Profile: Still life with end times

Nostradamus still makes the front page of the Weekly World News now and then, but an apocalyptic event has yet to arrive to end life on earth.

That hasn’t stopped Robert Gelineau from revealing what the possible end of modern society might look like some day.

A painting and drawing instructor in Kwantlen’s fine arts department for over 10 years, Vancouver resident Gelineau spends his spare time creating scenes from a potential post-apocalyptic world on canvasses in his Gastown studio.

Inspired by classical still life painting and the shock value of horror films, Gelineau works diligently to develop detailed scenes of natural disaster that depict the end of human society and our contemporary world.

Chronicle photographer Justin Langille visited Gelineau in his studio to discuss the ideas behind his work and the problems involved in teaching painting to students in era when the lure of technology has pulled the study of art into a state of disarray.