Chet Zar Analysis

Chet Zar (www.chetzar.com) is an american artist born in 1967.

He worked as a practical effects and make up artist on films such as "The Ring" "Hellboy" and "Planet of the Apes" But since the early 2000's has transitioned to a more Fine Art role, working mainly in oils, painting darkly surreal portraits.

"Somethings Wrong" - http://www.chetzar.com/2013-somethings-wrong.html

This portrait shows a dark figure, with strong wide shoulders, a flattened head , and a hole roughly where the mouth should go, leading to a deep red pit spreading down the neck.

The texture of the oil paints adds detail to the surface of the body, the way the light highlights the shoulders and tip of the "head" draws your eyes. The dark colour palette mainly consists of browns and greys, but the mouth is a deep red, making it stand out.

Though blurred you can make out towers, reminiscent of chimney stacks in the background, painting a bleak and industrial world, complimented by the number clearly printed into the body of the creature. 

"Heart Eater" - http://www.chetzar.com/2013-the-heart-eater.html

This portrait shows a humanoid figure in a cellist landscape that seems to be burning, under a clear sky full of stars.

Similar to the "Somethings Wrong" piece above the colour palette is mainly browns and greys, with red used for the mouth and bright yellows used for the flames. The way it is composed is similar to that of classic portraiture, drawing stark parallels in our mind, implying that this creature deserves respect or is in charge of its situation, combined with a relatively serene expression, calm and collected.

The texturing of the skin, with thick ridges and deep cracks across the forehead is a recurring theme through most of the dark surrealist artwork I've looked at, 

Here is a video showing some of his paintings and his work environment, he says he always treats his portraits as full characters, but he just thinks the head is the most interesting part of any monster.

He also has a short film,a series of short repeating animations that are very interesting, i had considered making my images move , just a little bit, just subtly to make them more appealing, and this has encouraged em to experiment with it.