Artist imagines Bangor in the future — both optimistic and post-apocalyptic

Artist Jadrien Cousens likes to take a real place — be it a mountainous landscape out west, a serene neighborhood park, or the streets of downtown Bangor — and transform it into something completely different.

Cousens, a 2009 Hampden Academy graduate and 2013 studio art graduate of the University of Maine, was recently featured on sci-fi, fantasy and pop culture site io9, showcasing an image of the Bangor Waterfront that he altered in an incredibly imaginative way. Apparently, in the future, we still get just as much snow as always, and Brewer is a glimmering bastion of streamlined future-buildings.

future brewer

According to his website, Cousens specializes in creating photorealistic digital environments. Some of these he uses simply as individual works of art, but many he creates in his professional life, as a digital matte painter in the film and TV industry. Cousens digital paintings have been seen in such major productions as “The Amazing Spiderman 2,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” TV’s “Game of Thrones” and “Revolution” and the upcoming major motion picture “Night at the Museum 3.”

Cousens, who’s work has been displayed in galleries throughout the Bangor area, including The Gallery at Blue Heron and the Bangor Public Library, also released in 2012 a series of digital paintings called “Aftermath.” Cousens took photos of downtown Bangor and then digitally “painted” onto them scenes of post-apocalyptic destruction. The result is dark and hyper-realistic, and for Bangorians, more than a little freaky.

aftermath 2 aftermath 1

More of Cousens’ work can be seen on his website, Jadrien Cousins Art, and on his Deviant Art page. In 2013, Cousens did a Pecha Kucha presentation in Bangor, which can be watched online on the international Pecha Kucha website.

Emily Burnham

About Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham is a Maine native, UMaine graduate, proud Bangorian and a writer for the Bangor Daily News, where she's worked since 2004. She reports on everything from local bands to local food to all the cool things going on in the Greater Bangor area. In her quest for stories, she's seen countless concerts and plays, been lobster fishing, interviewed celebrities, hung out with water buffalo and played in a ukulele orchestra. She's interested in everything that happens in Maine.