Tristan Schoonraad

British Lifecast Artist

Tristan Schoonraad has probably one of the most interesting backstories to an artist that we have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Working in Hollywood in the Special Effects & Make-Up departments from a young age has allowed this man the rare opportunity to work behind the scenes in many incredible movies, such as Rambo, Troy, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan & Gladiator. His deep knowledge of casting and moulding near perfect creations of humans, monsters & even aliens gives him the perfect springboard with which to launch his newfound career as a Fine Artist. UKAdapta predict that Schoonraad will be a key player in the artworld in the next decade and remember; you heard it here first.

Tristan Schoonraad Interview

- Please tell us a little about yourself and your personal history.

T : I was born in Wembley, North London in 1974. When I was about seven years old I moved to Borehamwood in Hertfordshire with my father John my mother Dianne and brother Robin so we could be close to the famous Elstree Studios where my father was working.

My father always used to take me on set. I went on lots of film sets such as Young Sherlock Holmes, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. When my father took me on to the set of Return of the Jedi, I was eight years old. Surreally I walked into the Ewok village on the moon of Endor, to find Harrison Ford in full Han Solo costume. When he saw me, he smiled at me and gave me a wink! For a young boy, obsessed with Star Wars, these experiences had a massive impact on my life.

In January 2009 we returned to Elstree and set up permanently at the studios in a workshop with my father at the helm, myself and my?brother of our family company Lifecast Ltd. I have been working in the film industry for twenty years.

- You have been working in the film industry for a long time. What made you to decide to be an artist making sculpture?

T : I have been making stuff for films since I was fifteen and have always done personal projects such as drawing comic book art. The difference between what I'm doing now and what I do in film, is that in film you are told what to make and how to make it. Now I can make whatever I want however I want. The skills I have acquired over the years have proven indispensable to my new career path.

My art career started whilst working on Benicio del Toro's 'The Wolfman' at Pinewood Studios. A very clever finishing artist called Maria Cork asked me if I had anything to put in an art show she was doing called 'The Monster Mash'. It was an art show for artists that worked in the film industry. That was in 1998.

An idea I was always throwing about was the Indian Rope Trick where the boy climbs the magic rope. I was constantly sketching it out and had always wanted to make it. This was my chance, so I said yes. There was only three weeks to do it in, so I was very busy working on 'The Wolfman' during the day. So I had to do this piece at evenings and weekends. I was lifecasting, sculpting and moulding?the boy, I also had to make the metal rope for him to hang off. It was exhausting but exciting at the same time at the thought of people seeing my work. When I saw it finished on its welded metal rope stretching up to the roof of the gallery, I had never felt so proud of myself. After that all I could think about was making more. The hunger was there. I wanted more.

- Which film projects you worked so far and what did you do with them?

T : One of my first films was a low budget film called 'Death Machine' where I was making futuristic Crank guns. Since then I've worked on many films such as Event Horizon, 28 Days Later, Troy, Tomb Raider, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven and more recently Clash of The Titans and John Carter of Mars. I have lifecasted some of the most famous people in the world, such as Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and?Colin Farell to name a few.

In 2004 I went to Australia to get away from the film industry for a while and travel. Whilst being out there, I met up with an old friend Dave Elsey, a special effects make-up artist. He kick started my enthusiasm again for film work and gave me a job on Ghostrider making shriveled blue men. After that I worked on Superman making the set for the Fortess of Solitude. From Australia I went on to New Zealand working for Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson at the Weta workshop?on 'Black Sheep' and other top secret projects yet to be revealed.

'Rambo' has to be my favourite film to date. That was in 2006. We worked full time out in Thailand with my father John Schoonraad a veteran in the film business. The work was incredibly hard; a punishing?seven days a week making dead bodies but I think it has been some of my best work. One body I made was of a little girl, I spent weeks sculpting, moulding, painting her skin and hair punching. Sylvester Stallone?came up to?me whilst I was dressing her on set. He said, "They've got to real dirty" then proceeded to grab a hand full of black soot-mud and started rubbing it all over her face. He then stood up and put his foot under the figure and said "And it's got to be ten feet that way!" He kicked it down the hill! Later on that day an actor walked past one of the bodies I had made and said "Wow that looks real".

