Ray Caesar
Special thanks to my friend Jonathan for introducing me to the work of artist Ray Caesar. I instantly fell in love with Ray's fantastic, surreal and perhaps a bit disturbing art. I inquired as to the possibility of purchasing one of Ray's Most Excellent creations, but was told that almost all were already sold and new work may not be available until sometime this year. The method that Ray uses to create these marvelous images is described below. This information is taken directly from his website. I encourage anyone interested in surreal art to explore the site: http://www.raycaesar.com
Ebb Tide ;-)"My work is entirely digital, from its creation to its method of printing. I create models in a three dimensional modeling software and cover these models with painted and manipulated photographic textures that wrap around them like a map on a globe. Each model is then set up with a invisible skeleton that allows me to pose and position the figure in its three dimensional environment. Digital lights and cameras are added with shadows and reflections simulating that of a real world.
First the models are sculpted similar to pushing and pulling the surface of a piece of clay. I am often reminded of being in preschool with my huge chunk of plasticene. I once modeled a plasticene shoe but my father forbade me to wear it in public. I then create an inner structure of joints similar to a skeleton that allows me to pose the figure with a spine, shoulders, elbows and even finger joints. Many heads are modeled with many a different expression and these can be blended to create a subtle look similar to the one my wife has when I have done something suspicious.
I color the models first in a very simple way, then each surface in the model is wrapped with a texture that may be painted digitally such as a flower petal or from a digital photograph such as a wood surface. I collect textures the way some people collect little silver spoons and I have a story about each texture in my collection such as the one about my father's hip operation scar or the picture I convinced my gastroenterologist to give me of the inside of my colon. My favorite textures to collect are skin textures, as I have a legitimate excuse to ask people to expose large areas of bare skin.
Lights are introduced with casting shadows and cameras with all the properties of real world cameras can be set up and positioned. Atmosphere and fog fill the environment. Grass is grown, leaves sprout from the limbs of trees.
As my work is printed I am often asked about my original, but it exists only in the computer in a dimensional world of depth, width and height. I am fascinated by the concept that this 3 dimensional space exists much as another reality and even though I turn the computer off, I am haunted by the fact that this space is still there existing in a mathematical probability, and the space that we live in now might not be all that different."
- Ray Caesar
Power and Glory
Hally Lou
Madre
Consort
Sanctuary
Pollux
Blessed, (detail at title of blog entry - above)