Ray Caesar

September 17, 2004 9:37 PM

"I was born in London, England on October 26 1958, the youngest of four and much to my parent's surprise, I was born a dog." The rich inner life of artist Ray Caesar. {keep clicking to see details of prints}
posted by dobbs (14 comments total)

Laaaaaame.
posted by Photar at 10:13 PM on September 17, 2004

[this is cool]

His approach is interesting:

"My work is entirely digital, from its creation to its method of printing. I create models in a three dimensional modeling software and cover these models with painted and manipulated photographic textures that wrap around them like a map on a globe."
posted by dhoyt at 10:26 PM on September 17, 2004

I wonder, is there a formal or professional relationship between Ray Caesar and Mark Ryden? Their art seems very similar. (Also, I really like both bodies of work).
posted by funkbrain at 11:09 PM on September 17, 2004

He was formed by parthenogenesis?
posted by kindall at 11:38 PM on September 17, 2004

This is interesting. The girl reminds me of Elizabeth I, and, in fact, Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco and the pipe to Elizabeth's court "So that smoking gained in a little time, a fashionable and polite eclat... and Elizabeth herself was as familiar with a tobacco pipe as with her sceptre." I wonder if it is just a coinckidinki, or if it's the point of the image. It's called "Merchant Study", which makes sense because Raleigh had rights to the spoils of the new world (Virginia, in this case) and his canny tobacco marketing campaign surely made him very rich.

But now, looking at this one, I'm not so sure... Anyway, as with Ryden, I like this sort of "steampunk" (for lack of a better word - what is a better word?) imagery with its deadpan wedding of the ethereal and the horrible.
posted by taz at 12:58 AM on September 18, 2004

Oops. Damn frames. Okay, let's try this again: This is interesting. Blah, blah, Walter Raleigh, blah, blah.... But now, looking at this one, I'm not so sure.

By the way, does anyone recognize the lighthouse in the photo on the bio page? It is depicted in this detail, I think, though the top is different. (Also, if you want to see Ray Caesar when he's not being a dog, scroll way, way down on the bio page.)
posted by taz at 1:47 AM on September 18, 2004

Laaaaaame. Actually, no, fantastic.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:28 AM on September 18, 2004

He's obviously the bastard child of Mark Ryden and Loretta Lux. Not a dog at all, although I do love his bio.

Also, if you want to see Ray Caesar when he's not being a dog, scroll way, way down on the bio page

Ok I take that back. He's obviously the bastard child of Armand Assante and Frank Langella.
posted by iconomy at 5:32 AM on September 18, 2004

These are fucking wicked. The cat one makes me think of Descartes.
posted by ed\26h at 5:47 AM on September 18, 2004

thanks dobbs. i like these alot.
posted by kv at 6:17 AM on September 18, 2004

These images really are beautiful - but they really are quite disturbing.

I'm actually not sure that I should like them so much but the attention to detail is amazing. The very clever thing abut them is that you can't quite place what era they are representing, you have the 17th and 18th centuries, and then there is a huge influence by the 50's and 60's and a little bit of the future chucked in for good measure.

I'd thought I'd seen this artist's work before but thanks to funkbrain's link to Mark Ryden (whose work I recognised) I can see the similarities of the two.
posted by floanna at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2004

photar: can you be more...specific?

thanks, dobbs. and he's a fellow torontonian: cool.
posted by Badmichelle at 10:24 AM on September 18, 2004

These are very cool. Thanks dobbs.
posted by biscotti at 10:59 AM on September 18, 2004

WOW! Thanks, dobbs!
posted by Shane at 7:01 PM on September 19, 2004