Rushing in a little after seven p.m., Evond Blake a.k.a. Mediah enters the Function 13 Decimals Rebuilt Exhibition on Toronto's Augusta Avenue with his girlfriend. Guests eager to meet and greet the artist were put on hold while Blake's biggest fan got an autograph -- a young boy smiling and staring up at the artist, waiting for his father to find a marker. Blake asks him where he should sign and the youth responds by saying, "You can sign right on my backpack."

Blake, a 30-year-old Jamaican-Canadian, started doing art at age five but as far as displaying it in a more contemporary sense, it all started at the age of 12. With his digital media arts foundation diploma and post-graduate diploma in new media design Blake has definitely been tapping into his creative juices for awhile now.

"Decimals Rebuilt is my blood, sweat, tears and all my spiritual energy," he explains.
Blake's art consists of all genres of work. His paintings and animations are built using aerosol as a base, acrylic latex, soft bodies of acrylic oils and digital processes. He devotes most of his time to his work, hardly getting any sleep each night so he can complete yet another art of perfection. As weird as it may sound he says sometimes he will be working on one piece and it will explain to him that it is incomplete and the other four pieces will want the same, creating more work for him.

He will say to his art, "You're so high-maintenance, what do you want?"

He has been working on Decimals Rebuilt since 2007.  Using a mish mash of different techniques and mediums, this art scientist came out with a monstrous outcome. Put on display were his first generation pieces, painted between May 2007 and September 2008 and his second generation installment, worked on from December 2008 to present day. Decimals Rebuilt will have nine full generations in total. Blake's love for his work is beautiful. Every piece takes about two weeks to a month to make.

"The concept came to me; it wasn't developed by me but it was given to me. I believe that God gave me the concept and told me this is a gift," he says.

At first glance, his artwork might give off a robotic feel. Don't be surprised if cartoons like Transformers or even Reboot pop up in your mind.

Blake laughs and shares, "Someone told me it reminds them of Invader's Zim, the eyes remind me of Invader's Zim." 

Blake's hope is that Decimals Rebuilt will go on to an international scale. He sees it traveling to Barcelona, Tokyo and West Africa. He also has another project on the way with a Decimals Rebuilt short film. Although he has just completed the second generation, he still has seven more generations to go.

With all those sleepless nights and long days he is hoping to complete all the generations successfully with good feedback.

"I believe that God has to give me strength to be able to do the rest of this."

Words & Photos by. Ranjit Dhatt