Tagged with "Cerulean Archives - PORTALS"
Visualized: Elliott Baker
Posted under: 
Elliott Baker is a Denver-based artist who makes some of the more out there (in a good way) artwork we’ve ever laid eyes on. He’s best known for his electro-pop group, Cerulean, but we’ve quickly grown to love and appreciate his imagery just as much. Here’s what Elliott had to say about drawing and his “addiction” to creating:
If I had to put my art in a genre I think it would be thrown somewhere in the pop category. I don’t like to categorize it because it is even more personal than my music. With that being said though, I do really enjoy pop, whether it be in music or visually. I didn’t start making “art” until about 3 years ago. I was in college and really not enjoying my life filled with things that didn’t REALLY matter to me. So on a Saturday morning I went down to the local art store and bought my first little canvas and red, yellow, and blue paint. I was instantly addicted to creating. It was around this time that I first started making music as well. I just wanted to surround myself with as many creative people as possible, no matter what their creative niche was. Making these pieces is a new technique that I started about a year ago. I draw each image on a piece of bristol board, generally in A3 format, and after a few hours of creating the more complex images I go over the image with the first round of micron pens. The smaller the better. Then I erase everything, and go over in a thicker micron. Then I use an app called TurboScan to take three pictures of the piece and layer them. After that, I simply input them into Photoshop and color them there. The last step in the process is to blow up the black and white image onto a 3′ x 4′ canvas and use the colors I used in to photoshop as a color pattern on the large painting. The process is quite meditative, but coming up with the actual imagery is not always so easy. Most of the time I just take images from my dreams, where I meet a race of beings called “Dream Transportation Ghosts”. They are pretty much the entire inspiration for these works. Once I meet one of the DTG gods, like Rasputin, Hanuman, Macualy Culkin, or Jazz Hands (all pictured below), I never seen them again. So whenever I wake up, even if it is the middle of the night, I try to at least write down or sketch out the particular god I see before I forget. But when my inspiration is running dry I just think of my ex-girlfriend having sex with her new boyfriend, then I just draw what makes me forget about it.
With that said, enjoy a colorful bundle of Elliott’s ongoing work below:
Thanks Elliott!
Read our interview with Elliot Baker and Cerulean here.
Introducing: Cerulean
Meet Cerulean, a new brother-sister duo out of Denver who engineer some of the crisper pop music I’ve heard out of Colorado in a while. Almost airy to the touch, Cerulean muster a sound that feels equally ominous and uplifting. It’s a beautiful concoction, one that I desperately needed to know more about. So instead of scratching my head over and over again (like I usually do), I decided to go straight to the source, asking lead-producer Elliott Baker to give me some much needed insight into their relatively new project. Here’s what he had to say:
Cerulean is comprised of you and your sister, correct? Have you two always gotten along, musically?
Ya, Cerulean is project that we started in March. In terms of musical taste, we’re similar. In terms of our individual styles, when it comes to making music, we are really different. But we think that that’s what makes our sound what it is.
Did you guys grow up in Denver? I feel like you came out of thin air.
We were both born in Denver but moved in the early 90′s. We were raised in Ohio until a year and a half ago, when our family moved back to Colorado. Around that time I also moved to Colorado, and Marilyn moved to London.
What does the word “cerulean” mean to you and this project alike?
Cerulean is a vivid blue, that we think matches the Colorado sky. The project is something that we’ve wanted to do for a while, but never had the time to. Moving back to CO initiated Cerulean. Like a phoenix from the ashes.
You guys have a very poppy, almost glacial sound. Is that what you’re aiming for?
“Future Wind” is definitely poppy and glacial but as of now its our only release. Each song we are working on could be defined by a different genre. We aren’t aiming for any sound in particular, but we do keep things cohesive.
Can you tell me a little bit about your latest single, “Future Wind”? Will we see it on your upcoming debut EP?
“Future Wind” was a collaboration that happened before we were Cerulean. We were really happy with what we made, but the response was overwhelming for our first single. It will be on our self-titled EP, released through Holy Underground, by the end of this month.
What can we expect out of your debut EP? What’s it called?
Our EP is self-titled, and has a varied sound to it. Not all the tracks have the same vibe as “Future Wind”. There are some dark synth leads, analog basses, and washed out drum kits. But we still maintain the ethereal dream pop sound that the single emanates.
And lastly, do you enjoy Denver? What’s next?
We love Denver. Even living in Ohio, we always made sure that people knew we were from here. As far as whats next, we have two shows in July, and we are starting work on a full length album.
Thanks Elliott!
And here’s a brand new tune from the duo called “Heart Stop”. It will be officially released on a TBA album soon:
