About the DesignsWomen have always been the artist’s muse. The women in Ray Caesar’s art possess an innocent yet provocative air that casts an eerie glow on their beauty. Looking at their countenances is not unlike gazing into a dark pond whose calm surface just obscures the stirring beneath. Their cherubic looks belie the secrets, desires, and duplicities that abound, not unlike in ourselves. It is thus fitting to view four of Caesar’s iconic women to embody the universal characters or temperaments of humanity as rooted in The Four Elements—Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. The concept of the classical elements representing the realms of the cosmos wherein all things exist and whereof all things consist has proved extremely persistent in all cultures from antiquity to the present, influencing disciplines as widespread as medicine and astrology. It is a concept that will continue to make lasting impressions upon the human psyche, as do the women of Ray Caesar. After all, it is a little like looking at ourselves, but with all our fears and passions revealed. | Artist BioRay’s passion for drawing emerged at an early age. Beginning in London and spanning through the family’s move to Toronto, Canada, he scribbled pictures on the floors of his home, cowboys on his toenails and fascist dictators on his stomach.

Upon entering the workforce, one job in particular played a pivotal role in influencing what would later become his trademark style. Working for 17 years in the Art and Photography Department of The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto, Ray documented things such as child abuse, surgical reconstruction, psychology and animal research. The artist explains, “I often awake in the middle of the night and realize I have been wandering the hallways and corridors of the giant hospital. It is clear to me that this is the birthplace of all my imagery. It is appropriate that I now live my dreams for those that didn’t get a chance to live theirs…to do otherwise would be a sin.”

Coupled with inspiration from the dreamlike works of Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali and Paul Cadmus, Ray’s experiences continue to linger and present themselves through his haunting, evocative scenes which are all digitally created. Creating models in a 3D modeling software called Maya, he wraps them in painted and manipulated texture maps. Each model is set up with an invisible skeleton that allows him to pose each figure in a 3D environment. Digital lights and cameras are added to simulate shadows and reflections, completing the effect of a mysterious and strange alternate world. | All Rights Reserved. © 2008-2009 Ray Caesar