Sunday, December 05, 2010

New Gallery show in January at the Corpo Gallery!

I was recently invited to display some of my work at a show that Chet Zar is curating. I'm super excited to see the amazing work I will be in company with!!!  Here is the info below;

"CONJOINED - IN 3D!" Dimensional group art exhibition

Where: Copro Gallery

Bergamot Station Arts Complex
2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404
Ph: 310/829-2156
E-Mail: CoproGallery@Live.com
Web: www.CoproGallery.com
What: "CONJOINED - IN 3D!" Dimensional group art exhibition
curated by Chet Zar
Opening Reception: Saturday January 22, 2011- 8:00 – 11:30 p.m.
Live Music from Joe Woods


Dates:   Exhibit runs; January 22 – February 12, 2011
Contact:  Gary Pressman, Gallery Director Copro Gallery

Conjoined - In 3D! presents classic sculptures, Life like models, Surreal assemblages, mixed media paintings, life sized toys and other conjoined works in 3-D. Curated by Chet Zar this show will include many artists of Pop-Surrealism as well as motion picture industry special effects and well known Art Toy artists. From the twisted and bizzare to the majestic and unbeleivable there will be many unusual works and all in 3D



Zar
SCULPTURE BY CHET ZAR
Adam Jones, Kris Kuksi, Liz McGrath, Annie Owens, Attaboy, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Dave Pressler, Colin Christian, Michael Leavitt, Charles Krafft, Jon Beinart, Joe Ledbetter, Francesco De Molfetta, Tim Gore, Aris Kolokontes, TS Kuebler, Neil Winn, Bruce Fuller, Chris Owen, Bruce Mitchell, Scott Radke, Chantal Menard, Jack Howe, Bill Basso, Paul Chatem, Mitch Devane, Ryan Peterson, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Steve Wang, Zombienose, Jordu Schell, Meats Meier, Craig Skibs Barker, Boomer, Sean Greaves, Scott Hove, John Cormack, Laurie Hassold, Craig LaRotonda, Chris Conte, Akihito Shiniseya, Nathan Cartwright, Ver Mar, Jason Andrew Hite, Cliff Wallace

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Obesity


For awhile now, I've wanted to express my feelings in sculptural form in terms of the prevalent obesity rise in America. There are people who are very dear to me in this state, and I wish there was more I could do for them. What is interesting to me is that it is not socially acceptable to comment or advise on the issue like it is with tobacco smokers. Our society makes it far too easy to become this way with quick, easy, and cheap fast-food. Not to mention the serving portions tripling in size over the past 10+ years.  The sad thing is, I don't see it changing anytime soon. Everywhere you go, look at the ratio of healthy fit people verses the obese. It will not take long to realize how out of shape Americans are in. I don't really have any answers or great enlightenment on this subject. Nor do I wish to impress anger or insult to anyone reading this.  I simply wish to illustrate the odd beauty and utter travesty of what we humans are capable of doing to our bodies.

Like all sculptures that I undertake, it is necessary to first collect reference. This particular subject matter has led me to some very unfavorable places on our "world wide web". I've seen things that I cannot erase from my mind now. One of the favorable pieces of reference I discovered was from the movie Blade. Miles Teves designed and created the massively obese character, "Pearl." The images on his website (http://milesteves.com)  of this and other works are stunning!

After collecting my reference imagery, I created an armature using copper wire and aluminum foil. Once that was in place, I wrapped the foil in floral wire and liberally coated it with a 2 part resin to keep the foil from moving.  My 2-year old son also lends me his skills in picking up anything he feels I might need.

After mixing about 6 pounds of Supersculpy with Burnt Umber Premo (2 lbs Sculpy to 2oz Premo), I began the arduous task of covering the foil turkey I made.

