Chet Zar

Chet Zar
Birth name	Chet Zar
Born	November 12, 1967 San Pedro, California
Nationality	American
Field	Digital Art / Painter
Movement	Lowbrow / Pop Surreal
Influenced by	M. C. Escher[1] Salvador Dalí[2] Hieronymus Bosch[3]

Chet Zar (born November 12, 1967 in San Pedro, California) is an American artist notable for his dark visual art, make-up effects, and digital animation. He is most widely known for his work with Tool's music and live videos.^[4] He is the stepson of American fantasy artist James Zar.^[5]

Life

Zar was born in San Pedro, California. His interest in the "darker" aspects of art began as a young child, described as a "natural fascination with all things strange fostered within himself a deep connection to horror movies and dark imagery."^[6] He spent his entire childhood sculpting, drawing and painting. In high school, Zar began his work in the makeup effects industry, gaining full-time employment a year after graduating.^[7]

After years of being unimpressed with politics in the film industry, Zar took the advice of horror author Clive Barker, and decided to pursue his passion of producing original works and oil-painting.^[1]

Works

"Black Magick", oil on canvas

Zar's works vary according to the medium he is using. His interest in art and horror movies led to a career in the motion-picture industry. His contributions to the industry were in the form of sculpture and make-up effects. Zar designed and created prosthetic effects for such movies as The Ring, Planet of the Apes, and Darkman.^[8]

His canvassed works are generally oil-based portraits. He considers his works to be extensions of his doodles, and describes the figures in his art as "very ugly and freakish on the surface" while still retaining "innocence about them".^[9] In addition to creating digital animations for Tool's live shows,^[8] Zar has created his own DVD of digital loops, entitled Disturb the Normal. His 'animated paintings' are made using Lightwave 3d and Adobe After Effects.^[10]

On December 18, 2007, Tool released a DVD for their single "Vicarious",^[11] which contains a documentary with an appearance by Zar as a key member of the "Vicarious" video team.^[12]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Chet Zar". Underground Art Union. http://www.undergroundartunion.com/code/gallery/artists/zar/chet_zar.html. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
2. ^ Beinart, Jon. "beinArt Interview with Chet Zar". beinArt.org. http://beinart.org/modules/Word-Press/2007/06/23/beinart-interview-with-chet-zar/. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
3. ^ Sherwin, Brian. "Art Space Talk: Chet Zar". MyArtSpace.com. http://www.myartspace.com/interviews/interviews/art-space-talk-chet-zar.html. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
4. ^ Perez, Arturo (2004-10-08). "Interview: Chet Zar". Kludge Magazine. http://www.kludgemagazine.com/interviews/Chet_Zar/2004-10-08/. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
5. ^ "Chet Zar Bio". chetzar.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20071225073125/http://www.chetzar.com/oil_paintings/BIORESUME.html. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
6. ^ "Chet Zar Biography". http://www.chetzar.com/about-bio-chet-zar.html. Retrieved 12 June 2011. 
7. ^ Carney, Ray (2007-09-03). "Last Call with Chet Zar". Alterati.com. http://www.alterati.com/blog/?p=1261. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "NewTek Interviews Chet Zar". newtek.com. June 2003. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20070926232708/http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/profiles/ChetZar/index.php. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
9. ^ "Chet Zar". beinArt Surreal Art Collective. http://beinart.org/artists/chet-zar/. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
10. ^ "Vision Featured Artist: Chet Zar". OPi8.com, Ltd. http://opi8.com/vision/88. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
11. ^ "Tool Vicarious DVD Coming Dec. 18". Guitar World. 2007-11-15. http://www.guitarworld.com/article/tool_vicarious_dvd_coming_dec_18. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 
12. ^ "Vicarious DVD Review". FourthEye.net. 2007-12-21. http://www.fourtheye.net/?p=951. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 

External links

• http://chetzar.deviantart.com/
• Chet Zar Homepage
• Chet Zar at the Internet Movie Database
• Chet Zar at Yahoo! Movies
• SUBvert magazine interview
• Surreal Art Collective interview
• Underground Art Union interview
• Creep Machine interview
• Dangerous Ink Magazine interview
• Myartspace interview
• Salival.fr interview

Catalogs

• 2008 - Chet Zar - Ugly American
• 2007 - Metamorphosis (beinArt) ISBN 978-0-9803231-0-8

Persondata
Name	Zar, Chet
Alternative names
Short description	American sculptor
Date of birth	1967-11-12
Place of birth	San Pedro, California
Date of death
Place of death