Making things I think are cool since the Eighties
Maybe not just a guy with a lot of hobbies.
I am a self-taught artist who could never really pin down the one thing I liked to do. Master of none has been the throughline in my artistic journey. I grew up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, a product of family vacations to museums and historical sites and '80s movies and TV shows.
Nostalgia has played a big part in my art. More and more Nostalgia for a past that doesn't exist, or only exists in our imagination. My son was quite young, and we were talking in the car on the way to daycare. He was talking about dragons. He said something about where they were now, and I corrected him. I said, quite matter-of-factly, "Dragons aren't real," and he started to cry. This was a profound moment for me. Until that moment, dragons were real to him. How could I have done that? Single-handedly wiped an entire creature from existence with just a few words.
This solidified what I had been doing with my art for years. Manifesting evidence of the things the little kid in me wishes existed. I've always been captivated by the strange and mysterious. I was a kid who grew up checking out VHS tapes of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World from the library, later was fascinated by the X-Files, Hellboy and discovering the origins of fairy tales and folklore stories.
Stories told visually.
In a world where computers dream up more "art" than people, I've come to appreciate the physical presence of sculpture. Folks are often reluctant to pick up my pieces; I respect the care they take when they do. That said, my sculptures have been handled throughout their creation, and you really miss something when you don't hold them.
I enjoy making imperfect things, working in little bits of history: a scar, a torn piece of clothing, or a missing hand. All these things come together to make something that seems that much more real. A character with stories, and it's not my job to tell them. What I want is to leave you the breadcrumbs to discover the stories.
I want my work to spark the imagination and restore some of the fantasy that the doldrums of everyday life have dampened. Physical artifacts that bridge the gap between myth and reality. A place where dragons can still be real.
Troll Merchant ~ Polymer clay, Leather, Fabric, Mixed Media.
Sold ~ 2019