It’s not easy understanding the mind of an artist, but it is evident in every intricate detail how much heart goes into the body-casting art of Dane Heathcock.

Heathcock moved to Los Angeles from Texas at 22 with only $13 and was fortunate enough to land a job in the construction industry.

“I never thought of art as a career or hobby; I used to doodle and postulate a lot and write a little poetry,” Heathcock said.

After a motorcycle accident, Heathcock said he found himself with nothing but time and that’s when the idea struck him.

“It just came as a ‘being’ change,” he said.

But when faced with the aftermath of going through a bad relationship, Heathcock said the idea of body-casting came to mind when an ex-girlfriend made him a little plastered facial mask that sat on his desk.

“It dawned on me that I could take this same material and put it all over the body and I could literally express exactly how I felt,” Heathcock said.

In addition, Heathcock said when creating casts like “Litany,” currently on display just outside of Art 131, he tires to make statements in kind of a social scenario.

“In this particular piece, the person sits dwelling on the past, stuck in a litany,” Heathcock said.

“It is a repetition of how to repent for past deeds or how to change their lives because it’s not working right,” he said.

Heathcock said that what drew him to art was the fact that people repress everything and lose their identity in the mist of it all.

“Although I do paint large, beautiful paintings and abstracts, this allows me to adopt a serious, deep-mode of thought,” Heathcock said.

Heathcock said he has plans to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree from UCLA and has put together some slides of his work for admission.

“It has a lot to do with momentum in life and once you’ve signed those admission papers, your momentum is up,” Heathcock said.

Within the next five years, Heathcock said he hopes to be selling his art and to support himself by putting his sculpture installations and paintings in museums and private collections all over the world.

“My job is to make the art; the audience will find it if I can find the audience,” Heathcock said. “I can’t make something to an audience, I’ve got to make what’s in my heart.”