Pinocchio…”I’ll be back” May 11, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Comics, Graphic Novels, Pinocchio, Puppets, Summer Reading Project, Visually Cool & Relevant.Tags: Pinocchio, Vincent Parannaud, Winshluss
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Like the Terminator he seems to reference, Pinocchio is back, this time channeled through well known French comix artist Winshluss. His retelling of the classic children’s story was awarded the Fauve d’or (best comic book prize/ Gold Fauvre) at the 37th Angoulême International Comics Festival in France this year. Winshluss, is the pen name of Vincent Parannaud who might also be familiar to some as co-director with Marjane Satrapi on her animated film Persepolis.
Winshluss has created a wonderfully dark, comic noir interpretation of Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s story. The artwork is primarily done in pen and ink, and watercolor but switches to paint for larger splash panels. He references a terrific range of illustrative styles and history in the story from late 18th century pen and ink, to early French film pioneer Georges Méliès , through early Disney (don’t ask what indignities Snow White endures within these pages), and underground comix.
Disney’s 1940 animated Pinoccho seems to have become the definitive version here in the U.S., Winshluss work is much closer to Collodi than Disney in spirit. Like Collodi’s originally serialized story of the wooden marionette, Winshluss updated version was first published as serialized chapters in Ferraille Illustré, a French comics journal. Winshluss’ graphic novel is an adult noir movie that at times is both comedy and tragedy. The narrative begins with a shooting, and then flashes back to Pinocchio’s creation (he is now a robot like android) and his subsequent adventures. Collodi’s original story, which is also darker (Pinocchio is hung, Jiminy Cricket is killed…) than Disney’s version and was first intended as an adult story. Both versions portray Pinocchio going from one manipulative situation to another. Winshluss has also injected politics into his story which also played a part in Collodi’s original.
The Angoulême site described the book as an “Opera”, which it is in it’s visual lushness and drama. For the most part the book is wordless, with multiple character’s points of view all adding to the sum of Pinocchio’s story. Jiminy Cafard (Cafard translates as cockaroach as well as hypocrite and a feeling of severe depression), Pinochio’s companion provides the most talking in the book which seems appropriate, and provides comic relief.
Most of his appearances are rendered in black and white. As of now Winshluss’ Pinocchio is only available in French (which won’t stop you from enjoying it even if you’re not a French speaker) and through overseas online merchants . Hopefully it will be distributed in the states in the near future.
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All images © Winshluss and or Les Requins Marteaux
Gay Art: It’s More Than Just Men Having Sex! May 6, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Art History, Political and Social Art, Student Post.Tags: Gay Art, Raphael Perez, J.C. Leyendecker, Keith Haring, Evan Turk, Gay Rights Movement Art
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Post by Evan Turk
In my research for my semester final project of creating posters about the gay rights movement, I searched for inspiration from other artists who had created political and social art related to the gay community. What I found, is that there is not as much to be found as one might expect. Most “gay art” falls into the realm of the erotic and very little else falls outside of that. There is no shortage of famous gay artists (Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Jean Cocteau, Paul Cadmus, David Hockney, Francis Bacon), though most of them were closeted. For the most part, any gay-themed art they created was focused on eroticism.
A prominent gay artist who was extremely influential in gay history in America is Keith Haring. Haring was a prominent artist in the 80’s and 90’s in New York City who created simple and largely symbolic work in the vein of pop art and graffiti art. As a victim of AIDS himself, Haring created many of the images that are still used today for AIDS prevention groups as well as gay organizations. An interview with Keith Haring by David Sheff for Rolling Stone (Aug. 1989) can be found at Haring.com as well as an art database.
(Top) “Silence = Death” “Ignorance = Fear” (Bottom)“Untitled” (All images copyright the Keith Haring Foundation)
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Another artist that gives an interesting illustration of gay life is J. C. Leyendecker. Leyendecker was an American illustrator in the 20th century known for his fashion advertisements and illustrated covers of the Saturday Evening Post, preceding Norman Rockwell’s reign at the magazine. His work, which is all commercial work, has a rather subtle (or other times not so subtle) gay undertone. In a few paintings, at first glance it seems to be a few sailors looking flirtatiously at a young woman, but upon closer inspection, the men actually appear to be looking at each other with her just kind of standing in the way.
