Canister the Robot from Belion 7 is a character I invented as an unnamed sitcom character for a student excercise in March 2010 and have portrayed (in both voice and body) ever since. He is basically all in black with long black leather gloves, black jeans, black turtleneck shirt, and black rubber boots. The only non-black component of the costume is the helmet which is made of a large ice cream bucket with a slot cut for an eye hole which is then covered from the inside with a single piece of blue colour correction gel. In the summer of 2010, along with student assistant Erik Sirke, I had dozens of photos taken along with some video against a green screen. These elements would act as source material for the next few appearances of this character. In 2011, I donned the helmet as the character Rupert Korngold, a student film by Erik Sirke.
In 2012, the first solo Canister stories were created and his character of a space-fairing, time-travelling, world conquering robot took shape. I like the idea of having him mixed within old photos or videos from the 1960s where this sort of amateurish depiction of a robot was acceptable. I am nostagic for a time when monsters didn't have to be fifty foot tall digital creations.
Initially as a demonstration of meta-narrative strategies, I began including Canister in comic stories and collaged artist trading cards, and slipping his image and name into situations whereever I could.