Tim Burton / Tim Walker

        Tim Burton (as is true of so many) has always been one of my favorite illustrators/directors/writers/artists in general. His imagination truly awes me. I'm not going to go into any sort of depth about who he is or what his work is like, because I'm pretty sure that at this point everyone knows, and it would probably just come across as some sort of hero worship.
        So my reason for this post is to say that this past spring I was VERY excited to discover that the Museum of Modern Art (NY) will be giving a retrospective on him. The show opens exactly a month from today (November 22), and will be open through April 26 of 2010. MoMA reports that the retrospective will include "drawings, paintings, storyboards, digital and moving-image formats, puppets and maquettes, props, costumes, ephemera, sketchbooks, and cartoons". The retrospective will be accompanied by a Tim Burton film exhibition (open Nov. 18 and closing with the retrospective).

        The fashion images that I have chosen to accompany this announcement are by Tim Walker and from the October issue of Harper's Bazaar. I'm not entirely sure what Burton's level of involvement was, Bazaar simply says "Tim Burton reimagines the season's dark delights", but the styling (which I will add is EXQUISITE. i want these clothes.) is clearly inspired by him and his work. A few of the stylings are more obvious representations of specific characters, (Edward Scissorhands, Lydia and Delia Deetz) and one is an actual costume representation of one a character from one of his poems. Tim Burton himself is featured in two of the photographs, and the spread is, of course, in anticipation of his upcoming retrospective. (The photographs are actually very beautifully done, I would recommend looking at them all, there are thirteen).

        Anyway, I'm sure I will see this show multiple times, and I encourage anyone who can get to New York to check it out. It's sure to be inspiring and you have plenty of time!

Tim Burton MoMA retrospective page
Tim Burton MoMA film exhibition page
the full Harper's Bazaar spread




images: harpersbazaar.com & moma.org

Ron Barrett

        With the horrifically animated film currently in theaters inspired by the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett), it is really important to me that I call some attention to the actual book.
        I was disappointed when I originally heard that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was being made into a film. Though it was easily one of my three favorite stories growing up, and I am usually interested to at the very least see what directors are doing with film interpretations, I knew that nothing could stand up to the beautiful illustrations that Ron Barrett created for the book. I was even more horrified then, to hear that it was stemming away from the original storyline - a grandfather telling his grandchildren a story of a land with unexplained food weather- to a story about a scientist who discovers a way to turn rain into food, and that it was being animated in a way that I can only describe as lazy.

        I am not going to say that the art has been taken out of children's visual storytelling, because I haven't the historical or current knowledge to back up such a bold statement, and also because I truly believe that there will always be artists who care and continue to make meaningful children's stories. I will say however, that much of the effort that was put into illustration, television and cinema, even as recently as when I was a child (I am now twenty) does not seem to be nearly as present. For example, cartoons such as Looney Tunes were created with their artistic rendering in mind, and with multiple levels of comedy and commentary as to be enjoyed by audiences of any age, young to adult. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is another example of this, with rich, beautifully rendered and detailed drawings with multiple levels and hidden details -have you ever noticed that the sanitation department truck has two baby heads on the front like heads on stakes?! (click to enlarge) Similarly, on one page of my very favorite book, Eloise (written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight), a bottle of gin is neatly hidden on the bookshelf in six-year-old Eloise's room. These witty and intelligent layers, along with the immense amount of time and effort that went into each illustration are not only what made these books so enduring, but they also served as a tie between families and generations. Children, teens, young adults and older adults could all come together and watch an episode of Looney Tunes, or gather tightly around Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Today children are left alone to watch sloppily pulled together cartoons with poor animation and static humor that is intended to get a quick laugh out of the (young) viewer. The lack of seen effort makes them self-admittedly disposable, and they are frequently cancelled and a new show crops up. I don't look at children's books as frequently as I flip through my television, but I do know that the books I liked best as a child and have continued to hold dearest were written and illustrated before my time, so perhaps I came in just as this change was beginning.
        Is this change a marker of why the framing narrative of grandfather and grandchildren has been removed in the movie? The structure of the book revolves around the very concept that it embodies, narrative as a forum to bring together generations and families. What does it mean that the storytelling grandfather has been removed and instead has been placed a mad scientist and his love interest? What will happen to the rich full-circle ending where the children just barely see a slice of butter atop the newly fallen snow outside? The entire premise of the uncontrolled weather-food and resulting events in the book can be intellectually analyzed, but what room for this is there in a story about a man with a machine creating a big weathery "oops!"?
        Have we as humans really become this lazy? Have art and storytelling and their absolute power of connection become less important to us than making a low-effort film that will pull in some fast money? No one is going to remember this movie. The storyline is depressingly unoriginal and as I mentioned earlier, the animation is garish. And I am not writing off the way the film has been made. I have seen computer animated children's films that were beautifully crafted, Toy Story is (I believe) the best example of this, but even the more recent Up! was at the very least visually pleasing and interesting. I was going to post the image created for the film to correspond to the first image I have posted (one of my favorites, the jello setting sun), but I couldn't even bear to have it on the page (if you're curious you can see it here). The image has stripped absolutely everything that makes Barrett's illustration so beautiful and exciting away, and leaves a fast and simple image in its place. Who is this image (or in the greater scope, this film) for? What is it saying about our culture?

