Gene Chavez:
Interview & Editing
by: Raven Reed
Special Effects Makeup Artist
Q. How did you get into doing special effects makeup?
A. I started in eighth grade. It was a cheap latex woochie
and it had horrible edges, made with cheap latex that
reeked of amonia to apply the prosthetic. That halloween, I used the same woochie and used things like lipstick to do the actual makeup around my eyes. That’s
when I really started delving deep into the world
of SFX makeup. I used it as an escape from reality.
Q. What exactly do you mean, “an escape from reality”?
balance is needed to keep things running smoothly. For
every princess movie that gets all the attention in the
media, there’s a horror movie that no one wants to talk
about. People don’t realize that its good to embrace your
darker side. You can unleash powerful creativity when
you do that you wouldn’t see if you’re just focusing on
the light and happy all the time. I get it, no one want to
dwell in the darkness out of fear, but being scared is good
for you. You
express emotion that you
didn’t
really know you
had. You let
it out and
feel
better
than supressing yourself.
A. I’d like people to know that my art, regardless of the
medium, is that it’s cathartic. Its a way to forget about
reality and immerse yourself in a setting where the
stresses of the real world are gone. In the time it takes
to finish a painting or sculpting a prosthetic, you don’t
really think about your rent or your next car payment.
In that way, it’s a happy and safe stress reliever which is
something people, especially younger generations, need. Q.
Q. Your art is what some may call, “Dark” or
“Disturbing”,
what are your thoughts on that?
A. Once I realized that art can act as a safehaven, I started buying what I could to build my experience. I had
bought a little tube of scab blood and make fake cuts
on my arm. My mom started to worry and sent me to
therapy. My therapist, Judy, was the one to enlighten me
about catharcism. She reassured my mom that the art
I was doing was actually a healthy expression of how
I was feeling, which is
a gift I wish more people could realize they
have. I’ve always been
attracted to the darker
side of things, hence
every gory peice I’ve
done. Some people
want to blame the way
I was raised or that it
has something to do
with faith or a lack of,
but it’s really about
balance. I believe that
Where
do
you
get
your
inspiration?
A. I pull inspiration from a wide variety of things. Certain images stick in my brain, an emotion, or something
that just pleases you asthetically like the look of street
lights reflecting off the wet
road, it can
spark a bunch
of images in
your
head
that turn into
a muse and
drive you to
create something to immortalize that
original visual
which sparked
my imagination in the
first
place.
It’s really the
way my brain
works. Its never in idle. I am constantly coming up
with ideas and the need to let them see the light of day.