For those of you who prefer "Final Girls" to Disney Princesses, Pop Surrealist Rodolfo Loaiza's "Disasterland" series hits the sweet spot. This show premiered in early August at the La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. The show unsurprisingly sold out, so we'll just have to wait until Loaiza's next slaughtering of a sacred children's franchise.
Okay, I'll admit, Travis Louie's adorable monsters are not really scary. They are actually quite charming as they pose for their portrait. Louie replicates the kind of sepia-toned shots of ancestors some families hold onto for generations--with a little bit of a twist. If I had a proper hallway, I would love to line it with these gems, as if one could trace my heritage through some of the painting's details. I might have Frank's ears.
Frank
Or Bill's smile.
Bill
Phineas
But not Phineas's nose, I'm afraid. I definitely have more than a passing resemblance to the Vamp circa 1873. I'm practically the spitting image!
The Vamp Circa 1873
These two lovelies are her best friends. She tends to outshine them a bit when they spend time together.
Pals
One cannot forget the family pets!
Wilbur and his Hypnotic Gaze
Herman and Morris
Aunt Sarah always insisted on taking Emmett everywhere that she went.
Sarah and Emmett
Then there are those mysterious portraits that are clearly, CLEARLY no relation.
Charles Meek
Gill
You might recognize this gentleman. He's a descendant of the famous Lynch family. Although he and his wife, Mary, had a kid that looks quite a bit like Gill.
Infant from David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977)
Again, my motto of no kids, just kittens comes to mind. At least one doesn't have to suffer from an affliction like Oscar's.
Oscar and the Truth Toad
To find out more about Pop Surrealist Travis Louie, visit his website, his blog, or this marvelous interview. Here's a terrific video interview as well!
As part of my whirlwind tour of my favorite Pop Surrealists, I cannot go without highlighting the darkly whimsical Nicoletta Ceccoli. Ceccoli's website is a wonderful place to explore, but one can purchase some of her more arresting illustrations by taking a quick trip to Amazon (better yet, find a book on their site and then hunt it down at your nearest Indie bookstore).
Ceccoli does not shy away from the more sexual nature of fairytales:
Toyland
Prova A Pendermi
Contrary Mary
You can see a bit of a theme here...
I also like the way in which she sometimes transforms her female characters' bodies, but not in a way that they seem to find remotely alarming. As I said in a previous post, if Black Swan would have been more about her "magical" transformation into a swan rather than the character's lame struggles to become sexualized, then the film would have been much more interesting. Ceccoli's vision of bodily transformation is unsettling, but not really monstrous.
Birdcage
Charlotte
Beastina
Crows
Katherine
Sheryl
Some of my favorite Ceccoli images are what I like to call "Candyland Nightmares." Did you play this game when you were a kid? I realize I'm about to bash some sacred cow, but really, this game is for very small kids and/or utter nitwits. Seriously, it borders on being for an age group that would rather eat the tokens than play with them (chutes and ladders at least had some vague challenge). Still if someone made a movie of this board game, it could be seriously disturbing and twisted, kind of like Jan Svankmajer'sAlice (1988). Willy Wonka's candyland is just not dark and scary enough for me (bashing another sacred cow). I think Ceccoli should be involved in my non-existent film's production design.
Dolceamara
Lollipopland and a detail from it
Candy Forest
Poster for Curioser + Curioser show in NYC this November
Ceccoli also has a remarkable sense of perspective and a flare for the uncanny. Like Mark Ryden, she tends to illustrate what might be going on, in the dark, once the world closes its eyes. A darker version of Toy Story, which reminds me of Ladislaw Starewicz's marvelous The Mascot.
In Ceccoli's toy universe, even the most benign objects can appear threatening. The uncanniness of these images is mostly due to her unsettling sense of scale.
The Elephant's Journey
The Magician's Assistant
Battle of Wits
Evidently Goldfish
And finally, she does create images that are straight out horrific. Beautiful, but undeniably terrifying.
Mark Ryden is one incredibly dapper and talented artist. As Pop Surrealists go, his work combines the sublime with the unsettling. Here he explains his process:
"Well, I have to admit I don't really paint my paintings; a Magic Monkey
does. He comes to my studio late at night, when it's very quiet.
Mysterious things happen late at night when most people are asleep. I
help the magic monkey, but he does most of the work. My job is to get
him to show up.”
And he wears a Pope's hat. Sweet.
Here's some of Ryden's startling work, which seems peppered with innocent and winsome baby-headed girls, but look into their eyes. They seem to know something.
Girl in a Fur Skirt
Incarnation
Sophia's Mercurial Waters
The Ecstasy of Cecelia
The Apology
Thankfully, Ryden isn't all sweet weird girls. He happily treads into darker and more malevolent paths.
Fountain
Clear Hearts, Gray Flowers
Jessica's Hope
Little Boy Blue
And the occasional celebrity portrait. This painting makes Leo much cooler than he could ever, ever be. I like to think that Ryden is obsessed with alternative forms of transportation in these last three paintings.
