91ÊÓƵ

Louis Habeck, one of the artists featured in this year’s “19 Under 39” Exhibition, is a Billings, MT native who received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the 91ÊÓƵ in 2011. While primarily dedicated to his artistic exploration as a sculptor, he is also an accomplished painter, illustrator, and carpenter. He was selected for an Artist’s Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council in part because of his research and creation of a life-sized Triceratops head sculpture which he began during his artist residency at the Yellowstone Art Museum. The residency granted Habeck the space and motivation to undertake such a massive body of work; having such a publicly accessible space also allowed him many opportunities for educational discussions about his artistic processes as well as the importance of intersections between science and art.

Habeck’s sculpting practice, especially with large-scale pieces, begins with building a small preliminary model called a maquette. For his triceratops head featured at the MMAC, “Vera – Still-life with Fruit, Lilies, and Yellow Butterflies,” he sculpted a 1/7.5th scale form out of oil clay from which he was able to transfer measurements and reference all angles for the full-size version. He then glued together sheets of insulation foam and carved the base shape of the head with various hand saws and rasps.

The initial stages of the mold-creation process.

Image Courtesy of the Artist

On top of his “bone and muscle” form in foam, Louis spread on a thin “skin” layer of oil clay into which he meticulously carved each individual scale referencing skin impression fossils of triceratops skin to maintain the accuracy of their size and shape. After about 12 months of sculpting, he cut the completed sculpture in two and made a silicone mold of each half.

Half of the finished mold.

Image Courtesy of the Artist

For the final creation stage of “Vera,” Habeck poured a thin layer of urethane resin inside the molds to capture all of the scale detail followed by a few inches of lightweight, sturdy expanding urethane foam to support the resin. He then removed it from the mold, cleaned and reassembled the two halves, and finished by painting a still-life on the frill, inspired by a genre of sixteenth and seventeenth century Dutch still lifes called vanitas painting which utilizes the idea of “memento mori.”

Featuring imagery such as human skulls, hourglasses, spilled goblets, wilting flowers, rotten fruit, and smoking candles, the genre meant to symbolically remind the viewer of their own mortality and the dangers of being vain and extravagant. Habeck explores how this several hundred year old morality lesson evolves while being preached in an intimidating manner from between the long horns of a huge, completely extinct dinosaur. 

The piece is one of a series of triceratops heads featuring animal markings, landscape painting, and other adornments; like “Vera,” they are informed by how their imagery might be interpreted differently and transformed by their three-dimensional, prehistoric canvas. View the full series .