(Above) Arrow Collars and Shirts advertisement (1907)
(Above) The House of Kuppenheimer Advertisement (1918)
(Above) “Kuppenheimer Advertisement – Good Team Work”
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Perez is an artist born in 1965 and raised in Jerusalem. He now lives in Tel-Aviv and creates work that often deals with homosexual themes and relationships. As stated on his website “His paintings put to test the boundaries between eroticism and art, while characterizing gay relationships and love as they are expressed in everyday life.” Although his work contains mostly male nudes, the subject matter is often non-erotic. He depicts family scenes and everyday life for gay couples, instead of just the sexual aspects of a gay relationship.
(Above) Untitled
(Above) Gay Wedding
(Above) Gay Daily Life courtesy of www.gaypaintings.com
As homosexuality becomes more accepted in modern culture, there will be less sexual repression and most likely, less of an emphasis on only erotic art. This leaves the door open for a different step in the gay art movement.
Boak Who? May 2, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Student Post, Uncategorized.Tags: Dick Boak, Martin Guitars art, Victoria Salvador, pen and ink
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By Victoria Salvador
Dick Boak is a long time guitar builder who works for Martin Guitars. He’s currently the director of ‘Martin Guitar Artist and Limited Editions’, which is a series of beautifully crafted instruments that are uniquely made through collaborations. He is better known and famous for working for Martin Guitars, finding artwork of his from the 70s was not easy. I know of Dick Boak because I sit in front of his lithograph everyday at my desk, and yet- I have never chose to really explore his work. His pen and ink drawings as well as his lithographs are impressive, imaginative, and extremely detailed.
(Above) Elephants, 1976
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Reading through an interview I found in Modern Guitars Magazine with Boak, I found out that graphic art was his original profession:
Modern Guitars Magazine: Life before Martin Guitar?
Dick Boak: I started out as an illustrator and art teacher. One of the teachers at the Blair Academy, a private school that has about 400 students, up in New Jersey, was having some difficulty reaching the right rapport with his students. They weren’t responding. He asked me to work with him in order to connect with the students better and that lasted for about two years.
* In the interview, Boak speaks about getting hired with Martin, was let go, and then asked to come back. He began illustrating again in his free time.
MGM: You returned…
DB: The guy who fired me kept it a bit of a secret. Fortunately, when everyone found out about it, they wanted me back. Frank Martin, his father “Mr. Martin” and his grandson Chris (Christian Frederick Martin IV) and the guys in the production shop didn’t know I’d been fired. While I was “on sabbatical”, I worked on an illustration of a D-28 and eventually published it. My artistic interest or specialty is to make very detailed, highly intricate drawings through a method artists call pointillism. I thought of it as hippie art, sort of San Francisco art nouveau.
Anyway, I was hired back during the strike and worked final assembly, and through the years I’ve worked in a lot of different areas at Martin, learning from the ground up.
(Above) D-28, 1977
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Boak’s illustrations are distinctive in style and visually delicate. His line work is hair-line fine, and his use of pointillism is a complimentary contrast to his flat white backgrounds he employs. Looking over his work, I see a strong resemblance to M, C . Escher’s work, even if this was unintentional. His subject matter, symmetry, and attraction to illusions gives me this impression.
(Above left) Wheel Of Balance, 1974 by Dick Boak (Above right) Angels and Devils By M.C. Escher
(Above) The Vine of Harmonics designed by Boak. Ivory inlay on a 12-string Cutaway Martin. The harmonic locations of the strings on the frets are marked by the vine pattern
The interview witth Modern Guitars Magazine : http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/000500.html
Dick Boak’s art is ©Dick Boak and from : http://www.dickboak.com/website/Art.html
