Yes, I Loved Star Wars

When you're working in the creative field, particularly fine art related areas, people will often ask you things along the lines of how did you do that? How did you think of that? Those questions are always kind of impossibly hard to answer, and seem to be somewhat of a joke among the artists I know, particularly those who draw. Still every once in a while, I am forced to look at a work and say, "how in the world is it possible for a human to do this?". This is the kind of thought that I had upon my first viewing of the work of Bellino Alain. The first thing I saw was his process in the creation of a mask styled after that of Darth Vader. The first image appeared in front of me, the bowls of two spoons stuck together. My first thought was "Yeah, ok. You're being super clever there man, distorting the utilitarian purposes of a spoon or something..." It was in looking at the next few photos that I realized that was a very simple beginning in a very complex process. Alain creates metal sculptures through the reappropration of old materials, sort of like a metal collage. Of course, it probably helps his sculpting that he restored antiques for 25 years. The result of his work is stunning, leaving the viewer hard pressed to imagine the process that led to that piece. That mystery, that magic is what causes people to ask how something was created and Bellino has helped me find that again. See his site here, and behance here. Also, I apologize for any errors in this writing, none of the information I found was in English.