BLAIR McLEAN
I am a self taught artist living in Toronto for the past 19 years.I was born in Newmarket Ontario in 1968. In my twenties I moved to Toronto. Soon after i started using most of my free time to improve my skills as an artist. I worked at a well known Tattoo shop as a body piercer and branding, scarification artist.
It was not long before my work received significant media attention.
Although I am a known as a body modification artist, I consider myself a abstract painter and pyrographer.
In 2005, I took a break from my body modification career to focus on primarily on fine art.
Pyrography is currently my main focus.
7 years ago I developed a new technique of wood burning that is different than what most people have seen. Unlike most pyrography, I don’t use a wood burning kit. I developed a technique of wood burning were I mask the wood with glass, or metal rulers and other various metal shapes. The part of the wood left exposed is then burned using a blowtorch or a pencil torch to leave a darkened impression on the wood. I will then move the tools around again the repeat the process until the subject and piece is complete. I use several kinds of blowtorches and metal shapes to get various effects. For example an upside down antique key hole makes a great vase. When you see my art it is easy to see that the technique leaves bold clean lines that are very striking and looks nothing like traditional pyrography. I consider this work modern pyrography.
You can see time laps videos of this process on my blog.
Although some of my first random wood burning projects started in 1992 it wasn’t until 2006, I started a large pyrography series called Factory Life! This series was a very minimal semi abstract vision of factory life in industrial Canada. With plenty of hard lines and abstract shapes, I tried to capture the stark cold feelings of the industrial landscape.
After designing over 50 Factory Life! pieces, I decided to design a new series called COTTAGE LIFE! This series is quite literally the opposite of the Factory Life! series.
Since the early years of my pyrography I have created 12 ongoing series and hundreds of works of art in various sises. Most of my series I consider ongoing.
