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Gallery
by and Interview with
Ray Caesar
© ART copyright Ray Caesar
2004
©
INTERVIEW copyright Brentley Frazer - Editor -
Retort Magazine 2004
CLICK
HERE FOR THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA ARCHIVE
COPY OF THE ORIGINAL 2004 INTERVIEW - MORE IMAGES
-
Welcome Ray, and thank you for taking
the time for this interview. For those who don’t
know you, tell us a bit about your background
and how you came to be making art for a living.
Well! I started out going to school and working
as a architect then somehow got into medical graphics
and later in life worked for several years in
animation and special effects. In between all
that I have done questionable things like the
time I sold pantyhose as a sideline business and
a serious attempt at becoming a MUFON investigator
( Mutual UFO Network ). I spent 17 years working
in a Children's hospital and I suppose that's
why I am making these images today. I saw so much
in that place that I can hardly talk or think
about it without becoming emotional. I hated making
art for so many years, It never occurred to me
to show it in a gallery and I didn't even want
to put it up on my own wall. The act of making
it was not pleasant but for some reason it was
an obsession. I made a valiant attempt to quit
and was doing quite well when My mother, Sister
passed away from Cancer a few years ago. Now I
had always had strange dreams and used to talk
to people who apparently weren't there when I
was a kid but all that started happening again
especially after the death of my Mother. She was
always a bit strange and if anyone could find
a way to come back and scare the shit out of me
she was the one to do it. Anyway I started making
pictures again and contacted a gallery for the
first time on a whim. Now I am making art for
a living........I guess my Mom was right after
all....trust her to have the last word.
- As those familiar with you and your
work know, you were born a dog – what was
it like for a dog at art school, and today, do
you experience any ill treatment for being a dog
in the often ‘dog eat dog’ world of
the creative arts? Have you been bitten?
Yes! I was born in the year of the dog, 1958 in
South London, my family was exiled from England
for displeasing the Royal family.
Art school was a long time ago for me and all
I do remember is that it didn't go to well........all
I can remember is that there were a lot of "Hippies"
and that it is dangerous to run while wearing
bellbottoms. The "Dog eat Dog" world
of art certainly applies to the film industry,
I worked for a some years in Special Effects for
film and TV and I never saw such a cut throat
business full of some rather crazy aggressive
people whom I still love.....I had a really good
time though and recommend it as a career choice
to anyone.
I have bitten more than I have been bitten but
then who hasn't bitten or been bitten, Its not
the bite but the bark that scares me........bites
heal but words stay with you.
-
Let me ask you about the image – Companion
– which is one of the first pictures one
is confronted with when visiting your website.
Is the flea huge or is the girl tiny?
I think they are just the right size........parasites
need love too and we need their love........the
piece for me is about guilt and how we feed it
and nourish it and keep it with us always............I
like to play "Fetch" with guilt as its
fun to see it run away and come back. Guilt feeds
of the very eccence of us and there is a bond
of unconditional love that is hard to break.
-
What or who in the history of art would you describe
as a major influence on your creative outlook?
It all began at age 7 when I got a book by Dali,
I had never seen anything like it but his work
reminded me of something...even at 7 I knew there
was this other place...a distant familiar place
but strange. I used to sleep with that book under
my pillow...in retrospect that may not have been
a good idea. I love the French Genre art of the
18th century and of all the art books I have,
these are surrounding me as I work, I read them
before going to bed. Boucher, Fragonard, Perronnau
and Chardin, Drouais, Watteau. I also love the
Pin up art of Vargas and the early American realists
like George Tooker and Paul Cadmus but I have
to say I love the work of Joseph Cornell, he is
just fine.
Art aside the biggest influence would have to
be working in The Hospital for Sick Children.
Its the sole reason I am making art because without
those kids I wouldn't need any of the artists
above to influence me. I live my dreams everyday
for those that didn't get a chance to live theirs
...to do otherwise would be a sin.
-
One of my favorite Caesar images is The Burden
of Her Memories – can you please explain
what caused you to dream up such a repugnant and
beautiful thing?
Unfortunately
I created that just after the death of my Sister
Jackie. She struggled for a long year with cancer
and I saw the effect this disease had on everyone
who loved her. My wife Jane works in a Cancer
hospital as a Oncology pharmacist dealing with
new study drugs and as we grow older more friends
and friends of friends that are affected by this
disease find Jane to be a source of knowledge
and comfort. I suppose I see my wife who is such
a gentle kind person always having to deal with
loss or comforting someone who is facing what
can only be there biggest and final challenge.
Its not a easy life for her and I see the burden
she bears as part of who she is.........I have
been nominated for awards and have got to walk
down red carpets but the people like my wife who's
work and kindness bring hope and comfort...well
where are the red carpets for them?
I
suppose in "Burden of her Memories"
I tried to manifest the feeling that comes with
weight of unbearable things, we have all had that
feeling or will eventually.............Its also
my favorite piece too.
