Fear Factor

Gabriel talks about his inspiration for making his fear look like a giant blob of skulls and limbs. “The long arms coming out of the project are based on Stromae's “Quand c'est”, a song about cancer. My grandfather died from cancer a few years back. A fear I wanted to highlight in this project was my fear of cancer.”

The skulls stacked one on the other certainly look cancerous, same as the limbs reaching out as if to metastasize to other parts of the body and mind. But not everything involved with building this giant tumorous mass of death was all doom and gloom. There were some lighthearted moments Gabriel encountered while building this too, courtesy of an unhelpful pet.

“I almost crashed the server three times and my cat almost knocked over my monitor. And once in chat I witnessed a rap battle.”

With rendering help from Florian Funke, Darastilix, and Xelacreations and build assistance from Necrosys, Minecraft helps Gabriel give a face to his fears.

“Minecraft is a good way to express how you feel. The skulls and faces really represent my fear of death. If there is one thing I'd like people to take away from this piece is that everyone has fears, and it's okay to have them. The idea is to never let those fears consume you.”

It’s good to know Gabriel hasn’t been consumed by his own fears, as he’s already working on his next build. “I do have a large project coming soon and I promise, this next project isn't as dark as this one. The idea of this next one is trust.”

Trust then, that like Growing Up and Fear, Gabriel’s next work will be something spectacular.