3D

Recap: SUBTERRANE @ Stranger Factory, 11.9

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Hot on the heels of the DesignerCon hustle, the CP crew packed up and hightailed it back to Albuquerque to prepare for SUBTERRANE at Stranger Factory — a group sculpture show featuring new works from emerging 3D artists Carisa Swenson, Yosiell Lorenzo, Shing Yin Khor, Valency Genis, Shea Brittain and Melita Curphy … the majority of whom also attended DCon! With almost all of the artists in attendance (we missed you, Melita!), the reception was a riot and a sugar-laden one at that, thanks to our friends at Rebel Donut.

SUBTERRANE is on display through Dec. 3rd and works can be viewed here. A full gallery of the evening’s tomfoolery awaits you after the break.

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Not Your Heaven and Not Your Hell: New Illustrations from Teodoru Badiu

Teodoru Badiu’s been busy at work in the studio rendering up some new 3D characters and dreamscapes just in time for All Hallow’s Eve. Entitled “Not Your Heaven and Not Your Hell,” the new body of work was created just for kicks, but I’d like to think they’d make made some snazzy prints or sculpts, no? (Skeleton ghost! Skeleton ghost!)

Teo’s characters often possess an intriguing duality of innocence and mischief that leaves the viewer with a feeling of uneasiness, like they can’t entirely be trusted. Should we follow them?

See more from this collection via Teodoru’s Behance portfolio. Also be sure to pop by his site for a romp about his world and a 101 on the works of the newest member of Circus Posterus!

Startling Art! A Conversation with Dennis Larkins

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I’d be willing to bet that most of you know Dennis Larkins’ work and don’t even know it. Despite his expansive, 40-year-plus art career as a 3D painter and being one of the major players in LA’s Lowbrow movement in the ’80s and ’90s, Larkins is probably best known for his rock art, having created some of the Grateful Dead’s most famous gig posters for their now legendary stints at the Warfield in San Fran and NYC’s Radio City Music Hall in October 1980.

Like many artists, Larkins was well accustomed to having parallel careers, working as a scenic artist, set designer and rock n’ roll art director, while still actively pursuing his own artistic exploits. In the late ’80s, he went from Dead artist to Disney Imagineer, designing exhibits and attractions for Disneyland and Disney World.

But then there was the other side of Larkins’ work: the sci-fi nerdery, the dark humor, the sculpted dimensional relief … this is where it gets particularly interesting, at least from a designer toy standpoint.

Let me put it this way: the whole premise behind the toy movement was to redefine the canvas; to take characters from a 2 dimensional world and reimagine them in 3D. To make them tangible, ‘real’, and in a form that is more interactive for the collector. Well, Larkins had a similar idea about 30 years prior, but did it without abandoning the canvas. Instead, he started building upon it. Using foam, rubber and various plastics, Larkins pioneered a whole new chapter of conceptual realism. By applying a combination of low- and high-relief sculpture right onto the canvas, he’s able to create the illusion of an entire scene popping out at us. Some paintings have many layers, some only a few, but even his ‘deepest’, most complex pieces never exceed five inches. This was entirely new to the art scene in the 70s and transformed the canvas’ expressivity.

I recently caught up with Larkins to discuss his work, his plans with Stranger Factory and his move back to Santa Fe, NM, from LA after a 20 year absence.

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