AND CENS/Style over status/DBS).

5. My everything?

One of the most important projects for me was a 56 x 180’ wrap around wall I did for the Nelson International Mural Festival in Nelson, BC, Canada in 2022. It was the biggest wall I’d done to date and my first festival. I’ve done over 100 large scale murals at this point but have only done about 6 or 7 festivals. I painted for 12 days straight and really learned a lot, and that project has since led to lots of big projects in BC and the United States.

6. What if (you weren’ an artist)?

I’ve never once had a real plan B if this didn’t work out, because I know I can/will/have been doing it. I always joke with my partner that I would open a pizzeria..haha.

7. My Last?

My latest mural was for the Noisy Waters Mural Festival in Bellingham, Washington State, USA. We took part in the festival last year and ended up winning the grand prize mural commission which ended up with this project. It’s called the ‘North State Bird Call’, and is an homage to the area and its proximity to the both the oceans and the mountains. It’s a very unique pocket in the pacific north west.

8. Drift Mural Company….

Myself and my partner Anais started our company DRIFT in 2023, She’s been helping me behind the scenes for about 8 years while I was freelance, and we wanted to take it to the next level and basically work on the road/out of town/out of the country together on mural projects. She is a very talented photographer, and handles all documentation, with a lot of other things. The reason behind the name is our goal, which is to drift from place to place implementing mural projects. We love working with the community where we are painting and making sure what we are painting makes sense in the context of where its painted, and identifies with people who live there.

9. What does street art mean to you?

Expression, no boundaries.

10. Street Art Cities: thoughts, advice, feedback….

Giving artists light who may not be seen otherwise is a valuable place to hold in this industry. I value your effort and work in this space!

If you like to discover Dom’s work, head to his artist page on our app and give him your support and follow him so you don’t miss his latest mural.

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