HOARD MAGAZINE MARCH 2005
HOARD: What is the source of creativity?
RAY: Facing fear! And overcoming it. Once you remove all the reasons why you can't do something, there is nothing left but to do it. I believe everyone is amazingly creative, but we all convince ourselves we are not. That's simply not true, as it's more the fear of doing something badly that makes us think we can't do anything at all. Children don't have that fear and create all the time making up wondrous stories, and pictures, and rich worlds of fantasy. But after a certain age we begin to notice the comments of others, and soon begin to believe them. That's when we convince ourselves we can't be creative, and the fun, and the pictures, and the worlds of rich fantasy stop as we become "practical". Well, so what if people think something is bad. Whether you draw, or paint, or make music, or toy with quantum physics, .....just sit in the sun and have a bit of fun, and keep creating because that's the source! To just do it, good or bad, just do it.
HOARD: What was your favorite childhood toy?
RAY: Definitely a large 4 foot dirty plastic doll called 'Beatrice' which belonged to my older sister Jackie. It was bigger than me, and had strange blue eyes, and I drew all over it with a ball point pen, which made it sort of tattooed. I used to take off the leg and keep all my toy cars up inside the body part. I made her strange hands out of tinfoil. It used to worry my father quite a bit, and he tried to take it away, but I screamed so loud and for so long, he had to give it back. I think it worried him even more when I started telling him that Beatrice spoke to me.
HOARD: What did Beatrice say?
RAY: Nothing much, just idle chit chat.
HOARD: What is your favorite toy now as an adult?
RAY: Oh! I still have Beatrice. In fact, my old Dad tried to take it away just last week. Ha! I can still scream pretty loud.
HOARD: Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
RAY: Breakfast! Poached eggs and avocado on wholegrain toast with Tabasco and salsa, and a side dish of mango and strawberries slightly warmed. Tea... Earl Grey, no milk, no sugar...on a sunny porch with a Ritchie Rich comic book ....the sound of my wife singing while she cooks up a few flapjacks, and my dog lying in the sun chewing his morning snacks while his tail slowly wags from side to side.
HOARD: Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung?
RAY: I figure there is room enough for both of them when it comes to the human mind. I figure they only scratched the surface and made the human mind a bit itchy.
HOARD: What is your most loved children’s fairytale?
RAY: Little Red Riding Hood...for some reason I always saw it from the Wolf's point of view. Why was Red leaving her Granny in the woods anyway? Why was her door unlocked? Was she Canadian? And why not pack a sandwich and a roast bunny for the wolf? Wolves are people too you know!
HOARD: You were born in London. Where are you living and working now?
RAY: I live and work in Toronto, Canada. Which is a bit North by North East, or a bit North by North West ....definitely North. I live in a small brick house next to a railroad track. There are lots of nocturnal animals that live near those train tracks that keep my dog on his toes. On occasion I have seen a mythological giant skunk the size of a great Dane going through some trash cans. It's best not to mess with giant skunks and not a good idea to make eye contact from either end.
HOARD: Your work is entirely digital, from creation to its final method of printing. How long have you been making images with your current process?
RAY: I have been making images on a computer since 1984 when I was told to go and look at a little strange beige machine called a Mac. I laughed out loud when I first tried version 1 of macpaint. A few years later I tried one of the first 3D programs that basically made rough bitmapped primitive shapes and it's just been a long gradual process to this point.
HOARD: Do you dream vividly at night? Do you remember your dreams when you wake?
RAY: I have always had very vivid dreams and make it a point to remember them. I began doing this many years ago as I became fascinated that we all have these strange visual experiences every single night and then within minutes we forget them as if they never existed. When you begin to remember them it gets easier and eventually you realize something quite wonderful takes place in this world and it is as rich and detailed as the waking life. Its a good place to face those fears we spoke of earlier.
HOARD: Thank you for dreaming. [END]
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Mr. Caesar's site: www.raycaesar.com
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mixed media paintings JOHN JOHN JESSE
rawings & interview SCOTT RADKE
photographer MICHAEL GOESELLE
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