Art Exhibition

Hello everyone!

Just a quick word to let you know where you can see my work around halloween!

First of all, beginning on october 19th and running until christmas, my latest oils will be on show at the art gallery "Le Mur Insolite", which I mentionned a few times until today. The gallery was an old convenience store that has been transformed in a dark artist's haven and now works hard to bring the unusual and the bizarre to the general population.

Also on display will be one of my shrunken heads, my hand of glory, and my feejee mermaid, all of which will be available for sale.

For those who can't make it to Quebec City but live close to Montreal, until halloween, I will have a few oils & watercolors on display at the Usine 106U gallery near the Plateau Mont-Royal.

Live Painting at the Temps Partiel

Last friday, I had the chance to share the stage with my friend and incredibly talented artist Marie-Pier Lapointe at the Temps Partiel, painting a large, 30" x 60" canvas in front of the bar patrons, in under 3 hours.

That night at the bar was actually a fundraiser for Le Mur Insolite, the darkest, friendliest, most bizarre gallery in the province of Quebec. While we tried to give something to watch with our painting, DJ Kronos was spinning great industrial music, tickets to win two gorgeous pendants by local artist Rottenz were sold and the gallery kept about 15% of all sales of alcohol, courtesy of the bar.

While the evening started with the bar almost empty with the worst thunderstorm I've seen in years raging outside, it ended up being a success, bringing about 400$ to the gallery, and an invitation from the Temps Partiel to do that again every three months.

The finished canvas is now on sale at the Mur Insolite.

Dead Citizen - From The Void Above

Hey there guys!

For the last few months, I had been working here and there on the design and illustrations of a concept album, produced by a talented, passionate local progressive metal band called Dead Citizen.

The lyrics from the album tell a story, and it was my job to create the universe around it. I'm very grateful towards the band members for giving me a chance to make their work come to life, so to speak, and I've designed every element, from the band's new logo, to the humongous bio-mechanical antenna towering over the city in which the story takes place, including an illustration for each single song.

Now, the album will finally be released. If by any chance, some of you are around Quebec City on the 8th of June, stop by the Temps Partiel, a friendly local alternative bar, at around 21pm, to attend the release party.

The band will play the album live for you guys, with Mire doing the opening.

I'll be there, enjoying the show while downing a few cold ones with a couple of friends, and the album will be on sale, though I don't know at which price.

Here's the facebook event if you're interested!

Facebook Page

Hey there guys!

 I just finished setting up a page on facebook on which I'll post my creative work. On there I'll post work in progress shots, some insight about my work, interesting events and whatever artsy stuff I found on the net that tickled my fancy.

 You can also see what I have to offer on sale, often at prices lower than on my etsy shop.

 Please take a look, and if you like what I do, follow me! I'll try not to disappoint ;)

LINK

Artist Feature - Michael Hussar

Born in 1964 in Southern California, Michael Hussar is an american oil painter who works in a style reminiscent of the work of the old masters, with the talent to go with it.

Self Portrait, Oil on Canvas, 2001

Trained at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, he taught portraiture for almost 10 years at his alma mater some time following his graduation. He possess a great mastery of alla prima portraiture, but still, his best work lies in the grandiose, opulent canvases, in which he depicts in a voyeuristic approach a grotesque menagerie of freaks and libertines.

A Few Sketches

Banker - done in class instead of animating

I don't have much to talk about these days, so I thought I'd post a few sketches that I might paint over later.

Transi sculpture finished! yay!

I'm done sculpting my transi. There's still a little smoothing to be down here and there, but otherwise, it's done and ready for molding.

I'm still debating about the molding process... I'll probably do an alginate mold, from which I'll cast a resin copy, which I will use to create a reusable, stronger mold out of latex.

I could do a latex mold right ahead but i'm not sure if the oil from the clay would halt the curing process of the latex... I need to do a bit of research.

Here's some pictures of the finished sculpture and one taken besides my shoe to give you an idea of the size of the future candles.

Transi update

I've been working again on my transi sculpture. I added flesh to the face, made the ribs stick out more, and started making a shroud hanging from the character's hips.







Just a couple hours more and I'll be ready to mold it. I can't wait!

Transi - Work in progress

I was feeling the urge to sculpt, so guess what I did?


exactly! I satisfied this urge!

The project I'm currently working on right now is a small oil-based clay Transi. A transi is a type of funerary monument which were most popular during the XVth and XVIth centuries, however examples of this type of monument started to appear during the XIVth century.

Unlike the popular gisant, which is a life-sized statue of the deceased in a peaceful, sleeping position, the transi presents the deceased as it truly is; A horrible, decomposing corpse, its skin tightly stretched over dry bones, in an eternal skeletal grin.

I absolutely ADORE this type of funerary monument, for it presents the true horror of death, without romanticizing it as with the gisants.

Of course, I'm not yet ready to do a full scale transi; my idea was to make a smallish sculpture, mold it, and cast candles from it. The symbolism of the body slowly melting and burning away as the candle burns goes hand to hand with what the traditional transis symbolizes.

To begin, I needed clay; I used the same type of clay with which I made my tsantsa, a cheap oil-based clay sold for 2$/pound. This type of clay won't dry, is very firm when cold, and softens as it heats up, making it perfect for detailed sculptures.

I use very few tools during the sculpting process; A small "ribbon" tool (I don't know the english name, but it's called a mirette in french), a knife, a wooden modelling tool (called an ébauchoir in french, I don't have any idea what it's called in english), a brush with alcohol to smoothen the clay, and a few toothpicks and needles.

