He had just moved into a new studio that the painter shared with a photographer friend. Ferguson described it as “Darth Vader’s summer home,” which was very clean and newly renovated, with black floors, white walls and black furniture. “This is the only clean space I’ve ever been in,” he said. The studio is about a half-hour walk from Ferguson’s home, giving the artist at least an hour of exercise each day. He usually works from late afternoon to early evening. “At this point, if I work for more than five hours, my eyes become unstable,” he said. And in a designated studio, he can focus on his work without the distractions of a computer.
As a child, Ferguson’s artistic ambition was to draw the powerful Imperial stormtroopers from Star Wars. Then he saw Blade Runner and was inspired. “I just wanted to create worlds and stuff like that,” Ferguson said.
Winter is dangerous and you never know when a disguised wormy creature is going to bite your head off. “
He certainly did, and the world he created still has some pop culture influence. “Desmond in the Spring” centers on a hairy mermaid and was partly inspired by the horror film “The Cabin in the Woods.” Ferguson’s mermaid has clawed hands and has just had his next meal. The blood of the slaughtered fish dissipates into the water world, which is filled with jellyfish and other creatures. Icebergs float in the background of the image, which combines the ocean’s surface with the material lurking beneath it.
In “Pastoral,” a giant worm-like monster emerges from the snow, looking a bit like a Dune Worm, or as Ferguson describes it, one of the younger creatures from the “Alien” series. “It’s kind of like a disembodied pipe, an evil pipe with teeth,” he explains. The monster is about to eat a man lying in the snow, while his mount gallops away in the background. “In the winter, especially in Montreal, there’s always a feeling that if you’re not careful, you could die here,” Ferguson said. “Winter is dangerous and you never know when a disguised wormy creature is going to bite your head off.”
“Pastoral” was also a breakthrough for Ferguson. “I actually figured out how to draw snow, which I’d never really done before,” he said. This is a challenge. How do you identify the correct shade of white for light hitting a landscape? “I had to collect a hundred snow paintings,” Ferguson said. Snow also played an important role in a painting called “Discipline.”
At the center of this piece is a woman dressed in Victorian winter clothing. A few strands of red hair fell from her shoulders as she turned her head and glared at the audience. She held tightly to the leash of her pet, a strange creature that resembled an oversized spider. “She’s an asshole,” Ferguson said of the woman in the painting. “She takes her insect for a walk and treats it a little harshly. She’s not a nice person. Not someone you want to hang out with.”
Ferguson’s work is largely character-driven, and he has his own philosophy on how to create the fictional characters he depicts. “Half the time, when I’m drawing characters, I’m creating someone that I actually want to be friends with. It’s almost like you’re a friend creator—this person is going to be my long-lost best friend,” Ferguson said. “Other times, you’re just drawing evil people.”