-
To me your paintings are like old world future
jetsons robots with weird alien heads and weedy
brass bed limbs and I love them – how would
you describe your art to someone who has not seen
it?
People
think I paint pictures of children....I don't!
I paint pictures of the human soul...that alluring
image of the hidden part of ourselves......some
call them ghosts or spirits but I see them as
the image of who we truly are, made manifest with
all the objects and bruises that filled the story
of each life. Like a wonderful old book you find
that captures you with the mystery of the main
character you read the beginning and fall under
its spell and become unaware of the real nature
of reality because you are absorbed by the story
till its end. I figure that's what life is and
if you cherished a piece of music or an old jewelry
box or favorite chair they become part of your
soul just as you leave a part of yourself in those
objects when you leave this world..............next
time your in an antique shop ..quiet your mind
and you will hear all the voices embedded in all
of those old things.......you will hear them singing
to you.
- You make no secret of your methodology, fronting
straight up about creating your paintings digitally
on your website. Also on this page you touch on
the subject of mathematical probability and allude
to the idea that perhaps ‘reality’
may not be so different to space on a hard drive.
Can you tell us a bit more about your philosophical
ideas and how they potentially manifest in your
art?
I
will take a bit of liberty here from Michael Talbot
who wrote "Holographic Universe" he
writes about how Alan Aspect and his team discovered
that under certain circumstances subatomic particles
such as electrons are able to instantaneously
communicate with each other regardless of the
distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether
they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart. I
have heard recently that scientists are exploring
this in the design of computers. "Using modern
quantum physics, scientists have determined that
mysterious light particles could behave in a manner
that smashes conventional roadblocks in the way
of creating much more powerful computer parts.
" a fairly recent article I am sure the chaps
at CNN have something on this.
Talbot also writes about University of London
physicist David Bohm, for example, he believes
Aspect's findings imply that objective reality
does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity
the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic
and splendidly detailed hologram. Working independently
in the field of brain research, Standford neurophysiologist
Karl Pribram has also become persuaded of the
holographic nature of reality. Pribram was drawn
to the holographic model by the puzzle of how
and where memories are stored in the brain. For
decades numerous studies have shown that rather
than being confined to a specific location, memories
are dispersed throughout the brain. Then in the
1960s Pribram encountered the concept of holography
and realized he had found the explanation brain
scientists had been looking for. Pribram believes
memories are encoded not in neurons, or small
groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve
impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the
same way that patterns of laser light interference
crisscross the entire area of a piece of film
containing a holographic image. In other words,
Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram.
Who Knows....its probably best to just live and
have some fun........we will all find out this
shit soon enough.......Michael Talbot knows cos
he's now dead.
- How did you make art before 3D modeling
technology came along?
oils,
acrylic, sculpture, airbrush, ink, photography
.......its all good..the making of images and
objects. I used the first 3d stuff about 17 years
ago on a teeny weenie mac with a teeny tiny monitor.
Personally I love the challenge of making art
with something as coldly technical as a computer,
something so many people hate. I still think traditional
methods haven't been fully explored and still
love moving paint on canvas or a pencil on paper.......Its
all good. I say the best response to all the destruction
in this world is to create, use anything and everything,
but just create......I love a Child's drawing
as much as I love a painting by a great master,
they both contain a vibrant energy of creative
hope. Whether on a computer or on a cave wall,
the making of images is a form of communication
that allows the artist to express their love,
their sense of beauty, passion or rage. I am proud
of the long tradition I come from of image makers..........Its
all good.
In
your bio you speak of having attained award nominations
for your work in film and television, can you
tell us a little more about your experience as
a creative artist working in major media?
I worked for GVFX in Toronto for some years as
a senior 3D guy and occasionally had to clean
up the kitchen because they told me I often left
it in a mess. I did a lot of character work and
animated digital matt paintings and washed a lot
of dishes with a big yellow sponge. I got nominated
for an Emmy and a Gemini and Monitor awards for
a strange little show called "Total Recall
2070" in which I designed, modeled and animated
flythroughs of a future Philip K Dyck Blade runnerish
Cities. It was a lot of fun because I worked nights
and no one could tell me what to do and in the
morning they just looked at what I made during
the night and said OK! lets use that. I also worked
on the TV series of Stargate and Relic Hunter.
Cheesy Sci Fi shows are the best to work on as
low budgets give you a level of freedom you will
never see in the big houses.
I didn't win the Emmy as Star Trek did but I did
get to wear a cummerbund and drink scotch in a
limo and spoke to Charles Nelson Riley in the
Men's room of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
-
Ray, again, thank you very much for your time.
CLICK
HERE FOR THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA ARCHIVE
COPY OF THE ORIGINAL 2004 INTERVIEW - MORE IMAGES
Ray
Caesar
© ART copyright Ray Caesar
2004
©
INTERVIEW copyright Brentley Frazer - Editor -
Retort Magazine 2004
Visit
the Artists website at http://www.raycaesar.com
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