        Please, please, take a moment to look at Barrett's illustrations for this book. They are stunning and this is something that I as well as my many friends who also loved the book realized, even as children. If you do not own the book (or have never read it) I would honestly recommend buying it, it's available on amazon for as little as $3. I promise that you will love it, and continue to love it, and that whoever you chose to share it with will love it as well.



images: c. Ron Barret; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Clément louis

        A particularly dear and like-minded friend of mine happened upon Clément louis (this capitalization is the way he seems to consistently use it, I'm unsure if this is his full name or just his first name) this summer through the fashion website lookbook. From there he found Clément louis' flickr, and immediately sent it to me, gushing about Clément louis' beautiful photographs (as well as his equally amazing hair and sense of fashion of course). Clément louis' photographs are in fact very impressive; creative, moody and exceptionally composed.
        Though both are in French (and therefore I cannot read them) Clément louis' flickr reveals that he has been featured in two online publications, both Piana Magazine and Revista Catarina, both of which are worth looking at even if you can't read French either.
        Despite the inherent beauty and talent behind Clément louis' photographic portraits, I was particularly taken with his illustrations. His figures' proportions are distorted, and they are often androgynous. The images have a strong tension between beauty and revulsion, along with a dark tone that is particularly enticing (at least to people like myself). Along with his strong sense of personal style, Clément louis' has infused many of his illustrations with details that go unnoticed at first glance- the one hand of exposed bone on the crossed arms of a model for example.
        I managed to find his deviantart account, which chronicles a larger portion of his work, and greatly represents the evolvement of his personal style and skill. I will certainly be keeping an eye on his work, I am curious to see where he is headed, it seems like a good direction.

Clément louis' Flickr (keep an eye out for the two photo manip's that are wildy reminiscent of Daniele Buetti)
Deviantart (larger selection of work)
blog (if you can read French!)
and of course for fun, the starting point of this discover, his lookbook.




images: sirxlem.deviantart.com

Toyen

        Czech painter/illustrator Toyen denounced her name and family (she was born Marie Cerminova and formed her own family of surrealist poets), referred to herself in the masculine, made explicit artwork, and earned herself a place in the infrequently infiltrated by women surrealist movement of the 1930's. She was by all standards, a badass.
        This is a large piece of why I love and admire her so much. Toyen was in command of herself, both as an artist and as a woman. She pushed the tight gender roles, refusing to be marginalized. This is reflected in her artwork, much of which is suggestive. It is important to note that female genitalia was no stranger to surrealism, and was in fact frequently represented on the male side of surrealism, but on completely different terms. Surrealism being very much about desires and fears, it from the male standpoint often presents the female form as either an object (desire) or as the archetypal castrated figure (fear). In Toyen's work the female form is much more commanding. They are still absolutely about sex, but she instead speaks from the female side of desire, creating a voice that was not typically seen in surrealist art (or most art in general). Toyen also frequently depicted the male genitalia (which was much less frequently represented), often making them proportionally larger than life to other figures in the drawings, a clear commentary.
        Toyen's body of work spans from paintings to drawn illustrations to photo collage. Her drawings are what first roped me in (the first image I posted being one that has been burned into my brain, something about it just resonates with me), but her entire range of work (which literally ranges from doodles of girls dreaming about penises to more typical surrealist paintings of barren landscapes littered with strange objects) is very strong. She frequently collaborated, both with painters and poets within the surrealist movement.

I was unable to find an online collection of her work that shows the true range of her work, but for now you canclick here, google image search her, or head to the library. (and if anyone knows of a larger online representation of her work please share!).




images: c. Toyen

Derrick R. Cruz

        Some time ago I came across and bookmarked one of Derrick R. Cruz's lines of "narrative accessories and art objects" (they are just that, the quotes are because this is actually how he refers to them) Dark Memento (img 1). The line, tagged "Objects for Contemplation and Remembering" is made up of beautiful and dark jewelry, every single piece is not only something I would wear but something I would absolutely scramble for.
        Cruz, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Puerto Rico is the man behind Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons. Best articulated on the Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons website, Cruz's work can be described as such:
"Melding historically rich craft traditions and occult motifs, Cruz's work materializes his obsession with the beauty potentially found in darkness. Each piece, from inception to presentation, is as much a pledge to fine craftsmanship as it is a conceptual conduit between materialism and intuition. Under the influence of funerary crafts, alchemical studies, and Native American mythology, Cruz honors the past with rigorous research and meticulous execution. Building on those traditions, his objects emerge as modern moralizing tools and intimate fetishes."
        Unfortunately (or fortunately?) after reading this I did not feel that I could better describe his work as a whole. Every aspect of inspiration, research, and work that goes into each of Cruz's pieces is entirely apparent.

