Capturing the beautiful and the grotesque with equal skill, a Lisle artist is making a name for himself in fine art inspired by traditional subjects and in the stuff of nightmares through his special effects work for mask companies and Hollywood. J. Anthony Kosar invites the public to step inside his imagination at a one-day exhibition in Naperville this month.

Just graduated as valedictorian of the America Academy of Art in Chicago, he had a hand in constructing props for the most recent “Indiana Jones” movie, interned with the man who brought “Jurassic Park” to life and has won multiple awards for painting, including recognition for his Greek Orthodox religious icons.

“Basically, with going from monsters to icons to paintings to sculptures, it’s one of those things where I like to keep growing as an artist,” said the Lisle Senior High School alum. “I don’t want to limit myself to one avenue of art.”

Many of his paintings are executed in gouache, an opaque watercolor.

“Most of my subjects are, in a sense, kind of dark-humored; they all kind of have that dark twist to them,” he said.
Last year, he interned with the Stan Winston Studio in California.

“About a month ago, he passed away,” Kosar said. “I was extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work under him and to meet him. He’s been one of my idols. I’ve always looked up to him since I first saw ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Monster Squad.’ While I was there, I worked on the new ‘Indiana Jones.’ They did a lot of special effects props for the movie. They made a lot of bones and skeletons and mummies I helped work on and paint. And there’s a 13-foot-long snake I helped create, mold and cast of silicone. We made two of those. The crystal skeletons — I helped to create and finish all those off.”

While in California, he took a sculpture class under Jordu Schell, another of his favorite artists in the field of creatures and effects, who introduced him to the long-established Zagone Studios in Chicago.

“I’ve made my first Halloween mask that’s gone commercial with Zagone Studios,” Kosar said. “Right now, I’m currently in production of three more Halloween masks for their 2009 line. They have me come up with whatever I’m passionate about and create the concepts and everything. From there they pick what they think would sell, and then I go ahead and sculpt them.”

And while he eventually plans to head to California for a special-effects career in the movie industry, his talents are in rarer supply in the Chicago area.

In the suburbs, his skills have been used by theater productions in Cicero, Bolingbrook, Wheaton, Warrenville and Lisle. He not only keeps busy freelancing in special effects, but has worked with the Ben Nye Company, a major theatrical makeup firm, and for The Bradford Exchange collectibles company, where he interned the summer of 2006, learning product development and design.

“And now I do illustration and design work for them,” he said. “I also paint sculpts (the unpainted resin castings) for them. They take what I painted and send it overseas and have them replicate what I did and mass-produce it — anything from Disney and (motorcycles to) dragons and all that kind of good stuff.

“About a month and a half ago, I finished working on a full-body silicone creature suit for a local indie, feature-length horror film called ‘Satanic Panic.’”

His movie work has spilled over into his neighborhood.

“He works out of the house here,” said his mom, Linda Kosar, noting his wild divergence from Byzantine iconography to decapitated heads. “There are some funny stories. It’s a wild ride.”

He recalls putting in 18-hour days to finish props for “Satanic Panic” that included simulated dead animals and a ritual dagger.

“It was getting down to the deadline,” he said. “I was working on the animals — they’re basically mutilated, they hang from the ceiling. So I had one hanging in my garage and two in front letting the latex skins dry in the sun. It happened our subdivision was having a garage sale. On the driveway I had the table out with two animals drying. I’m sitting in my garage carving the dagger, and behind me I had the cat hanging. Some lady came by and she’s looking around kind of awkwardly, and asks, ‘This isn’t a garage sale, is it?’”

Kosar describes his fine art style as extreme realism.

“I come up with a concept and then I will either use models or my friends or myself,” he said. “Then I’ll just pose them in different positions to capture the lighting. Every tiny shadow is very important to my work; that is why I’ll go through the trouble of having models and photo references to complete the whole picture.”

He says there have been no formal self-portraits, but adds, “I am my most accessible model.”

Case in point is the painting that anchors his Web site, “Just a Reflection.”

The evocative titles of the works in his online portfolio reveal his penchant for writing poetry. In his spare time, he’s catching the latest monster movies.

“I have a high level of respect,” he said. “I know what goes into creating these things.”

Hollywood has a hold on the Kosar family.

His sister, Melissa, is studying cinematography in California for her master’s degree in film, he said, adding, “We both like telling stories in our own way.”

One-man exhibit

What: An artist’s reception celebrates the one-day exhibition of “Beyond Common Ground: The Art of J. Anthony Kosar.” Included will be fine art, as well as sculpture including creature masks and special effects projects.

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23.

Where: Naperville Fine Art Center and Gallery, 508 N. Center St., Naperville.

Info: Admission is free. For more on the artist and his works, visit kosarteffects.com.