A British Columbia-based artist is making waves with a series of designs that incorporate Star Wars into the local landscape.
Mexican Artist David Aste now calls Vancouver home. He’s been trying to build his brand here, and accidentally stumbled across an idea that got a big reaction.
Before coming to B.C., Aste was finding success at home in Monterrey, Mexico. His designs transferred onto canvas were selling well online.
But a trip to B.C. a few years ago changed everything. He got hooked on snowboarding and moved north as soon as he could.
“I never saw snow in my life. I thought this is awesome,” he told Global’s This is BC.
So at age 27, he started fresh, hoping to build his brand again in a new country. And that’s when he stumbled across something that created a huge buzz.
Aste was puttering around with different images on his laptop at home and came up with this picture of a Star Destroyer, to scale, over Vancouver. He posted it on social media site Reddit, and the response was overwhelming.
“It was 100 per cent fluke,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
He released more images of Star Wars ships blasting around the city, and people started to take notice. The feedback was mostly positive, but art is subjective.
“Some people are saying, ‘That’s not to scale,’ some are saying it’s the worst VFX effects they’ve ever seen,” he said.
“I’m like, it can’t be that bad.”
Aste’s dabbled with different artistic ideas before and has made some money, despite not having any formal training.
Now, the excitement over his latest creations has led to his first exhibition in B.C., and there’s more material on the way, such as a light sabre battle somewhere in the city.
“I hope they like it as much as I do,” he said.
Aste hasn’t sold any of these prints yet. He’s working on licensing and a business plan.
It’s all taken him by surprise. Though, there’s time to figure it out, because he’s not planning on leaving B.C.
“This whole thing is surreal,” Aste said. “I never would have imagined this.”
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