Gallery show in January at the Copro 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!

	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

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!

Behind the Door Sculpture

At this point I started building the set using 1/8" & 1/4" sign white acrylic sheets. I leave the protective film on the acrylic until it is absolutely necessary to remove. The Deprivation chamber was a bitch to mount to that wall. It's about 15 lbs and 2 feet wide. I cleaned the casting of the door and carefully mounted it to the Deprivation tank with a hinge to make sure it worked. While ensuring the fit, the Deprivation tank fell and broke the door in 2. Luckily it was a clean break and I fixed it with no problem. Phew… These photos show the in progress sculpt of the inside of the door. I have a very narrow opening, so the puppet has to fit just right or the door won't open. I decided to have some fun and just free form this sculpture. My inspiration came from clams. I'm using 2 kinds of oil base clays, Monster makers and Chavant's Y2-Klay. I used the denser Y2 first by laying in a 1/4" layer for smoothing out the inside of the door and the soft waxy Monster Makers for the actual sculpt. Usually, sculptors don't mix 2 kinds of clay for one sculpture because it can get kind of messy, but for this particular sculpture I wanted to make sure I didn’t carve in too deep. Having a different color at the base of my sculpture kept me from doing that. I learned this technique when I worked for a tire company as a sculptor and mold maker for a brief period in my life. They used different colors of plaster to layer the tire in order to identify how deep they were carving for each pitch (groove in the tire). Pretty clever.

Maxi-pad Mold

I did a brush up mold on the door sculpture using Smooth On Mold Max 30 with an Ultracal jacket. It makes me laugh to look at this peculiar mold because it reminds me of a Maxi-Pad.

After de-molding, I cast one copy using another Smooth On product called Shell Shock; a brush-able resin that has a consistency between melted ice cream and peanut butter. As you can see the casting came out OK. Then it was time to clean it up and start the interior sculpture of the door.

Beginning the Sculpture

I started this sculpture by cannibalizing another sculpture. Ascaras is a soldier created to serve Syferous. I took a bad casting of Syferous and made some adjustments with my ban saw and dremel; then I mounted the remains onto a steel pipe about 8-inches off a 1 foot circular base. In this photo, the white parts are what I took from Syferous. The brown clay is a mixture of Super Sculpy and Fimo clay. This was only the beginning!