In working on this, I found it very satisfying to try and make the clay look as if gravity has a say in every lump and fold. Now that the general shapes are in place, I raked it down, smoothed it out, and started my favorite part, detailing! Stay tuned; more pictures and exciting details coming soon!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

MECHANICAL CHRIST

From 15th century Catholic paintings and sculpture, to Buddhist, Ganesh, or even Baphomet depictions, I have always been inspired by religious imagery. I love deities, because they are looked upon with feelings of hope, love, sorrow, and sometimes even disgust. I grew up admiring my grandparent’s Catholic art, and recall a childhood Christmas when one of my uncles had given them a large sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper". I can still remember my grandmother’s reaction, and how it sat above the dinner table atop an old fashion dish cabinet in a shrine of sorts. I was forbidden to touch it, but always assumed it was carved from marble. I inherited it a few years ago when my grandmother passed and discovered air bubbles underneath the table portion, which sort of hit me strange. Everyone on my mother’s side of the family is very religious, and always holds religious art in high regard, no matter what it’s made from. I guess in a way, that is why I wanted to make some religious art of my own, in my own way.

Technological Crucifixion is the third piece in my Mechanical Christ series. Each sculpture depicts a different aspect of technology becoming Godlike. My goal here was to portray religion through technology, because I feel both hold a power over us all. I wanted them to be visually beautiful, but suggestively horrifying, all in the same glance. For anyone interested in seeing these and other works of mine in person, they will be at The Hive Gallery at; 729 S Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90014 from November 6th to the 27th.

IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION



TECHNOLOGICAL CRUCIFIXION

AUTOMATED RESURRECTION

The following videos are stop-motion/time lapse of myself assembling the sculpture “Technological Crucifixion”, or as my good friend John Young put it “Techno Jesus.” I started this on June 20th (Fathers Day) of 2010, and just recently finished it on October 20th. I picked at it here and there on the weekdays and sometimes managed to get a few hours in on Sundays. I had assistance from my 2-year-old son who was more than happy to help Daddy make a mess!


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Designing Costumes for Disguise

For 11 years I have worked for Disguise making Halloween product. My primary job is designing and sculpting accessories, but I also contribute costume ideas.  Here are some designs, and the costumes that they became. At Disguise, I provide the design concept, which is interpreted by a costume designer. If graphics are needed, that is handled by the Creative Services department. Once they have a mock up of a costume, I give input on the construction and graphics. We only have an allotted amount of money to  work with, so more often than not, we cannot afford some of the elements in my designs. In most cases, I also sculpt and paint the components that accompany the costumes.  Click on any of the images to see full size.

For these two military designs, I  had some time to think through and develop them properly. Everything was done in Photoshop. The completed costumes turned out OK, but there was so much more I would have loved to see.



I'm a huge industrial goth fan so when they asked for me to contribute to the Rot"N" Rocker line, I jumped at the chance to make the creepiest rocker on earth. Even though we could not afford to do the pants,  I was very impressed by how it all come out in the final costume.


This was originally going to be a vampire knight, but the executives didn't get it. So, he became the black knight once I added a helmet. My initial inspiration was in re-purposing a chest piece I did on a costume that was canceled a few years back. I thought with a new paint job that it was worth saving. So far, the buyer response has been great.


I had such high hopes for this one when I designed it. I was responsible for the sculpts and am proud of them, but the actual costume really falls short.


I was trying to make these designs with the parchment back round look; like they all came from the same world, ancient, and horrific. Here are a couple more  that I really liked. The Crypt vampire made it as an essential costume, but "The Monster" lost over the Black Knight and Reaper.

This was a fun little design I did in 2008. They were looking for a twist on a skeleton costume. I was inspired by things I'd seen in some issues of Heavy Metal comics.

 This is my all-time favorite costume I did for Disguise back in mid 2000. No one was saying, make a demon, or vampire, so I made what I wanted to make. I did dozens of sketches, but the one pictured is the closest to how it turned out. It looked amazing, but we could not get the factory to make the vacuum-form plastic armor in the correct thickness resulting in a brittle costume.

  These are other designs for the Biomech that I would still love to make.

I've done tons on ninjas, but these two represent two of my favorite designs.  The one on the left is supposed to be the very first ninja from ancient barbaric times, and the one on the right is a modern day ninja. Both are from the same clan and share a dragon insignia on their belts.
 Every boy at age 7 or 8 wants to be a ninja, I know this because I was.

 This was a idea and design I had for a pitch to try and get the Star Wars license. It never saw the light of day, but it was a blast to work on.

Once in a while I like to just draw stuff in my spare time at home. This was a fun project I did in 2008 that taught me a lot about coloring in Photoshop.