How One Artist Crafted a DOOM Demon with a Chainsaw

When most people look at a chainsaw, the first thing that comes to mind is destruction.

That’s definitely the case with one of DOOM’s most iconic weapons, which can slice through hell-spawned demons with reckless abandon. But for artist Rob Bast, the chainsaw is more like a surgeon’s blade – a tool of great precision that can be used to create an intricate piece of art.

Bast was first exposed to carving in 2003 and was instantly hooked. Over the years, he taught himself many new techniques, and these skills have allowed him to compete all around the world. Rob won the 2015 Australian Chainsaw Carving Championships and has placed in Germany, Canada and the U.S., so when he was tasked with recreating an almost life-sized Revenant Demon from DOOM – using one of the game’s most well-known weapons – he jumped at the opportunity to put his skills to the test.

But why a chainsaw? The short answer: why the hell not! Sure, it’s a match made in heaven (or hell) for DOOM fans, but wouldn’t a more traditional form of carving be much more efficient? Not if you want to capture another key element from DOOM: speed. “It’s so much quicker with a chainsaw,” Bast says. “I can do stuff in a couple of hours that would take weeks with a hammer chisel. Plus it’s the wow factor. It’s a fairly extreme tool to be using to create an 8-foot sculpture.”

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The Revenant statue has been one of the biggest challenges of Rob’s caving career so far. While the sheer amount of detail required to keep it true to the original design was daunting, Bast was up to the task. “I have quite a decent arsenal of chainsaws to work with, from the biggest production saw to the 36-volt battery saw,” he says. “For this specific project, I mainly used a pool of nine chainsaws from my collection of 23. Okay, yes, I'm a bit of a chainsaw hoarder.”

The Revenant Demon was completed using recycled sustainable Cyprus wood. It took almost 150 hours to bring this outstanding recreation of one of DOOM’s iconic demons to life. Bast’s incredible piece of art is being exhibited at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia, over the coming months.

For more DOOM artistry, check out these Bethesda.net features:

Behind the Scenes of Claycat’s DOOM
The Art of DOOM – Weapons
The Art of DOOM – Demons