Yes, I suppose I’m responsible for a lot of childhood traumas…
(Above: Popeye 3-D print digitally sculpted by Rick Baker in Z brush, Halloween costumes for Rick Baker‘s daughters latex masks sculpted traditionally by Rick Baker/Costumes by Rick and Silvia Baker, “Thorn”, acrylic on canvas and “Max IlLa”, acrylic on canvas)
Do you feel a sense of loss when the paintings leave your studio or are you happy that they find new homes with their new victims/patrons?
This is the first time that I have sold my originals . I have given paintings to friends before but to be honest I don’t have any wall space left so I figured it would be better to have them in someone else’s house than stacked up in a back room of my studio.
I wasn’t planning on have a show I just was having fun painting and it got out of control. I did about twenty five paintings. And they were all over the place and when I was asked from Copro if I would be interested in having a show it was kind of a no brainer.
Ok, now is the part of the interview where I blame you for my childhood traumas, namely a creature called Cow Man. You created the SFX for The Tobe Hooper directed Fun House movie a picture of Cow Man, one of the hideous mutant monsters in the film graced the cover of Fangoria magazine and was proudly displayed on my older brother’s wall above his bed. We shared a room, so every morning, the first thing that I saw was Cow Man and that Zombie cover with the eye worms. So, where should I send you the invoice for the years of trauma therapy?
Yes, I suppose I’m responsible for a lot of childhood traumas. The cow man as you call him started out based on a real deformed man. But I felt it was not right to make this guy’s deformation a monster so I styled him a bit. Made him more extreme .
I hear rumor that there will be a special guest at your showing; a pipe smoking vegetable addict with vision problems… Can you tell us a little bit about him?
Ah yes, my Popeye. I did him many years ago while I was beta testing the first version of zbrush with sub tools. He started out as a portrait of my father and continued to mutate into this old Popeye character . When I got my first 3D printer I printed a little version of him and then years later this one to one . There will be other special guest too. Nosferatu, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and many more.
Will he be working security and do you pay him in canned spinach?
Well he doesn’t have any arms or a body so he is no good for security and once I sat him on his pedestal he can’t move so I figured I didn’t need to feed him.
See more of the Rick Baker – The Good, Bad & Ugly (mostly ugly) show at Copro Gallery in person or online here.
(Below: More paintings from the show at Copro Gallery)
