Miro Collas

Miro’s work is currently on display in Star Journey’s Gateway Gallery: The Perfect Form. Here is the artist’s statement:

I am a digital artist; I create images using Poser and Vue 6 Infinite. My work is dedicated to erotic male nudes.

Miro’s work is currently on display in Star Journey’s Gateway Gallery: The Perfect Form. Here is the artist’s statement:

I am a digital artist; I create images using Poser and Vue 6 Infinite. My work is dedicated to erotic male nudes.

BIO
An only child, born in Barbados, West Indies, of European parents: Italian father and Czech mother. I grew up with the classics in art, music, literature, and am still influenced by them, and love them. I was raised with European, yet somewhat Victorian, morals and values.

As an aside, growing up in an English speaking country, no one was able to pronounce my first name correctly, so I very quickly was given the nick name Fab (real life name is Fabiano Fabris). And that is what most people have called me ever since – and is the name I like to be called.

Both my parents were artists, but I found myself unable to draw at all. The only thing I was good at was technical drawing. I loved all forms of art, but was incapable of doing any of it myself. Even music was denied me, because when my voice changed with the onset of adolescence, I became tone deaf. So I could still compose, by following the principles, but I could no longer play any instruments.

As a result, I gravitated to the sciences, which stimulated me in different ways. Eventually, when the time came to select a career, I opted for the then new field of Computer Science. And so off I went to Canada.

The rest is a story of ups and downs, not unlike the story of many others. I left university and Canada after two years, and moved back with my parents, who by then had relocated to Italy, where I did a short stint in the military before starting to work as a computer programmer.

And it was while I was in Italy that I eventually discovered computer art. At last, I had found a way of creating images without being able to draw! And I instantly set to work, trying to create on my computer screen, the stuff of my fantasies: muscular, hairy men.

The computer art I discovered is not reworking photographs with a computer, but rather using three dimensional computer figures (also called meshes), and thus creating the entire image with a computer. These models must be posed, given a skin, an expression, lighting added to create a mood.

For several years, I experimented a great deal, trying to learn what could be done with the software I had, and how to achieve different effects. My early images were clumsy at best, and many times I would neglect one aspect as I tried to learn some new technique. So for instance, figures might be awkwardly posed, but I would have a stunning sunset in the background. And in the meantime, the software itself evolved, so there was always the challenge of discovering what new things it would allow me to do.

Gradually, however, I began to find a style that suited me. The focus of my work is (almost) entirely on the male body. I believe that the male body is a living work of art, in and of itself. It is an amazing combination of lines and curves, of smooth curving surfaces and flat planes. I strive to bring out these contrasts in my images in various ways, by showing men in different positions, from varying angles, and through the use of lighting.

Whereas once many of my images were very explicitly sexual, pornographic in fact, now they are sensual, romantic and erotic. I am far more interested to see the flow of two bodies embraced, trying to use expressions and lighting to create a mood, than to depict an overtly sexual act.

My work has always been inspired by Tom of Finland. I loved his men, with their broad shoulders and tiny waists, and of course, their huge appendeges. To this day, my style is a result of his influence. Unlike many computer artists, I am not attempting to be realistic. Instead, I create fantasy men, the men of my best wet dreams… men I know do not exist in real life.

Computer art is relatively new, and I do not think that it is right to try to make it conform to the norms imposed on other forms of art. It is not photography, the images I make are not photographs. The men are not real, they are “fantasy perfect”. At least, perfect in my fantasies… I can only hope that others share similar fantasies. 😉

I have a small collection too of photos taken in Second Life. Given the above, I decided not to use any external photo editing programs in making these images: no added backgrounds, no editing whatsoever. This is SL, so I feel that adding from external sources is… cheating? I don’t know. Anyway, for me the challenge is to create something visually pleasing without resorting to any external effects or real life photos. (Btw, most of these are self portraits, I must confess. Most, but not all.)

All of my Real World art is sold through http://www.cafepress.com/penguinbar and all proceeds go to http://www.aliforneycenter.org/.