caricature art by Mike K Viner Sculptor on Trendy Art Ideas

Mike K. Viner Sculptor: The Importance of NOT Being Earnest

Having started modeling yet as a kid, and accordingly just for fun, I’ve never after managed to stop that light attitude to creation process. Naturally that fact didn’t help me to get a fundamental artistic education, but alternatively it has led me where I’m now – breaking the rules of human anatomy, and making real fun of it. So if anybody asks me how to find one’s way in life – my best advise would be to follow your nature, not letting any social prejudice and norms mislead you from bright full-swing life to boring routine existence.

I love human faces. I love the way the facial features live their lives, changing accordingly and irrepressibly with one’s thoughts and feelings. The habitual subdivision to facial beauty and ugliness is a major myth based on static perception of reality, the very same face can turn in an instance from pretty to distasteful and back, I see it happen so easily and can instantly put under doubt the beauty of one and the freak of another – just give me a piece of clay and 5 minutes of spying through the keyhole. So my recipe of attractiveness – move your face as freely and intensively as you can, let it be vivacious and expressive, don’t give me a chance to catch you.

So you see my style grew from and is a consistent result of my conception of beauty. I ignore and ruin the habitual body proportions for purpose, making the main and special accent on the face, its ability to express feelings and reflect emotions – the components of the true fair human beauty as I see it.

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So a few words about Mr. Mike K. Viner and his activities. I’m a sculptor specialized in sculptural caricature, I’m based in sunny Israel that corresponds with my ironic attitude to life much better than the cloudy and strict St. Petersburg where I was born. Most of my creations are up to 10 inches high, weighing about 3 kg. They are solid and hard, though still not shock-proof, and this fact should be specially considered before throwing them against the wall or using them as a weapon:-0 They are unpretentious in everyday life, feel comfortable in any reasonable temperature and humidity conditions, don’t require any special care, nice pets in short words.

So how it happens… technically and emotionally, for those trying this at home.

I’d definitely advice to start with the future image consideration – his/her build, proportions, pose, gestures, head turn, even the number of fingers (which happened to be totally 12 recently with my Jim Carrey) All these nuances must be thought over in advance, since having made the carcass you may have no further chance to change the initial conception. For the carcass (a skeleton in other words) I use a mixture of aluminum foil and metallic wire laid on in a specific braiding manner. This stage may seem a bit boring, and is honestly rather hard physically, but that is the essence since who needs a sculpture falling to pieces in a snap.

My next step is taking SuperSculpy (beige) and modeling the head, the face goes first. And that is where adrenalin spills over, where a slight move of your finger would make the face suddenly strikingly familiar, while your next touch would turn it to a complete stranger, and in a moment or two you would probably meet a monster… And this way over and over again, feeling yourself Frankenstein and Pygmalion in turn… that is the way for those wishing to fill their days, nights sometimes, with mixture of thrill, excitement, disappointment, tiredness, despair, and total ecstasy (at the end, if they are lucky enough)

Well, let us assume that you are a lucky one and succeeded at that stage – greetings!

And welcome now to the world of colors! While SuperSculpy proved itself looking most naturally and life-like for the “pure skin” parts, now it’s time to add colors to your creation. My own indispensible principle, my basic rule – NO MAKE-UP! Nature is the best known sculptor, and I prefer to follow, not to compete. So no paint – only the original colors of the compounds, mixing and combining them till getting those exact half-shade you may need… for eyes, for slightest blush, for lips freshness. And for dress and shoes naturally. So take all the existing selection of colors provided by manufacturers, and start this trial-and-error process.

oh, and looks like I missed one more tiny nuance – don’t forget to breath the life into your creation OK, speaking seriously now – that is that crucial aspect you can’t just learn, don’t believe any Sensei promising to teach you this. That is that very “GIFT”, you either have it or you don’t… well, try yourself to learn.

Well… you passed all the tests and now you think that is the proper time to relax… one should try to make a two-millimeter button, a zip or a welt, a belt-buckle and shoelaces, tiny fingers with… rings and manicure, all authentic in order to understand that the troubles are still not over. And after that – the thermal processing, where just couple of degrees up or down, or few extra minutes can ruin the result of your many-days life-and-death battle.

So, resuming all I mentioned, honestly I have no idea how one can survive and stay sane while taking this process and its result seriously, earnestly and business-likely… That is the direct and shortest way to going nuts – many greatest artists’ misfortune.

Our life is hard, it is full of troubles and sorrows we just can’t avoid, so why add one more, why make it tougher? Why not to use an opportunity to make yourself and all around you smile heartily?

So take it easy and playfully, have fun, amuse yourself, take a laugh at your falls and gains – just the same. And the result will hopefully soak up that lightness, humor and vivacity, like a sophisticated spices and flavoring… granted you are a good cook of course.

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