We found the Sasquatch! And he's a melancholy interdimensional environmentalist
'The humans are unaware. They have no knowledge of the birds and the trees and the leaves'
Painting a Sasquatch really gets your mind into their world.- Greg Allen, painter
Regina artist Greg Allen's preoccupation with the Sasquatch goes back to his youth, when he vividly remembers seeing the notorious Patterson-Gimlin film for the first time on television. Now, Allen's paintbrush is hard at work, delicately applying thin strands of yellow and purple paint to the broad shoulders of his muse (and creation), the Supernatural Sasquatch.
Watch the video and enter the world of the Sasquatch:
The Patterson-Gimlin film was originally shot in the late 1960s by a couple of cowboys searching for Bigfoot in a California forest. It captures what appears to be a large bipedal ape-like figure striding beside a creek in bright sunlight and then disappearing in to the brush. To this day, scientists and researchers have not been able to reach consensus about the authenticity of the film.
The Sasquatch being has entered through a portal onto the physical plane and is now traipsing through his forest.
"I think I probably watched it from behind a couch," remembers Allen, who maintains something of a healthy fear about the possible existence of the mysterious creature. And it's that fright, mixed with excitement, that's led Allen to take a deep dive into the mythology and lore surrounding the beast.
You have the camp of the scientific-minded people who basically think it's an evolved ape. And then you have the "woo" side — the idea that this is an ethereal being, that it can dematerialize, it has different spiritual powers that we don't possess.
As an artist, I can freely explore the "woo" side of things, without facing ridicule… as of yet.
While many Sasquatch believers tend to have their faith in its existence ridiculed, Allen notes that as an artist he gets more freedom to explore the "woo" side of Bigfoot legend. Woo theories of the creature include the idea that it's part of an enlightened species that maintains a deeper level of connection with the natural environment. But Allen has brought his own origin story into the mix, and that's what you'll find in his Supernatural Sasquatch series. Allen's vision includes diamond-shaped portals in the woods, glowing red eyes, infrasonic sound waves and an admittedly judgmental temperament.
The Sasquatch knows that these humans don't mean to be bad. They're just ignorant and he's disappointed in where they are as a species. He wishes they would evolve, but at this point he can only watch, so he stays in the dark and out of sight.
In Allen's most recent painting, the Sasquatch gazes directly at the viewer with a look of sombre disapproval. In his left hand, he holds a massive log that he bangs against a tree to ward off anybody breaching his territory. And he does so with good reason: Allen's beast sees humans as a wasteful, destructive and ignorant species. He laments, if only they would evolve and realize the importance of living in harmony with the natural world around them.. but until then, the Sasquatch waits, and humans are lucky if we catch a glimpse of its glowing red eyes in the trees before the Bigfoot steps through a portal and disappears.
Greg's work is currently touring Saskatchewan through the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils. And you can follow him here.
Watch CBC Arts: Exhibitionists online or on CBC Television. Tune in Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT).
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