Meet DEREK STENNING : Illustrator : Vancouver, B.C., Canada | VISIT THE SITE
Your work has such dramatic energy and imagery, would you say the reason for that stems from the drama within yourself or the drama which exists in the world?
I think any energy, emotion, or drama that comes through in the pieces in this project comes from within. Most of the pieces start as emotions, or images that boil up from my subconscious, and are pretty divorced from the real world. There are a number of historical, and mystical themes and symbols involved in the work but these are secondary to the primary aim of creating art that naturally flows out of me.You think one day we’ll have to live in a world where we’ll need the suits your characters wear?
I certainly hope not. The idea that we would have to wear some sort of protective suit to live on earth isn’t very appealing, but given the way we treat the planet, and each other, I guess it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.I personally still maintain faith in humanity, and barring some random disaster, I still believe that we will be able to avoid destruction. So I just “do my part” and keep my fingers crossed.‘Entartete Kunst’ or ‘Degenerate Art’ in it’s English translation is a term generated by the Nazi regime to describe modern art. What’s the motivation behind coupling your work with that term?
This whole project started when I came across the term “Entartete Kunst”. As I read about the concept the ideas and visuals of this project suddenly hit me like a lightning flash, and flooded my mind. The cosmonauts with their big helmets, the hexagrams, the orbs etc. were all there. I immediately felt the the need to translate these images into art. It was one of those beautiful moments of inspiration. So that was the immediate motivation, just feeling the need to create these images. That being said, as the project evolved I’ve recognized a couple of more practical reasons for using the term “Entartete Kunst”. First, on a personal level, I find the idea of “Degenerate Art” very discriminating, and for me this project is about shedding my own discriminating ideas about art and particular art techniques. 10 years as a production artist in the entertainment field had narrowed my view of art. Production art for games and animation is heavily designed. It has to tell a specific story point, or elicit a particular emotion, or communicate a gameplay mechanic. After doing this for a long time I began to feel that production art, given it’s apparent complexity, was a “higher”form of art than purely expressive art. So I’ve been trying to shed this once held idea by exploring a more expressive creative process and confronting any biases I had toward particular tools and techniques . So I’ve been letting these images flow out of me, without overly designing them, or thinking about them too much and integrating techniques that I would not of used before, such as looser planning stages, different painting techniques, the integration of textures and 3D in the work and the use of more reference materials. So in a sense I’m creating art that the “old” me would have potentially looked down on. Secondly the term Degenerate Art relates to this work from a design point of view. These images all seem to incorporate figures in suits that are reminiscent of Soviet era cosmonaut outfits and Jewish symbolism, mainly hexagrams (Star of David). In the Nazi interpretation of Entartete Kunst, the real culprit was Judeo-Bolshevism, the idea that the Jews were the driving force behind Russian Bolshevism. The Nazi’s felt that this movement was subverting and corrupting European society, and that modern art was a visual expression of this Judeo-Bolshevist influence on society . I think these ideas are horse shit, but the combination of these two design elements in this work, the Soviet-esque cosmonaut suits and hexagram, speak to the idea of Judeo-Bolshevism. As an aside, the term “Entartete Kunst” wasn’t generated by the Nazi regime, but it was adopted by them. Degeneracy (Entartung), was a concept that was developed in Germany in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Authors like Max Nordau (himself a Jew, and co-founder of the World Zionist Organization), and Paul Schultze-Naumburg argued that modern forms of art such as Impressionism or Cubism, were a visual expression of the social decay that they saw in modern society. They believed that modern life was corrupting the human spirit, and called for a return to more traditional morals, modes of life and the creation of classical, or “healthy” art. These ideas were incorporated into Nazi ideology during the 1920’s and early 1930’s by party ideologists like Dietrich Eckart and Alfred Rosenberg. It was at this time that the jewish angle was incorporated into the concept of Entartete Kunst. For the Nazi’s, the social decay that was being expressed in modern forms of art was largely the result of a Judeo-Bolshevist influence on society. After the Nazi’s came to power in 1933 they used the term Entartete Kunst to label art and artists that the felt were “un-german” or Judeo-Bolshevist in nature. Theses artists were censored, their work banned, and in some cases the artists were prohibited from producing new work.How much of your Canadian background is filtered through your illustrations?
None. I don’t see any elements in my work that are particularly Canadian, or that are influenced by the fact that I was born and raised in Canada. Canada is a nice place to live (particularly the west coast), and there are some great things about Canada, but it is not without it’s problems. I don’t feel that I am a very nationalistic person, so I don’t try to distill any “Canadiana” into my work.In 2011, will your characters still be dawning enlarged helmets, or will they shift into another realm?
I think I will be continuing to draw large helmets throughout 2011. This project will have to run it’s course, and given the limited amount of time that I have to work on it (I have a full time job as a concept artist, other freelance side projects on the go, and two young kids that I love spending time with so my “spare time” is tight!), I can easily see it running on through 2011. That being said, Entartete Kunst will not go on forever. I’m lucky that this project has revitalized my creative energies, and I have a bunch of other art projects brewing in my head that I would like to get moving on. So hopefully by this time next year I’ll working on some new projects and ideas. Until then there will be more helmets, cables, orbs etc.