Stiles of Art: December 2021

Sunday, December 12, 2021

THESE STRANGE THINGS…

December of 2021 was a very busy month, I had three shows plus a convention that I was trying to balance and work a day job. This piece was two of the aforementioned-trio, and part of an exhibition curated by Gallery1988 dedicated to the works of director Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson’s portfolio included a catalog of films that have really captured the human condition. His pictures often leave me very uncomfortable, primarily due to the masterfully crafted tragedy portrayed by his award winning casts. By no easy means, I somehow managed to narrow it down to: ‘Boogie Nights’ & ‘Magnolia’. I attempted to watch a few of Anderson’s other works, but these films simply spoke to me, and I was more familiar with their story having seen them previously. I knew, if anything, ‘Boogie Nights’ was going to be well represented, so instead I opted for the underdog (in my opinion), and pursued ‘Magnolia’. Between the two films, I enjoyed the storyline in ‘Boogie Nights’ more, but ‘Magnolia’ has some weird kind of allure to it that I still can’t comprehend to this day (if you’re thinking: the movie, or his attraction to the film? The answer is both…I can’t explain either).

I began my research process by re-watching the film and gathering what resource material I could this early on. One thing to note about most of Anderson’s projects is he often uses the same ensemble cast, and his stories are complicated with character’s destinies intertwining. Keeping this in mind, I knew illustrating one of his films in a narrative style was going to be challenging. I could have opted to simply depict a character or actor from the film, or really anything associated with it, but I like to capture the soul of a film when I make art inspired by it. Instead, I decided to focus on one aspect of the film that often mystifies watchers, and really doesn’t have much to do with the overall main storyline. It does however serve a purpose, but exactly what is up to the viewer to decide.

What is it you say? It’s what our narrator tells us at the beginning of the film and reiterated in closing by the youthful Stanley: “These strange things happen all the time.” This is of course in reference to the phenomenon, or coincidences described in the prologue about: Greenberry Hill, ‘Delmer Darion’ (a delightful cameo by Patton Oswalt), and ‘Sydney Barringer’. These events are then end-capped by the miraculous raining of amphibians at the closing of the film. I depicted the events as part of the background, using a variety of greens, while also contrasting my negative space by utilizing the white of the paper or background. I’m almost positive this piece’s layout was contributed in part by the wallpaper pattern in ‘Sharp Objects’ (inside the ‘Crellin’ house, it’s green and pink-ish branches). Centrally, I knew I wanted to depict a magnolia flowers inspired by the original 1999 poster (and wallpaper). I had visualized a ‘heartbeat’ monitor for the stem of the magnolia branch, to represent the frailty of humanity which is so delicately portrayed. Since I wasn’t going to be doing any portraits in this piece, I knew I had to draw a parallel between the central image and the film. I decided one way to do this was by creating as many flowers or buds, as there are (main) characters. Much like a branch, the film arcs but also loops back on itself retracing its steps, all ‘stemming’ from the same source. To represent the branch, I gravitated towards colors I typically never use, like oranges and browns. These colors tend to recede in most images but together, combined with the green values, ended up working rather successfully. It was entirely experimental in nature and more abstract than I usually work, but I was up against a looming deadline. The piece was due mid-month (December 19^th, 2021), but the show wasn’t until after the New Year. It was primarily due to the holidays being on the weekend this year (2021), which pushed up the deadline about a week. I’m not the fastest artist, but apparently I work well under pressure.

I started the piece on November 26^th, 2021, first painting in the background and then determining my layout. I didn’t return to finish the piece until December 6^th, 2021, the same day I began exhibiting at a convention, which also happened to be the opening date to another show (’20 Years Later: Movies from 2001’). I did all the structures in the piece, and the bulk of the magnolia flowers at the convention over that weekend, and finishing them on the 11^th. This allowed me to send the final image to proof on 12^th. Thankfully the image was perfect and needed no adjustments, which is a true success. As an artist, the biggest challenge for me is when I am calibrating an image or even selecting color for it. I have a hard time determining if a shade will contrast enough sometimes, so this was a considerably big win. I quickly ordered a set of the final illustration, framed, and delivered the work to the gallery before the due date somehow. Total time on the iPad spent on this project in Procreate was roughly thirty-two (32) hours, and that was primarily spent on the background, layout design, and painting the magnolia flowers. The building structures, trees, and other items were all designed in Adobe Illustrator.

