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| art by Ray Caesar |
Ray Caesar is a 3D digital artist. Although his works are created in the same way movies like Shrek are – his works look more like strange and wonderful oil paintings of bygone eras (from Georgian to Victorian to the 1950s). That is one thing that sets this artist a part from others. - you can't tell how his art is made. He not only creates beautifully creepy other-wordly scenes that look like paintings but he actually creates mini worlds with hidden secrets in them that only he knows. For instance, the furniture in the scenes has drawers and inside those drawers are secret objects that the viewer is not always given permission to see. And underneath the beautiful dresses that adorn his characters, are stitches and scars and anatomically correct bits.
If you were to read his biography on his website you will find that he, as he says 'much to his parent's surprise' was born a dog in London on October 26th 1958. His family later moved to Canada where he still lives. He went to art school and had various jobs such as (and in his own words) 'designing horrible buildings in architectural studios, working in medical art facilities, digital service bureaus, suspicious casino computer game companies, eventually working at computer modeling, digital animation and visual effects for television and film.'
The job that haunts his subconcious and influences his art and life though - was working in a children's hospital. For 17 years he did various jobs for the hospital such as 'working in the photographic department that documented such things as child abuse, surgical reconstruction, all manner of abnormalities in children and how they progress as they grow, he drew medical drawings of dogs and sheep in animal research facilities in the research center and over the many years worked with all the strange and unusual things one finds in such a place. One day he might have been working on an animation of the cryogenic removal of a tumor… another day he would have helped build a board game for a brain damaged child to asses the severity.' It is evident in his work how deeply this period in his life has affected him. Most of his works are of children often wearing bat or cat costumes and with over-sized heads and strange appendages. He says about the worlds that he creates, that he is creating a safe haven for these souls and their appendages and objects that come with them are a part of who these souls are. They are divine child-like creatures and their appendages are sort of like badges of honour like angel's wings that are there to protect them.
I think it is also interesting to note that Ray is a spiritual person who says that he has conversations with his deceased mother, sister and others. He has also had precognitive dreams and has had out of body experiences. Here is a recount of one of his experiences: ' When I was a child there was a lady who sat on a chair in the corner of my room. I never saw her come and go but she was often there when I was frightened or worried. She was kind and told me soft stories of things that are difficult to remember. I think she was always doing something with her hands like embroidery. My parents and family never spoke of her and sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and she would still be sitting there in the dark. I think I would like to meet her again one day when I am very very old and had enough of this world.'
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