A Man of Many Talents

Image credit: Fecal Face 2008 interview with Alex Lucas. More recent interview here.

So while I was posting my photos of the oil refinery, wondering if I was alone in my love of grimy industrial suburbia, the internet Powers that be decided to make it clear to me just what a silly question that was. I was browsing my love for you is a stampede of horses, where I happened across a post on Alex Lukas. The post describes Lukas as a boy-wonder, and after checking out his portfolio site, I heartily agree. Lukas' most recent works  -- he calls them "disaster drawings" -- feature cities flooded with water or swallowed up by trees, but seeing as I had western suburbs waste on my mind at the time, it was his depictions of industrial detritus that struck me the most. I like the quiet stillness and the delicacy of the colours despite the grimy subject matter, and the luminosity of the skies. I like that whilst they initially appear to be watercolours, a closer inspection (and a read of Lucas' comments regarding his working method), they are revealed to be a skillful combination of silkscreen printing, watercolous, gouache, spray paint, and sometimes collage. Wowsers. A happy and serendipitous discovery if ever there was one.

 Image credit: Lucas' website. 

Oh yeah, and as if he isn't talented (and busy!) enough already, did I forget to mention that Lucas also publishes numerous zines through his publishing house, Cantab Publishing? Is there anything this guy can't do?

Image credit: Fecal Face