Added dimensions
In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, as sandblasted signs became more common, McLaughlin added three-dimensional (3-D) sculpting to Voodoo’s toolkit. Again, his music-industry connections led the way.
“I created backdrops for Canadian Music Week (CMW), singer Susan Aglukark’s concert tour and a heavy metal convention in Los Angeles, Calif.,” he says. “I also fabricated and painted a fire-rated fibreglass head based on a digitally altered photo for CMW’s promotional purposes. Using a 13-piece mould, I made seven of these heads and you can still see them show up at the yearly event.”
Recently, McLaughlin painted some of the helmets worn by racers in the skeleton event at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, including an elk-inspired design for Ireland’s Sean Greenwood, who is originally from Canada. File photo
That project, especially, led to more sculpting work and bigger commissions from advertising agencies, including a ‘chickenmobile’ when the Popeye’s Chicken chain was expanding in Ontario, along with giant fruits mounted on the roofs of repurposed ambulances painted to resemble Minute Maid’s Five Alive juice boxes.
“One of the oranges fell off and bounced along the highway!” McLaughlin says. “That’s when I learned about liability and structural integrity.”
A smaller-format—but even bigger-scale—job came along when Molson asked McLaughlin to paint a hockey goalie mask for a contest. Voodoo ended up producing 90 of them and got its logo displayed on beer cases distributed throughout the U.S.
“That project got its own legs and really took off,” he says. “Molson had teams of guys going into bars wearing painted goalie pads and jerseys. After that, they kept coming back for more.”
For the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., the brewer commissioned five giant airbrushed goalie masks for the Molson Canadian Hockey House. Voodoo worked with Plastiglas Industries in Ajax, Ont., to create the ‘elephant masks.’ One was signed by members of the gold-medal-winning Canadian men’s team before being auctioned off for charity.
In turn, Canadian Tire ordered some 400 more to serve as permanent merchandising displays in 235 of its stores across the country. Voodoo also managed to sell some to sports bars.
“Now some of the Canadian Tire stores have hired me to add special paint jobs,” says McLaughlin. “That’s been a nice extra.”
Worldwide exposure
Working with Plastiglas, meanwhile, has led Voodoo to build sculptures for ProSlide water parks. McLaughlin developed 4.6-m (15-ft) long sailfish and other sea creatures for the Water Cube in Beijing, China, a former Summer Olympic Games venue repurposed as a recreational facility for the public, while Plastiglas provided plastic tubes for the water slides.
“We’ve now done five parks for ProSlide,” says McLaughlin. “They help promote our work around the world.”
Fortunately, Voodoo is now based in a 502-m2 (5,400 sf) facility, with room to tackle such large-scale projects. The business has come a long way from the early ‘80s, when McLaughlin lived and painted in a 3 x 3-m (10 x 10-ft) room in Toronto.
“I even lived in a van for a while,” he says. “These days, I bring in subcontractors for the big jobs, including artisans, sculptors and woodworkers. I don’t have employees. People in this field seem to like me and want to work with me.”
I’m Dave Walton’s seller dweller. I’ve heard a lot about you and your place. Mill master extraordinaire I Must say.
I would like to stop by it give you a call.