Sly Stallone, who was in earshot of this actor, sitting in his director’s chair with a huge cigar stated "It's a work of art". That was a good day.

- Tell us about the "Boy Soldier" Sculpture.

T : Boy soldier is a life cast of my nephew Kai. I life cast him?with my brother Robin Schoonraad, (a well respected man in the film industry) in?separate pieces using alginate and plaster bandage. We cast the front of his face, the back of his head, his arms, his torso and his legs. I poured melted plastiline into the alginate moulds. When that had cooled down and gone hard, I opened up all the body parts then stuck the pieces together. It's like a really delicate jigsaw puzzle. Plastiline is a sculpting material so I was able to join all the pieces seamlessly. Once I had finished that, the eyes were then?sculpted open. Once the sculpture was completed, this then had to be moulded in silicon. Boy Soldier was then cast out in white fibre-glass.

Kai is a great kid. He loves having his cast done, I think it's because I take him to the toy shop on the condition that he can choose anything he wants! Funny he always seems to pick a gun! I think I definitely will cast him again, I am aiming for each year until he grows into a man.

- Is there an overall message you are trying to achieve in your work?

T : When I was working on Clash of the Titans, I cast a US army helmet and British Metropolitan Police helmet. I couldn't use regular moulding silicon as I wouldn't have been able to release it from the helmets. So I used a newly developed silicon which doesn't bond to fabric. I cast out the helmets in white fibre-glass and gave them to the very talented special effects crew at Clash and told them to artwork them however they wanted. The results were astounding. Since then many more artists have done them. This idea came from the blank white Dunny toys by Paul Budnitz and Tristan Eaton. Their innovative creation has encouraged a person to decorate them however they choose, letting their imagination run wild. I took this design and morphed it into a more sophisticated and political venture. This project was entitled by my friend Jo Dunn as ‘The Titan Project'.

My piece called ‘The Indian Rope Trick was about weightlessness. I life cast my nephew to look down on us almost with pity. Boy soldier is looking up at us with a look of what he may become. It is a statement of a person’s potential. My nephew is aged seven in this art piece; the age of some of our soldiers out in Afghanistan and Iraq as they would have been less than ten years ago. It is a future I do not want for my nephew.

- You have done a show with Mutate Britain "last year", how did you get involved? Do you have a personal relationship with other artists?

T : An artist friend of our family Nick Reynolds alongside my father have helped me massively to get into the art world. I owe a lot to them. I joined them at an art show called The Art Car Boot Fair in Brick Lane, East London; where I met artists Gavin Turk and the legendary Peter Blake. From there I was invited to show my work at Mutate Britain in Portobello Road.

I have met a lot of good people at Mutate Britain, such as the artists Joe Rush and Jo Dunn who have given me huge support and sound advice. I am relatively new to the art scene, but I have received a warm welcome and already feel at home. It can be difficult getting your name recognized in the beginning but making friends in the exciting British art world has given me the confidence that my work could go somewhere.

- If you could collaborate with any artist, musician or director in the world, who would you work with?

T : I have been very lucky in my film career to have worked with a lot of famous directors, actors and artists. In the early days i worked with artist Ron Mueck and director Chris Cunningham, the genius behind the Aphex Twin music videos. These people have motivated and influenced my work greatly.

If I were to collaborate with someone it would have to be James Jean, who I recently discovered. His surreal and dreamlike illustrations are truly inspirational and I would love to create a sculpture with him and capture that alternate reality.

- Any plan for 2010?

T : I am really looking forward to 2010. I start my new piece of work as soon as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Day! I have been commissioned for work by a famous Japanese clothes designer to create a sculpture for display in Paris. This was brought about by the Close Encounters show in Tokyo by you at UKadapta!
The film business looks set to be busy in the new year, however I will only work on a film if it truly excites me as much as my art, as this is what I really want to concentrate on this year.