DigitalAntiart Interview with Paul Gerrard
by Brandon Duncan

Name: Paul Gerrard
Alias: Sallow
Location: United Kingdom
Website: butterflysoldiers.com
deviantART: sallow.deviantart.com
E-Mail: pgerrard@butterflysoldiers.com

View Paul Gerrard’s Gallery »

I have been following Paul on DeviantArt for years. Every time he uploads a new image it immediately catches my eye. He has worked as a concept artist in the video games industry for Infograms/Atari and Ubisoft and is known for his gigantic digital prints. I’m excited and honored to have him be featured on DigitalAntiart.

How much inspiration you draw from video games, or are you too busy to actually play them yourself?

I play lots of games for my profession and occasionally at home. As far as inspiration though, none whatsoever. Its very rare that a game has any serious merit for me, character designs, creature designs are always for the most part aimed at the adolescent teen market. Man with robot arm vs large muscular mutant, you know the type of thing. Sure they are fun, bubble game entertainment but no more than that. I don’t blame the developers, they have an extremely tough time getting original games made ( speaking from experience ), the industry demands safe games or franchise games.

What games are you into and what do you like most about them?

Only games I play at home are old Mame Roms for nostalgia ( two crude dudes is currently my favourite ) and Fallout 3. Bethesda are one of those rare developers who have positioned themselves in such a way that they can almost do whatever they want and get published , and it shows. Fallout 3 is not without its flaws but is by far the best game Iv played in a long time. Again, it very rare to see this, so I have full respect for what they have achieved.

I’ve read that you are an Industrial Music fan and are inspired by Frontline Assembly. Being a fan of FLA and industrial music myself, I’m curious how you discovered this style of music?

You’re going back a long way now. I think it started with a band called Poisoned Electrick Head ( alternative electronic punk )… that I saw in the early 90’s. They got me interested in the alternative /industrial scene. Living in the North West of England it wasn’t too long before I got into the whole Sheffield industrial movement with bands such as Throbbing gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. At one point I got hold of FLA’s Tactical Neural Implant, have been hooked on that genre ever since.

You have done a few CD covers for some metal and Industrial Bands. How involved are you with the artists when doing such artwork? Do you ever get a chance to listen to the music before creating the artwork, or do you dive right in with whatever you have to go by?

Oh it’s a must that I listen to the tunes, speak to the artist and click with them. I do cd covers for fun, I make very little money out of doing these. The artists I like are mostly underground bands and cannot afford big bucks for cover work, I have at times done covers for free, simply because I love the music. Generally, particularly for industrial/alternative bands its a case of throw some CD’s my way and buy me a beer if we meet up at a gig in the future and you I’ll do u a cover.

I did alot of work for BLC productions, Brandon the record label producer/owner is simply warped, more so than me. Every time I thought, we have pushed these images as far as we can go, he would come up something even more disturbing and sordid. That was a lot of fun.

What are a few of CD’s you find particularly inspirational?

Anything that Jean-Luc De Meyer works on is pure golden. 32 Crash and Cobalt 60 get played 24/7. Some more favourites.. Penal Colony, Fields of the Nephilim, Numb, The Cassandra Complex and of course truly inspiring Clock DVA.

A lot of themes of Industrial Music revolve around the fusion of man and machine, the rise of a large, big-brother type and the reaction of the people, cloning, genetic engineering, etc. Your art also contains a lot of these themes. How much research into such themes do you do before starting a piece?

Everything you mentioned is already out there. We have the big brother, conglomerates controlling with fear and manipulation of a mass scale. We have the so called swine flu epidemic, or is that population control? We have the earth on the brink of implosion. I try to imagine worlds beyond this, fuse a spiritual path with occult influence. Look into the otherworld’s, worlds that were here before man and will be here long after we have blow our self up.

Regarding your imaginary weaponry, vehicles and machinery depicted in your art, do you look at diagrams and schematics of actual physical machines for reference or are they strictly from your imagination?

I have a ref library of images that I like, of machines and rusted/decayed object. But I use these only as textures and overlays. The concepts and images in the art are always out of my imagination. Its vital for me that I never manipulate/ use a photo/image to create the art. The art must come first.

How much preparation and sketching do you do before jumping onto the computer?

Very little, I go from idea to completion in a day or so. I spend no time at all sketching, its all done in my head beforehand.

What programs do you work in primarily?

Photoshop. I may dabble in 3d max but I don’t find it at all creative or fluid enough.

I’ve always enjoyed your use of texture, do you create the textures yourselves or do you use photography or scanned material?

I use photography and self created textures but as mentioned previously you should never be controlled by your ref or by your photographs. If you do that your giving the images power to another form, a form that is not your own. You cannot capture emotion if the emotion is not yours to begin with.

You have an exhibition coming up in December at the Last Rites Gallery in New York. Congratulations! How important do you feel exhibiting your work in a traditional gallery is compared to online? And if you have a preference, what do you feel is the best way to show your work?

My work is created to be viewed on a massive scale. Most pieces are created in the region of 30”40” 300dpi. With my technique in detail and texture you could double that size and still see detail in every aspect of the work. So what your seeing in the online galleries and in the website is maybe only 40% of the original image. I work with many subtle hidden images that are lost online. Having the work printed out and shown in galleries is paramount to viewing them as they should be viewed.

Many people out there do not consider Digital Art “valid” as a form of art, because it’s not “real” or something. Of course I don’t feel this way, but working in the media myself I have had numerous experiences with such opinions. Have you ever had any personal issues working in this media?

This issue always makes me smile. Unfortunately some people do see digital art as a less ‘real’ form than traditional art, its a ridiculous notion to me. As if going to see a stage play is real entertainment as opposed to going the cinema and watching a film isn’t , its not as ‘real’?. Or a pianist vs an electronic keyboard player. There are many subgenres of art to debate this with, photography, pop art, modern art vs traditional oils etc, but what it comes down to for me is I strongly believe Digital art is traditional art!. But as all forms of art you will have great artists and you will have dire artists that dilute the genre.

Do you ever get any negative reactions from galleries since your art is created digitally? If so how do you overcome them?

I haven’t really had any negative feedback regarding digital art, I get silence on certain online galleries when I post work, that’s about it. Perhaps that’s more my subject matter. Where as I know if I posted a soft focus face with pretty colours, if I painted a girl with a balloon it would go down a storm, that sums up the mentality of mainstream art for me. I’ve never likened mainstream culture in any shape of form anyway.

What would you tell someone if they spoke negatively of digital art?

Nothing. I wouldn’t reply. If they are not intelligent or informed enough to understand the nature of digital art in this generation then they are probably looking for an argument. I wouldn’t give them the power to fuel it. Bottom line is my art is for me, my demons that I exercise, my emotional balance that I play with. So the only critic I worry about is me.

What in your mind justifies Digital Art as an art form?

The artists intentions and how the art makes you feel.

—

Big thanks to Paul for the interview. Be sure to check out his website at butterflysoldiers.com!