I also fashioned a stand out of thick scraps of wood so I don't have to bend down as much while working on the sculpture.



Reference when doing anatomical work is also very important; During the sculpting process, I refer to the fifth edition of Gray's Anatomy. My copy is from 1870, but new editions are easy to find on ebay and amazon. However, I don't recommend this book if you're not familiar with human proportions, as it does not contain full-body illustrations.



As you can see, I'm also using a skull replica as a guide; the fact that it is in 3D makes it more practical.


Here's an example of what kind of illustrations you can expect to find in gray's anatomy. Although very detailed, only smallish parts of the human body are represented.

Once you've got all your tools, pictures, anatomical models and whatnot, you're ready to start!

Sculpting is like drawing; it's easier if you do a sketch first. There's no hurry to work on the details.



Here's a view of the front and back of my "sketch". The goal is to simply map out the pose, shape and proportions of the body. As you can see, I've left the head out. I personally prefer to work on the body first. There is also no legs nor arms; I'm not planning to add any, I only want a torso and a head.

Once this is done, you'll want to start working on the musculature; filling up some parts and removing clay from others to make it actually look like something. Knowing what to add and what to remove is a matter of practice, actually; most beginner sculptors will be afraid to remove too much clay, and end up with blocky results.



This, however, is a bit too skeletal for my tastes. I added small pieces of clay using my anatomy book as a guide to plump up the sculpture a bit.





Here, you have a shot of the back. Another common mistake is to work damn hard on the front without caring about the back, which can cause distortion and other problems in the finished product.


I've worked a bit more on the general shape of the body, and added a lump of clay on the neck so I can begin the head. Since the lump of clay I used for the head is still soft and warm from being kneaded, I let it cool down and harden a bit before working on the skull.



Here, you can see the skull slowly taking shape.

I still have a lot of work to do, but this still can give you an idea of what the finished product will look like.

I'll keep you updated when I finish the sculpture, with info on sculpting the details.

Wax anatomical model making

Wax has been for a long time the most used material in the creation of anatomical models. At wellcomecollection.com, a video has been put online showing briefly how Eleanor Crook, a modern wax model maker, creates her beautiful works of art.

WATCH IT NOW!

This video gives us just a peek of what is to come at the wellcome collection's art show "Exquisite Bodies", showcasing antique and modern anatomical models. Definitively worth a visite; too bad I can't afford the trip!

Bodies - The Exhibition

Quebec City has the chance this summer to welcome a most interesting and unusual exhibition. Bodies, The Exhibition, is organized by Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. and features a large number of plastinated, dry and wet preserved human specimens.

As with the famous exhibition Body Worlds by Gunther Von Hagens, Bodies presents the human body as the beautiful and complex machine it is by installing various full bodies and body parts in artistic poses revealing how the body works.

It is as intriguing and strange as it is beautiful, and I had the chance to go take a peek yesterday.

The skeletal, mucular, nervous and vascular systems are all covered, as are sexuality and pregnancy, various diseases, and how medicine can heal, repair and modify the body.

The room presenting the circulatory system is alone worth the visit. On a few models, only the veins and arteries are preserved, and colored a bright red. The room itself is plunged in darkness and these specimens are brightly underlit, giving them the appearance of glowing lace. Absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing.

If such an exhibit takes place near your town, do yourself a favor and go see it, it is well worth the price. Watching pictures on the net or seeing wax or plastic models can't be compared to seeing the real thing!



Bodies - official page

Painted Hog's Skull

This winter, I stuffed a pig's head for a friend's short movie. This experience in taxidermy didn't turn out very well; I didn't degrease the skin correctly so it didn't cure fully. However, it worked great for my friend's movie;

As a result, I had a pig's skull laying in my basement. I finally used it in a sculpture made for a class in college:
Giorgio by *ars-anima on deviantART

At the end of college, I couldn't bring that tall thing home, so I just ripped off the skull and threw the rest away.

I was once again stuck with that skull, without knowing what to do with it.

Inspirationg struck two days ago while I was bored out of my skull (HAHA A PUN! YES! I ROCK!). This skull SHALL BE PAINTED, proclaimed-I!

Thus I began ripping all the lights, silicone, wire and urethane out of it.

This done, I started painting the skull without any sketch or whatever. I used Delta craft paints; the opacity and fluidity of a quality craft paint makes it perfect for such a job. I didn't try to follow any ritual or traditional pattern; I just painted following as much as I could the natural shape of the skull. (sorry if you have to turn your head 90°, I'm too lazy to rotate the pictures)

I tried to use mainly bright colours to give it a gipsy or voodoo appearance; of course, just a few icons painted on leaving lots of the natural color, or a darker theme would look just as good if not better.

Once the main painting job was done, I sanded the hell out of the skull using a coarse grain sandpaper, and also a very fine one to give it a polished with us texture. Afterwards, I applied a nice coat of stain made of coffee, acrylic paints, white glue and varnish. Wood stain followed with a coat of varnish would have worked just as good if not better, but I didn't have any at hand.

There ya go!

old, dirty, and ready to hang!

If you wish to try your hand at skull painting, you can find already clean skulls on Ebay, or go take a look at The Bone Room or Skulls Unlimited. Be warned though that professionally cleaned bones tended to be expensive; If you're not squeamish, cleaning the skulls of roadkill or of heads bought at a slaughterhouse is a damn cheap option. The whole hog's head I used, who's meat was turned into great headcheese by my wonderful mom, cost just 10$ at the slaughterhouse.