This piece was featured exclusively at Gallery 1988’s “Paul Thomas Anderson Tribute Show”, which ran from January 8^th, 2022, through January 22^nd, 2022. The 12” x 18” image printed on white pearl linen paper courtesy of SGX, was limited to a run of eleven. Please check the gallery’s website for all available works related to show, including mine.

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here. You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting/crafting.

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Friday, December 3, 2021

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001)

With the holidays closely looming I was hoping things would slow down, as I was busier than I wanted to be, but still grateful for the work. I originally signed up for two conventions (pandemically postponed from May/October respectively now moved to December a week apart), and I had four different upcoming gallery shows, including the one you are reading about here. It was going to be tight, but I had faith in myself.

Having just completed my piece for their ‘Fake Gig Posters (2)’ show, I had another exhibition with Gallery1988 in December dedicated to films from 2001, with very little time between the deadlines. Thankfully, I had narrowed it down to a short list of films from the year including: ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’, ‘Amélie’, or ‘Ghost World’. I determined, that out of these films, I don’t recall ever seeing work inspired by ‘Hedwig’, which is a true travesty. The film is a masterpiece, and this is coming from someone who admittedly isn’t very fond of musicals. The music in this film however serves a greater narrative purpose, and that is where actor/director/writer, John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask’s work really shines. It’s as sad as it is hilariously heartwarming with stellar performances by Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Trask, Andrea Martin, and Michael Pitt, to name a few. Also, representing this film was important as the media had left this community mostly ignored during this era, and the film was relatively mainstream (or at least well known enough to have a Broadway show).

I typically approach most illustrations in a way that allows me to tell the narrative visually. This movie was however more difficult to pinpoint visually, especially with the music being so prevalent. After a few watches I determined the best way to house the image was to do so rather abstractly. I’m still not sure it was the best way to present the image, but it was the concept I had in mind. In the film, our protagonist ‘Hedwig’, goes through her own transformation, in connection to our antagonist ‘Tommy Gnosis’ (Pitt). To represent this ‘transformation’, I divided ‘Hedwig’s’ face and utilized the musical lyrics from many of the films songs to fill in the negative space (with moderate success). I also wanted to include some ‘Easter eggs’ alluding to the different characters, or segments in the film that resonated with me. I used different fonts, and played with them a bit for the lyrics, attempting to give the aesthetic of a ‘punk’ style poster, along with a bit of Russian constructivists movement thrown in there as well. Afterall ‘Hedwig’ does have communist roots, sadly, a poke at humor most likely last recognized by Gen X. I’d be surprised if anyone under the age of forty would remember the Berlin Wall, or even the U.S.S.R. for that matter. I’ll pause for the irony of the Ukraine invasion, and then we’ll awkwardly move on.

We good?

Okay, cool. So I started the image around October 28^th, 2021 and settled on a sketch/layout around November 9^th, 2021 with the entire piece taking me to the 16^th, with a due date of the 20^th. Did it happen? Oh, no. No, no, no. No it didn’t. Don’t fret the story has a good ending. You see November was the beginning of a busy month, especially for a print shop like the one I use. Also, with Covid still being an issue, and the questionable supply chain, challenges awaited.

Yay! 🎉🎊🥳

I manage to squeak the image into my printer’s by the 16^th, however, it took two rounds of proofs to correct the image (🤬), and with Thanksgiving being the last full week, I wasn’t able to obtain my final images until the 3^rd of December. The show opened the 4^th. Friday, December 3^rd, 2021 was perhaps one of the longest days I’ve had in some time. I was due to be at the Los Angeles Convention Center by noon, for the first convention (the Los Angeles Comic Con) I had signed up for (postponed by a year?), and I needed to pack the car, get the prints, drop-off said artwork to the gallery, and then go set up at the convention center. Sweet Jesus. I managed but it was hectic, and I had already started working on another piece as of the 26^th (of November), for an upcoming show in the New Year, due on the 18^th of December. It. Was. Crazy. I was so distracted at the convention that I ended up cancelling my next appearance, as I knew it wasn’t going to be lucrative.

Looking back at how rushed I was with this one, I would have liked more time, I see several ways I could present the image, some I think a bit more successfully at least in my imagination. I would like to revisit this piece someday, as unlikely as that is. I feel like I need to get it ‘right’, even though it isn’t a complete miss, as there are many elements here I would retain.

The 11” x 17” piece printed on white pearl linen paper was featured at Gallery 1988’s “20 Years Later: Movies from 2001”, which ran from December 4^th, 2021 until December 18^th, 2021. At this time, the image is exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.