Introduction to the art of Alan MacDonald

There is a cool, quiet elegance to Alan Macdonald’s paintings, which belies the disequilibrium at their heart. His figures, grey eyed and dreaming, might be time travellers, drawing distant cousinship from the portraits of Rembrandt or Frans Hals. His bucolic northern landscapes lay claim to an equally venerable artistic heritage. But if an accretion of the art historical past informs his imagery, it is transposed into a world where confidence has been lost, where the spiritual beliefs and myths which once bound man to nature, and through nature, to the divine, fail to connect.

Alan MacDonald 1 — Frequently, single letters or words, even meticulously copied dictionary definitions, are added to the sections of a painting, as if language might hold a key.

Frequently, single letters or words, even meticulously copied dictionary definitions, are added to the sections of a painting, as if language might hold a key.

We follow through the a,b,c, trying to piece together the jigsaw, but language proves as fallible as any system by which we structure our existence, and we are left with a series of miswired lexical circuits. Is a landscape “an area of land regarded as being visually distinct,” or is it “a painting, drawing, photograph etc. depicting natural scenery?”

Macdonald lets both definitions stand. Though he would not call himself a surrealist, like Magritte, he points up the ambiguities surrounding real objects and their images in art, encouraging us to consider his work as more than a simple pictorial narrative.

Alan MacDonald 2 — Though he would not call himself a surrealist, like Magritte, he points up the ambiguities surrounding real objects and their images in art, encouraging us to consider his work as more than a simple pictorial narrative.

The otherworldly characters in his series of portrait heads have the look of forgotten pilgrims, bonneted and constrained by cords like the followers of some perverse form of Puritanism. Each is neatly titled according to a state of mind: hedonist, altruist, sadist. We read the titles and search their waxen features, hoping to discover their soul in the curl of a lip, or the tilt of a chin. Despite this attempt at self assertion the figures remain isolated, pinned down by their cords, as if by the codes and strictures of society.

These are beautiful paintings, all the more potent for their distilled sense of calm. Macdonald gives us no answers, but the questions he raises about the search for faith and identity in a difficult modern world touch a nerve, and in the faces of his pilgrims, we recognise ourselves.

Alan MacDonald 3 — The otherworldly characters in his series of portrait heads have the look of forgotten pilgrims, bonneted and constrained by cords like the followers of some perverse form of Puritanism. Each is neatly titled according to a state of mind: hedonist, altruist, sadist.

It seems fitting that artist Alan Macdonald, born and brought up in Malawi, one of the least populated areas in South East Africa, now lives and works in a small town not too far from medieval Edinburgh, Scotland. His meticulously crafted images are emblematic of Scottish characteristics – love of nature, history, humour, beauty and surreal scenery – linked together in compelling enigmatic and sometimes foreign imagery.

Alan MacDonald Z4 — His meticulously crafted images are emblematic of Scottish characteristics – love of nature, history, humour, beauty and surreal scenery – linked together in compelling enigmatic and sometimes foreign imagery.

" “It took me years to realize that it is the darkness in things that I  respond to, whether it is a painting by Francisco Goya, a song by  Leonard Cohen, a play by William Shakespeare or a film by Pedro  Almodovar. 

When I was a child living in Africa, I was outside on a night  lit by the moon and, feeling a little scared, I stepped from the light  into a dark shadow,” the artist told Tatha Gallery. 

“The darkness  wrapped itself around me and fear was replaced by an understanding that I  was being protected. Later, when I was twelve, a boy walked into my  classroom with drawings he had done in pencil. They were representations  of figures, that went from the white of the paper to the blackest black  that the graphite could muster, and from that moment the artistic light  for me was ignited.” 

-Alan MacDonald

Alan MacDonald A1 — At the base of MacDonald’s work seems to be a need for adventure, exploring inspiration and varying perspectives in each work.

There is seemingly no element too exotic to inhabit an oil painting by Alan MacDonald, whose works traverse cultures and histories to present something always elegant in execution. At the base of MacDonald’s work seems to be a need for adventure, exploring inspiration and varying perspectives in each work.

Alan MacDonald 4 — There is seemingly no element too exotic to inhabit an oil painting by Alan MacDonald, whose works traverse cultures and histories to present something always elegant in execution.

 Exhibiting in the United States and Holland,  Dundee-trained Alan Macdonald has clearly distilled his own unique  visual language in an impressive debut at Kilmorack. This is  sophisticated, visually literate work both in terms of technical  execution and multi-layered exploration of ideas, infused with humour  and defined with precision. 
       
While there are many art historical  influences to be seen in this work, Macdonald remains his own man, in  full knowledge of the canon, playfully seducing the viewer with  familiarity of style then subverting expectation of traditional  narrative. Displacement of elements; the surreal juxtaposition of  classical and industrial architecture, the adornment and status of  costume with utilitarian functionality and the presence of consumer  branding/ Pop elements in the same frame as traditions of historical  painting and portraiture thankfully never allow the audience to get too  comfortable. 

