Manga mania is back with a fetish twist to it! This summer the Opera Gallery brings together two extreme styles of contemporary art: Poetic fantasy in painting along side Manga anime in sculpture. The meeting point of the two artists is in their fetish, seductive and very playful approach.

COLIN CHRISTIAN
Colin Christian was born in London on March 30th 1964 to a loving and outgoing mother. He hated school and apart from art classes found the whole thing rather frustrating and useless. At the age of 15 he left school and lived for a year in Morocco with his mother, brother and sister. The cultural difference was very liberating. Upon his return to England at 16 he worked at a record music store and in 1982 became a DJ and was a stage manager for a large nightclub in the south of England. This is where he met his wife Sas in 1989.

In 1992 Colin moved to the U.S where he and his wife started a small business making latex clothing for fetish stores around the country. Their work was featured in Penthouse and Skin Two magazines. Taking what he had learned from the clothing manufacturing and combining it with his interest in movie special fx, Colin started to produce fiberglass figures and displays. In 1998 he produced his first production figure, an anime girl called "Suki" - a towering 7 feet tall and anatomically correct.

Colin decided to put his career on hold for a few years to take up commercial sculpture. Sas was developing as a painter and if this was to be encouraged she had to be able to devote herself full time, learning how to paint. The commercial work paid the bills for both of them and would support them both until Sas was ready to support herself. During this time Colin produced pieces for stores, museums and various businesses. A robot he made for the American Heart Association was interviewed by Katie Couric on the Today show and he also constructed the world’s largest mousetrap for pest control company Truly Nolen, which is now featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Colin now works full time on his original sculptures, finding inspiration in old sci-fi movies, pinup girl/supermodels, anime, ambient electronic music and H.P. Lovecraft. In 2004 he started using silicone in his sculptures, a difficult material to use but one that helps him achieve his goal of true cartoon realism, a line drawing made flesh. He is not looking to create every imperfection and flaw, but to take the exaggerations and perfections of cartoons and make them into a realistic 3D form

THERRIEN Rock
Rock Therrien is a self-taught painter. Born in 1970 in Armargh, a small picturesque village in Bellechasse County, south of Quebec City. Today, he is based Montreal.

Therrien draws his ideas from his environment, world travels, music and everyday life.

Attracted to art at a very young age, Therrien recreates amusing situations where one can easily recognize oneself. The characters of Therrien evolve in another era. Being a true admirer of curves, Therrien engraves circular motifs that he will ornate with signs and touches of abstract colors.  Therrien likes to leave traces of his different layering technique, enabling the viewer to catch a glimpse of his tedious work. Therrien’ s paintings tell an untold tale that the artist strongly desires the viewer to discover. Many hidden treasures may be found in a Therrien painting. As in real life, some will be quickly unmasked while others will take more time.

"The Rock and Roll scenarios that my characters find themselves in do much more than simply adorn the surface or my works: They leave behind a tangible remnant of their presence, they take root within the canvas and truly become matter, time and space’".

Therrien Rock will be visiting Hong Kong for the show opening and available for interviews about his work and his great success in the Canadian and North American markets.