When I was about 14 I liked 
watching Jane Goodall documentaries, horror movies, and playing with clay. Add those things together and you get Rick Baker, the special effects make-up artist that created the chimps for Greystoke and later the apes for Mighty Joe Young and Planet of the Apes. At that point I wanted to be Rick Baker when I grew up. In high school, I sculpted the near life-size chimp head you see here. (No laughing, please.) I still have my old copy of In the Shadow of Man that I read and used for reference covered in clay finger prints.Fast forward twenty+ years and I had long ago let a fascination for painting and design take over paying attention to the movie industry...So imagine my delight to suddenly find myself hanging out in Rick Baker’s studio at a Halloween party and art exhibit.
Freakin’ awesome!
I was there with Greg Manchess who had been asked by curator Taylor White to be part of the exhibit , October Shadows -- everything and anything Halloween themed. Paintings, masks, automated sculpture, concept art, children’s books, even a haunted doll house that looked like it was a total blast to put together. The work was great... it had to be to hold its own in the studio. The ground floor had been cleared out and decked out with graveyards, skeletons, ghosts, giant bats, you name it. The architecture of the studio, itself, has an extremely cool flying-monkey theme.
Up the stairs, people were given tours through Baker’s private museum of movie characters. No photographs were allowed, unfortunately. The first thing I saw was a humongous “life size” Mighty Joe Young. Two of them, in fact. Various aliens from Men in Black, apes from Planet of the Apes, the Grinch, and others. Most exciting for me, since I loved the movie as a kid, was two of the werewolf transformations from American Werewolf in London.
Again, I say, freakin’ awesome!
I didn't know many people there but I had a great time talking with Jeff Preston, who graciously introduced us around a bit. It was also nice to catch up with William Stout -- we had judged Spectrum together years ago. He’s finishing up a series of dinosaur murals at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
PHOTOS:
Greg's exhibited "Something Wicked" painting.
My high school chimp sculpture. (Remember, no laughing.)
Greg Manchess at the party
Jeff Preston, William Stout, and me.
Bill Nelson's "Trick or Treat", random ghost.
Inside and outside the party.
One of many Flying Monkey architectural details, Jon Foster's Trick or Treat.