Allan Sutt, BFA
Allan Sutt does his work in an outdoor winter studio, finding creativity in the odd juxtaposition of sub-zero temperatures, aquarelle paints, and photography. His ‘frostbite-painting’ technique was inspired by Endel Ruberg, an Estonian-Canadian artist who trained his pupils in cross-country skiing and biathlon, in addition to art. Allan has been recreating and developing the techniques he learned from Ruberg for the past five years, with the aim of producing fantastic aurora borealis effects in his work.
To enhance the visual impact and imaginative texture of his images, Allan has experimented with the ‘science’ of sub-zero painting. Adding solutions of salts and alcohols to the paints effects the speed at which different colours will freeze. Infusing carbonated liquids varies the viscosity. A dialogue is created between the colours and shapes of the frost crystallization, and it is the challenge of creating and exploring this dialogue that Allan finds most intriguing about ‘frostbite-painting’. Simple science meets art. These techniques certainly take ‘suffering for your art’ to a different level, but when you are born on skis in a snowstorm, it just seems like the right thing to do.
Allan graduated with a BFA from Concordia University, with a major in printmaking and a minor in animation.