        As I mentioned earlier, when I discovered Cruz it was through his line Dark Memento. I had not, at the time of this unearthing, taken the time to look at his other series and complete body of work. When I returned to it to write about him, I was blown away by what I had been missing. Though Dark Memento is entirely up my alley, the amount of thought and true ingenuity that has gone into some of his other series is astounding.
        In his piece "The Abandoned Comb Amulet" (img 2-3), Cruz addresses the current (potentially devastating) worldwide abandoning of their hives by honeybees. He makes a strong case for art as commentary, as the piece stuck with me much stronger than the multiple conversations I've had with people on the same subject. The piece is a pyramid of sugar-glass encasing a gold replica of a piece of honeycomb (made through the "ancient lost-wax tradition" which he does not thoroughly describe). He presents the issue as "Solomonic", saying "A choice must be made to forcefully exhume the honey-drenched gold, violently shattering and consuming its casting, or to recognize value in its current form, nurturing a natural deterioration and the gradual revelation of treasure within." ........ yeah. I wish I'd thought of this too.
        It becomes immediately clear that Cruz finds his inspiration and holds fast to it, delving into research and making pieces that are narrative, intelligent and sincere.         A close second (to Abandoned Comb) is his Bendicion series (img 4), beautifully quiet scrimshaws (engravings, historically made by sailors on whale bone) on 1920's piano keys with gold and ebony inlays on silver chains with praying hands. I'm dying here.

Take a look at the rest of his work on the Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons website.


images: blacksheepandprodigalsons.com

Daniele Buetti

(real fast: starting wednesday (tomorrow) my blog will be updated weekdays at noon, to make it easier to check, since i tend to be all over the place with the times of my daily posts! enjoy!)

        If Tracey Emin were altering photographs instead of making quilts and fluorescent lights they might look something like the work of Daniele Buetti. Though unlike Emin, Buetti is a male, his images are equally confronting and ask some of the same questions (removing of course Emin's frequent focus on herself as a female; relationships, abortions, etc, and shifting his main focus to mass media culture and its representations of women). Another thing he has managed to capture that harkens back to Emin's work, something rare in pieces with a photographic base, is the hand of the artist. The photos Buetti starts with are not his own (they are mainly from magazines), but he uses various techniques to alter and effectively "scar" these images.
        In his series Dreams Result in More Dreams (second image) Buetti has poked pinholes in the photographs, changing or adding to the image, and frequently using this method to add text as well. He then mounts the photographs in front of light boxes, creating a both beautifully and alarmingly stark and overpowering effect over the sometimes busy images. The images include women seemingly bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth, and hands and text such as "is sex work real work?" (reminiscent of Emin's posed questions in fluorescents; "Is Anal Sex Legal" and "Is Legal Sex Anal") -Buetti displaying his interests and issues with the use of sexuality in culture and media.
        He pushes this one step further in Looking for Love Goodfellows (first image), in which he uses the effect of again, pin pricking photographs, but this time from the other side and without a light box, adding color instead. He effectively "brands" (by both definitions) models with logos and and designer names.
        It is important to note that though Buetti's photographs (and drawings, to which he applies the same effects) are interesting enough on their own, he is also a master of creating environment. Also an installation artist (see last image), Buetti has incorporated this into the way he displays his 2d image work to create strange and sometimes unnerving spaces (3rd image).
        (Quickly, as some background info, Buetti is 53 and a Swiss artist, he has been working in mixed media since the 80's.)
        I have a strong feeling that his work is extremely experiential and only reads to a certain degree through images, so I hope to someday encounter some of his work in person.
        In the mean time, here is his website which is definitely worth some time.


images: buetti.aeroplastics.net

St. Victor

        As I mentioned in my post on Tatt2 Tammy, I visited New Mexico two years ago. One night I was wandering around a mostly closed Santa Fe mall nearby where I was staying, searching for something or rather (I can not recall what) and stopped at the window of a gallery with giant canvases painted with strange, dark girls.
        I went in to find the artist, Lynden Saint Victor, working on a "mixed media original" (recreations of his original paintings; an alternative to the less personal prints and more expensive/one of a kind true originals) of his painting Lady Gaia (which I ended up purchasing a poster print of). He was extremely gracious and sweet, as well as eager to talk about his work, as well as art in general, and impart his wisdom on me.
        St. Victor's paintings are extremely narrative, and each painting has a story and deep meaning behind it. Visually they appear to be in alternate realities, everything slightly disproportionate or off, and are full of symbolism, both obvious and less-so. I just absolutely love his style and everything that he puts into each piece, and really believe he is worth checking out. And if you are ever in Santa Fe, you should stop by and have a chat.

