Monster Storm forecasted to hit IdeaSpace
It’s every eight-year-old boy’s dream.
A room completely filled with retro arcade games, classic comic books, action figures, sculptures and drawings of monsters clinging to every shelf and wall. It’s a wonderland.
To artist Tyson Bodnarchuk, it’s his workspace.
“It’s cluttered. I like collecting things that inspire me,” Bodnarchuk says, while describing his studio. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a monster—just anything with a creative palette.”
Bodnarchuk has been drawing and sculpting ghoulish monsters and critters since he can remember. He never outgrew them, and he continues to spill his imagination onto blank canvases well into his adulthood.
“It’s been everything forever. The Muppets, dinosaurs, everything you get into growing up as a kid, I haven’t grown out of them,” he says. “I was infatuated with the Maurice Sendak, [author of Where the Wild Things Are] and Muppets creator Jim Henson. They were huge influences growing up.”
Originally from Winnipeg, Bodnarchuk and his studio now call Montreal home. Over the last few years he’s kept himself busy by sharing his whacky monsters at exhibitions in cities all over North America, including in Montreal’s Museum of Fine Art. Bodnarchuk is also responsible for several murals monsterfying shops and metro stations around his home city.
Ottawa is next on his list. Bodnarchuk is bringing his critters to IdeaSpace, on June 6. The exhibition, “Monster’s Storm”, will feature Bodnarchuk’s latest works, including sketches, watercolours and sculptures. He’s even bringing creatures made from bowling pins. If there’s one thing his work tells you, it’s his imagination is limitless and draws from all sorts of sources.
“I draw every single day. I draw inspiration from everywhere,” he says. “I read comic books, horror and fantasy novels. I can’t stop drawing. Even if I only have a napkin and a pen, I’ll be doodling a little hairy monster.”