For me, art is a voyage of discovery. I am as surprised by the art I create as anyone else who views it. Though I constantly strive to improve my skills, I am much more interested in creating something new (and hopefully beautiful) under the sun than in craftsmanship. I feel that photography has superseded other forms of art when it comes to reproducing the external world -it is the interior landscape that I strive to explore and reveal.
BIO
Born in Paris, France in 1950. Moved to New York when I was 5 years old. From an early age, developed an (unhealthy? obsessive?) interest in fantasy, science fiction, surrealism and anything that was beautiful and mysterious. My parents called me "Jean de la Lune" because I was often distracted by things that they couldn't understand. Also had an aptitude for drawing from an early age, but never really pursued it seriously back then. Went away to college in 1967, at the time that the psychedelic zeitgeist was reaching critical mass & got swept up in the maelstrom. Ego disintegrated & a new one rose like a phoenix from the ashes. Began drawing & painting in a stream-of-consciousness mode, bypassing the rational mind. Fell in love, moved to Berkeley, California, and had a son. Took art classes (illustration, figure drawing, portraiture, color theory, etc.). In the late 70's, began playing with computers. Learned to program & wrote simple applications for generating visual patterns. Having no real aptitude for marketing my artwork, I instead embarked on a career in information technology, which lasted 22 years, at which time I quit (in May of 2003). My current incarnation as a digital artist began with the first release of Fractal Design Painter. I experienced a breakthrough with the first release of Bryce, which was the medium that enabled me to finally satisfy my creative impulses. I use many other supporting pieces of software (Amorphium, Poser, & several others), but they only provide me with input for Bryce. All of my images are rendered only in Bryce, with no post-processing at all. Each of them starts with a bare-bones idea or model or texture which I then attempt to allow to evolve in whatever direction "it" decides & which I have never been able to predict. I obsessively tweak shapes, colors, textures, & visual relationships until the image seems "right". If the final result is somewhat disturbing and disorienting, yet at the same time beautiful, then I have succeeded...
Comments (6)
mps
Excellent image. Happy New Year to you
ralphwarnick
Interesting image, strangely candy like, Happy New Year!
peedy
Fantastic image and lighting. Happy New Year! Corrie
Anjour
Beautiful work,...Happy New Year :)
pat40
Wonderful image.
anahata.c
Well I'm finally commenting here, and figuring out where to 'start' wasn't easy as anyplace I start is an equally vivid experience. I'm sorry to hear that you and your family had had a difficult year (from your description), and hope it's gotten much better since. I'm really drawn in by your sensibilities: Even in a piece like this---which is more fancy-free than some of the others---you have a sense of formal celebration in many of the creatures and objects. A central "metal vase"---that gold-red receptacle in the center of the piece, in front of the long-necked pink creature---looks like a ceremonious incense burner, with ceremonial carvings all around it, almost buddhist...And there's a big sundae-like bowl, with many layers, to the right of that---the one with the green "glass" and all those pinks: That too feels very celebratory, with forms which look mandala-like to me. It looks like a big sumptuous dessert. Your creatures are fascinating and so playful. One---in the back, ie the big pink one---could be a rock formation; but it also feels like a living thing with wonderful decoration on it. And it has another creature suspended from its tail (or nose), like a gigantic insect who hung on him for the view. (That suspended creature is wonderful.) The creature, front-left, has tentacles stretching into the water. This is a very bright and childlike piece, fitting for a children's book. And with all that formal celebratory/ceremonial design, it feels very old too. I really like this.