 -Statements by Alan MacDonald © Georgina Coburn, 2011

Alan MacDonald A6 — Often incorporating hyper-realistic contemporary popular culture objects and well-known phrases, Macdonald’s Renaissance style paintings are at once familiar yet strange, inviting close inspection as if asking us to solve an amusing, highly original puzzle.

Often incorporating hyper-realistic contemporary popular culture objects and well-known phrases, Macdonald’s Renaissance style paintings are at once familiar yet strange, inviting close inspection as if asking us to solve an amusing, highly original puzzle. Alan Macdonald acknowledges that, indeed, the solution can sometimes elude him; his skill is to give us hauntingly beautiful pictorial clues which tug on our psyche while making us smile, even laugh out loud while encouraging us to search for our own answers.

Alan MacDonald Z3 — Alan Macdonald acknowledges that, indeed, the solution can sometimes elude him; his skill is to give us hauntingly beautiful pictorial clues which tug on our psyche while making us smile, even laugh out loud while encouraging us to search for our own answers.

The work is archetypally Northern in its  interior quality, the dark grounds and focussed illumination  reminiscent of Flemish masters, the looser paint handling, particularly  in the landscape backgrounds, akin to Dutch landscape and maritime  painting of the 18th century. The unforgiving choice of oil on board  makes the sublime delicacy of the painted surface all the more  impressive.
       
The beguiling Bullfighters Never know When To Quit  is an excellent example, a figurative group of seated male matador and  classical female nude with an attendant leopard at their feet, all  enigmatically focused on a scene beyond the frame. In the background  three blazing buildings infuse the contemplative stillness with  vitality, imminent danger and movement. This is contrasted with the  delicate play of light between three aspects of self, radiant and  luminous as a Titian Venus. The paint handling in this image is infused  with care and vulnerability, while the presence of a line of song lyric;  ”welcome back my friends to the show that never ends” provides an  ironic counterfoil to the conscious theatrical staging of the  composition. This humour is characteristic of the way in which Macdonald  visually stages his own subterfuge, an admirable quality in work with a  decidedly intellectual edge. 

 -Statements by Alan MacDonald © Georgina Coburn, 2011

Alan MacDonald A5 — The work is archetypally Northern in its interior quality, the dark grounds and focussed illumination reminiscent of Flemish masters, the looser paint handling, particularly in the landscape backgrounds, akin to Dutch landscape and maritime painting of the 18th century. The unforgiving choice of oil on board makes the sublime delicacy of the painted surface all the more impressive.

The tension in these works is  compelling, and their real beauty lies in the fluid nature of  association which imaginatively expands the mind of the viewer along  multiple pathways of interpretation. These are works not just of a  moment but of lifetimes, a real rarity in the world of contemporary art.  Macdonald’s skilful and intelligent manipulation of plastic and  ideological elements can be seen in the compositional strength of a  large scale work, Whims of Desire.
       
Here a young woman stands in the tiered  architecture of her black domed gown, tethered to something or someone  we cannot see, a number of openings in her skirt revealing a punch  spring, ball and chain, the unfurling script of a popular Joplin lyric;  “lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz”, a Magritte-like spoon and a  bouquet of white flowers suspended from her dress. At her feet a white  monkey eyes the open red “Kettle sweet chilli flavour” crisps packet in  her hand while she gazes past us impassively, a smile dawning in the  corner of her mouth. 

 -Statements by Alan MacDonald © Georgina Coburn, 2011

Alan MacDonald Z2 — These are works not just of a moment but of lifetimes, a real rarity in the world of contemporary art.

The elegance and restraint of her  clothing, symbolic presence of the monkey, together with the iconography  of burning buildings in the background convey psychological and sexual  tension. The composition itself is a powerful pyramid structure, aligned  with light, centring on her pale skin, white ribbon of script and rope  tether. Within this triangle are multiple triggers for the imagination.
       
In Venus On Wheels a codified  genre and its associative meanings are temporarily displaced by the  presence of a contemporary branded object. The Classical Goddess and  symbol of beauty of the title is being hauled on a cheap looking  trolley, the familiar striped design of a Tesco bag a Pop prop within an  image spanning multiple timeframes. The deep umber background of “dark  satanic mills” heightens the illumination of the consumer object and the  female nude. 

 -Statements by Alan MacDonald © Georgina Coburn, 2011

Alan MacDonald A3 — The tension in these works is compelling, and their real beauty lies in the fluid nature of association which imaginatively expands the mind of the viewer along multiple pathways of interpretation. These are works not just of a moment but of lifetimes, a real rarity in the world of contemporary art.

Luna is an intriguing and  ambiguous image of femininity, beautifully rendered. The head and  shoulders portrait is suitably enigmatic, aligned with the symbolic  associations of the moon and her phases, linked with the element of  water and tides. The three-quarters profile – like the trajectory of all  of Macdonald‘s work – conceals and reveals. There is implied  confinement in the twisted twine and safety pins which secure and tether  her costume in silvery textured gossamer blue, a hue to match her eyes.  Attached to one line of twine the script “fly me to the moon”  introduces a Pop element /humorous Sinatra twist to what initially reads  like an encoded Renaissance society portrait.
       
