Alumnus bleeding with artistic passion
Artists who say they put sweat and blood into works have never met Trevin Prince.
The USU alumnus puts a piece of himself into his work — literally.
Prince, a blood painter, said he constantly has people asking if he’s really painting with his own blood.
“Some people don’t know how to react to it. They usually resort to ‘Twilight’ jokes and stuff like that,” Prince, a Logan native, said.
Prince is one of only a few artists who paints with blood. The technique, which took him close to four years to master, involves a mixture of his own human blood and a blend of chemicals to reach the variety of colors that Prince uses in his artwork.
From deep reds to warm, subtle skin tones, his technique offers a wide range of variety different from what one would expect.
“I tried researching to find others who do this,” he said. “I found one person who did something similar on Plexiglas, but they wouldn’t give me any advice. I’m kind of glad they never told me, because I can say that I figured this out on my own.”
Each painting is done on a sheet of hard-plastic acrylic.
“I do most all the work on clear sheets — I paint on those,” Prince said. “With everything, I work backwards. On the side that I’m working on, when I’m finished I’ll actually flip it, and it will be displayed that way. I have to switch everything in my mind, or sketch it out opposite to begin with.”
He then adds a blood-chemical mixture to the painting using a syringe and then once the combination of additive and reductive dries, he said he scrapes the edges with razor-sharp knives to add effect.
Trevin said his favorite thing to paint is figures.
“When I started college my worst subject matter to paint was people — I was terrible at it,” he said. “I kept working at it over the years and improved little by little.”
Prince’s artwork has a 3-D effect to it, because the layers appear to absorb into the painting. Due to the liquidity of the medium, Prince said each wash has a smooth texture. By eliminating the paintbrush and brush strokes, the layers appear smooth and realistic.
“I think (Prince) is pushing the boundaries of art because it needs to be pushed right now,” said Holland Larsen, a junior majoring in fine arts painting. “It takes a lot in art to be unique and have a voice that actually stands out. Especially in painting. With him using the medium that he does, he takes it to another realm that is hard to do with classic mediums. I think that his paintings are really grotesque — in a good way.”
Larsen and Prince both attended USU at the same time. Majoring in a similar field, Larson said he personally finds his work inspiring as he explores the human form.
“I think he has made an impact in art,” Larson said. “He’s well known in Salt Lake. This kind of budding art world, which to make any kind of impact on is pretty significant. He’s marketed himself in a way that undergraduates can look up to him,” he said.
Trevin Prince continues to make art out of his home in Logan and has been featured in several exhibitions and museums.
“I think Trevin is a successful artist,” said Professor Christopher Terry, the assistant dean of the Caine College of the Arts.
– alexander.h.van_oene@aggiemail.usu.edu