Why Mixed Media Reflects the Complexity of Modern Life

By Sebastien Montel

Life is rarely linear. It is layered with memory, contradiction, and shifting experiences. This is why I am drawn to mixed media art. As a French artist working in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, I see mixed media as the best mirror of modern life, fragmented, overlapping, and richly complex.

Layers as Stories

By combining oil, pencil, and newspaper, I create surfaces that carry history and immediacy at once. The newspaper grounds the work in time, the oil conveys permanence, and the pencil brings immediacy. Together, they form a dialogue of eras and emotions.

Emotional Resonance

In emotional art, layering creates depth. A fragmented surface reflects the way feelings often overlap, joy beside grief, silence beside noise. Mixed media allows these contradictions to coexist, just as they do in life.

Psychological Dimensions

In psychological art, mixed media functions like memory. Just as experiences accumulate, leaving impressions that shape who we are, each layer on the canvas influences the final form. The result is a surface that feels alive, carrying tension and history.

A Contemporary Reflection

In contemporary art, mixed media reflects our world, multifaceted, fast-moving, and interconnected. Its complexity makes it relevant to modern audiences who live in fragmented yet overlapping realities.

Mixed media matters because it accepts imperfection and contradiction as truth. In that way, it reflects the humanity of our time.