St. Victor's website (online gallery with full descriptions)



images: stvictordiaries.com

Edward Gorey

        Many people are familiar with Edward Gorey's quirky, morbid illustrations and writing. (You may also know him as E. G. Deadworry, Madame Groeda Weyrd or another of his many clever and humorous pseudonyms.) Gorey has been on my radar ever since I was in middle school and my mother gave me The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an alphabet book describing 26 children's deaths such as "Y is for Yorick whose head was knocked in. Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin" (... and she wonders today why I turned out the way I did). Gorey's ominous illustrations and often nonsensical text are horrifically charming and terribly enjoyable to read/look at.
        Gorey (which is his given name by the way, too perfect) has really perfected a genre of picture books for older readers, with titles such as The Curious Sofa; a porno-graphic work by Ogdred Weary, which follows a young woman named Alice in a series of questionably vague escapades ending in being shrunk to ant size by a strange sir and "machinery inside the sofa". You can never tell where Gorey is going to take something, but the combination of his absurd writing and distinct illustrative style (think men in fur coats, women in flapper dresses, and an oddly placed child or cat plus an overall foreboding feel), is brilliant.
        He has written/illustrated over a hundred stories, many of them now difficult to find on their own but available in his "Amphigorey" collections (Amphigorey, Amphigorey Too, Amphigorey Also and Amphigorey Again). He also illustrated Bram Stoker's Dracula, H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds and famously the set and costumes for the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula (for which he won a Tony for the costumes). His illustrations were also animated for the PBS series Mystery! which ran in the early 1980's (watch the opening here!).
        If you hadn't already heard of him I URGE you to go to a bookstore (I've found some of the Amphigorey books for under $10 at used bookstores) and buy one of his collections! I promise you that your life will be better because of it. He without a doubt is and always will be one of my very favorites.

-The Edward Gorey House (Gorey's former home in Yarmouth Port, MA - converted to a small museum and store)
-The full Gashlycrumb Tinies text and illustrations
-Documentary on Gorey (you can watch the video interviews here, his mannerisms and jewelry are fantastic)




images: various sources, c. Edward Gorey

Eugenio Recuenco

(section of second image)
        Eugenio Recuenco is a positively epic fashion photographer. He is known (particularly throughout his native Spain, where he shoots exclusively for Vogue) for his cinematic style (which I am DYING over) and has photographed for fashion houses such as Chanel and LV.
        A quick glance at his website (13 pages with upwards of 50 photographs on some of the pages) makes it clear that he is an expert in not only color and composition but concept and individuality as well. As I began the impossible task of choosing which pictures to share (if I could I'd post one from every series- they're that great), I found myself more and more deeply pulled in by his series that are put together like film strips. The women are sexy, strange, and powerful, and the narrative flow is really amazing.
        I know this post is panning in comparison to my more recent lengthier posts, but I honestly just don't have the words for this one. Recuenco's work has a true identity and is stunning. The best I can do is to say to look for yourself. And be sure to look at his videos as well, which are equally strange and beautiful. This one's my favorite (be warned it's a little creepy).

Recuenco's website




(to view images larger click them, but for full size head over to his website!)
images: eugeniorecuenco.com

Ali Scarpulla

        I saw this photograph (above) a while back on one of the blogs I look at pretty regularly, Morbid Anatomy, in a post labeled an "enigmatic collection of captionless vintage photos".
        After a bit of quick super-sleuthing hoping to find the source of the image, I discovered that the photo was not in fact "vintage", though it does not have a caption, so they were correct about that, and is by photographer Ali Scarpulla. (This is not Morbid Anatomy's fault as they seem to have found the set from another website, and it is also easy to see how this mistake may have been made- just sad when photographers don't get due credit). Anyway, my search lead me to Scarpulla's flickr, which is chock full of similarly dark and beautiful images.
        Her profile reveals little information about her (she lists an interest as "sleeping with eyes open"), so I have only been able to ascertain that she has an eye for light (possibly from sleeping with her eyes open so much). Basically, Scarpulla is the kind of photographer that makes me go "crap, why is this not me". Her subject matter; dangling limbs, sculls, twisted wood and light itself, are expertly composed and just strange enough to not disengage but make the viewer curious. In one word they are ghostly. Like I said, I'm jealous.

See for yourself: Scarpulla's flickr




images: flickr.com/photos/aliscarpulla