Illuxcon 4 pt 3 (in 3D)

After a little break in the action I’m back continuing my 4 part Illuxcon post. This time in 3D (no 3D glasses required). Yes, we’ll be breaking that third dimension this time around (sort of). This segment is about the sculptors at Illuxcon. Figures and objects carved and cast in various materials like clay, resin, latex, and even bronze. We have a large array of fun stuff to oggle and a couple quick hit interviews to boot so let’s get to it.

Thomas Kuebler is our first stop. 

Quick Hits: with Thomas Kuebler.

1. Where did you travel from to be here today?

Selma, North Carolina.

2. What is your favorite artist tool in your arsenal?

My thumbs.

3. What is your favorite medium to work in?

I like to sculpt in Super Sculpy.

4. What is your favorite subject you like to sculpt?

Odd human beings. I don’t want to say “freaks” because a lot of the times it’s not freaks it’s simply people loaded with odd character. Sometimes they have two heads, sometimes they have four arms, often times it’s just the look on their face.

5. What time of day do you feel you are most productive?

Definitely not in the morning. Usually it’s after the sun sets. That’s when I really kind of take off when it’s kinda quiet.

6. What do you listen to while you work?

Sometimes I have bad “B” horror movies playing on my TV set in the background, sometimes I have music playing and a lot of times it’s just quiet. [It all] Depends on what I’m doing. 

7. What question about your work do you least like being asked?

How much is that? And they’re referring to a very large piece that’s a commission, y’know.

(Prof.-  So you don’t like people asking how much things cost?)

Well unless the price is on it, it’s usually an agreement with whatever the artist and the client agree to.

(Prof.- So you don’t just like a sticker price?)

Every piece is different from the next. Except for the production pieces where you see a sticker price every piece is different. So it’s hard to put a price on a piece and have a broad category price. It’s very specific.   

Thanks for your time Thomas.

Find more of Thomas’ work at www.tskuebler.com and on Facebook facebook/kuebler. Another site Thomas likes to visit is www.sideshowworld.com which also has an art gallery of his work on there as well as many others. 

Thomas sculpted the trophy for the Illie Award, the award given for best in show at Illuxcon.
Thomas had a bunch of fun and interesting things for sale at his table. Mostly of the skull variety.
He had another really neat gumball dispenser skull but it had sold and was gone by the time I came around for my second pass to take some pics. He also had a bunch of rubber latex shrunken heads for sale that sold out incredibly quick. Once again, before I could get some shots of  them. <sigh> Next time.
He did have a few “life sized” figures at and around his table which were just incredible (and somewhat creepy).
Pygmies
Baba Yaga
and this double headed varmint bagger.
Another great sculptor in attendance from the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror realm was 
Jordu Schell


Quick Hits: with Jordu Schell.

1. Where did you travel from to be here today?

Los Angeles, California

2. What is your favorite artist tool in your arsenal?

My hands.

3. Do you keep a sketchbook?

I sure do. (he says sketching while I interviewed him)

4. What is your favorite medium to work in?

Hard to say. I like different mediums for different reasons. I like Scuply and Chavant for small things, water clay for big things and sometimes you have to use yellow foam for enormous things.

5. What is your favorite subject you like to sculpt?

I like sculpting monsters. I’m a huge monster fan and if it allows me to create something creepy and original out of my mind, then that’s the best kind of job for me.

6. What time of day do you feel you are most productive?

Evening time.

7. What do you listen to while you work?

I like to listen to mellow music when I’m roughing in a sculpture. Once I have it under control then the sky’s the limit. I have very eclectic musical tastes.

8. What question about your work do you least like being asked?

What it was like to work on one the many movies I’ve worked on. They’re all the same. They’re jobs.

Thanks for your time Jordu.

Find more of Jordu’s work at schellstudio.com.

Here are some of Jordu’s pieces that were on display.

Jordu was working up a commission during the show which ended up looking like this.

He also had a bunch of cool busts for sale which can be found here. I ended up bringing an autographed Kernok (from the troll series) home with me to reside in my studio.

Isn’t he handsome?

Next to Jordu was a sculptor who works in heavy metal. No, not the music near and dear to my heart but actual metal, bronze. He is..

Vincent Villafranca

On his shoulder is one of Thomas Kuebler’s shrunken heads I mentioned earlier. I guess I got a shot of one after all (sort of).

Vince had some really interesting bronze pieces like these.

These pieces were pretty solid and heavy I found, as he urged me to pick them up to get a better look at them. The motorcycle guy had different removable weapons that were cast separately and placed onto the finished sculpture loosely. Vince had performed a live bronze pour casting in the past few Illuxcons but didn’t do one this time around. He did put together a sculpting workshop this year, which I thought was a nice trade off even if we didn’t get a show of molten bronze being poured into a mold. You can check out more of Vince’s work here. 

Tom Taggart also returned to the fray this year.

Tom Taggart (doing his best Popeye impression)

He brought a couple neat, new additions to his menagerie this year such as

iPods and

Chimp Eastwood (the chimp with no name) 
For more of Tom’s sculptures and artwork go here.

Thanks for dropping by for my 3D sculptors review of Illuxcon. Join me next time as I wrap up this four part series with a post spotlighting painters of my painting medium, acrylics.

‘Til next time.

Later,
Prof.

Comments powered by Disqus