If you’ve been following this blog throughout the years, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m a big horror movie fan. Back in my teaching days, my work friend/science teacher and I would compile lists of all the horror movies we think the other would enjoy. Some eighth graders found the list and my 50 minute intensive art clinic became a discussion session of horror movies. Let me tell you, you will not enjoy a horror movie more unless the plot of it is described to you by a 13-year-old in under 30 seconds.
Takashi Miike’s “Audition” was on the list given to me. I often find Japanese horror movies to be a bit disconcerting. The gore, the jump scares, the storylines, the villain…etc., are always exceptional. But as the Japanese as a race are exceptionally introspective and that reflects in every aspect of their culture, including horror movies, they are often slow with deep philosophical component to it, which is fine, of course, but sometimes you just want a dash of Michael Myers efficiency in your movie and then go on with your life, you know? I hadn’t liked “Audition” at first, but I’m glad I stuck it out and it quickly became one of my go-to films when someone asks for a recommendation. I liked it so much that I had painted a set of the film’s villain very early on in my career as a matryoshka artist. It sat in my drawer until a fan of the film took it off my hands…and asked me to paint an extended version.
My painting style has evolved over the years so I decided to re-paint Asami, the villain/heroine again. I did maintain the original style for the extended version, just so it would match the original set.
The extended set was a little difficult to make, both mentally and physically. In the film Asami kept a giant sack in her home, which later revealed to be a man missing a couple of important parts of his body. I was asked to create the actual sack, the man inside, and the hapless dog which sadly was also mutilated by Asami. I had a bit of an issue with making the dog because I’d just acquired a cat/sweatshop mascot who had been abandoned and, judging by his behaviour, I guess he’d also been abused. I’d also recently caught a little boy hitting him and had not been in the best frame of mind to depict animal abuse of any kind (don’t worry, I’d gone straight to the boy’s mother and tattled the heck out of her son and subsequently made the kid cry). But I understand that the dog’s demise was part of the film and the actual dog had not been hurt in the making of it. Still, it was a hard one to paint. The sack relied heavily on the draping created with plaster bandages so I was working against time as it does dry rather quickly.
In the movie, someone told the lead character that they found a dead body plus extra body parts. That line always freaked me out so I decided to make those extra body parts, which were three fingers, an ear, and a tongue. When we finally meet the man in the sack, you can see he’s missing a couple of digits, an ear, and a tongue.
Everything went well because I’d established a safeguarding system when I make itty bitty little things. Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I finished the final stages and set it aside to dry, I managed the knock over the entire tray containing the dolls and body parts. The fingers were so small that I lost one and began to panic straight away because it was A) 3 AM and I hadn’t slept in the past 32 hours and was eager to go to bed and B) it had taken me 2 days to get the finger sculpted, cured, and painted and I wasn’t about to go through it again. Luckily my new sweatshop mascot sashayed in at the moment and seemed to know what I was looking for and made a beeline for my supply cart. Wouldn’t you know it, the finger had rolled right down there! Whew. Crisis averted. I do like to think the cat had helped me locate the finger, but in reality, he probably wanted me to move the cart because he likes to sleep on the mat right on top of it.
