I was scrolling through the world some months back when I stumbled upon the first picture you see that begins this post. I was intrigued because the plastic bag that the model is holding is from a chain called Sobeys - a Canadian grocery brand. I found it a rather funny and true-to-life detail. I filed the photo, knowing I would return to it eventually, and it sat for months as things in my life crowded it out. I decided to do an image search a while ago and came up with the name Zachari Logan.
An avid artist since childhood, standing a substantial 193 cm tall (with a handsome willy to go with all that), he has become an international master with work in museums all over the world. Hailing from Saskatoon, his drawings and oils (as well as ceramics) are steeped in a fascination for the natural world. He cites as one of his inspirations Mary Delaney, an 18th British botanist and blue-stocking. The vividly coloured flowers with their black backdrops echo her style. Thinking back as I write this, I believe I used one of his 'vegetative' full-figured men in a previous post about springtime without knowing its provenance.
There is something warmly eerie, but completely intriguing, about his dark bodies enclosed in wildflowers and ditch weeds. His thematic imagery (at least lately) seems, in fact, to be mostly plant life and humble weeds. Somewhat sad and darkly foreboding, the natural world nevertheless wastes nothing, pulling us in and returning us to the soil to be reclaimed. His initial model was indeed himself as is clearly evident, and he has said that everything he draws in some way starts with himself.
For a bit more, and a video, see him here: ZL