This is a fascinating show of  contrasting styles, raising expectation about potential developments in  Kilmorack’s regularly exhibiting artists and introducing an exciting and  dynamic new artist to the gallery’s audience. It is an absolute  pleasure to become lost in the multi-layered nature of Alan Macdonald’s  work, encouraging repeat viewings of this extraordinary show.
       
-Statements by Alan MacDonald © Georgina Coburn, 2011

Alan MacDonald Z1 — This is a fascinating show of contrasting styles, raising expectation about potential developments in Kilmorack’s regularly exhibiting artists and introducing an exciting and dynamic new artist to the gallery’s audience. It is an absolute pleasure to become lost in the multi-layered nature of Alan Macdonald’s work, encouraging repeat viewings of this extraordinary show.

Alan Macdonald considers his work a visual journey with a subtext of a sense of adventure and excitement but destination unknown. As he tells us… “There is the belief in every painting that one day, as you set sail, you will find a faraway beach on which to land, avoiding the ragged rocks and inky depths of doubt. On one of the luckier voyages you arrive somewhere that is strangely familiar but which you have never seen before. It is a distant coast of you”.

Alan MacDonald 5 — While there are many art historical influences to be seen in this work, Macdonald remains his own man, in full knowledge of the canon, playfully seducing the viewer with familiarity of style then subverting expectation of traditional narrative. Displacement of elements; the surreal juxtaposition of classical and industrial architecture, the adornment and status of costume with utilitarian functionality and the presence of consumer branding/ Pop elements in the same frame as traditions of historical painting and portraiture thankfully never allow the audience to get too comfortable.

  It took me years to realise that it is the  darkness in things that I respond to, whether it is a painting by  Francisco Goya, a song by Leonard Cohen, a play by William Shakespeare  or a film by Pedro Almodovar. When I was a child living in Africa, I was  outside on a night lit by the moon and, feeling a little scared, I  stepped from the light into a dark shadow. The darkness wrapped itself  around me and fear was replaced by an understanding that I was being  protected.  Later, when I was twelve, a boy walked into my classroom  with drawings he had done in pencil. They were representations of  figures, that went from the white of the paper to the blackest black  that the graphite could muster, and from that moment the artistic light  for me was ignited.
       
A wise old German painter friend once  said to me, after seeing me floundering around trying to explain away  one of my paintings, “Remember, Alan, your paintings are like a bubble,  and a bubble with a hole in it is no longer a bubble.” So with that in  mind, I will tread carefully.  

 -ALAN MACDONALD

Alan MacDonald A4 — Alan Macdonald considers his work a visual journey with a subtext of a sense of adventure and excitement but destination unknown. As he tells us… “There is the belief in every painting that one day, as you set sail, you will find a faraway beach on which to land, avoiding the ragged rocks and inky depths of doubt.

 
Nothing pleases me more than when  someone laughs out loud whilst looking at one of my paintings. As  comedians are aware, humour is a subversive thing, breaking down  barriers and making others more receptive to your message or point of  view. Years ago, a particularly tired, world-weary man came into my  exhibition, with an, 'impress me if you can' expression on his face. He  trudged from painting to painting, unimpressed… that is, until he came  to a painting of a man covered in tattoos with a row of pins in his  forehead, called 'Masochist'. It caused him to burst out laughing! He  then went back and looked again at all the paintings he had just trudged  past, now taking his time and responding to them all. It confirmed for  me the importance of humour in art. 
       
All the shapes and forms my work takes,  have evolved over years. Painting clothes that resemble period clothing,  for example, happened naturally. At first because it just seemed right,  but I now realise that it brings to the work a sense of someone lost  and out of time, desperately trying to work out the universal question,  “What the hell am I doing here?”  Especially when modern items like a  can of coke or a scooter are included. Max Ernst once wrote that an  artist should have one foot in the subconscious and one in the  conscious. This, I think, is what I am trying to do.
       
-ALAN MACDONALD

Alan MacDonald A7 — “When I begin a painting, I feel like I am embarking on a journey, one in which I have no idea of the ultimate destination. As a result there is a real sense of adventure and excitement as you set sail into the unknown, armed only with a belief that, one day, you will find a faraway beach on which to land. “

When I begin a painting, I feel like I  am embarking on a journey, one in which I have no idea of the ultimate  destination. As a result there is a real sense of adventure and  excitement as you set sail into the unknown, armed only with a belief  that, one day, you will find a faraway beach on which to land.  Unfortunately, too often, the ship founders on the jagged rocks of  doubt, leaving your heart to sink into the inky depths, from where you  have to resurrect it. On the luckier voyages, though, you arrive  somewhere that is strangely familiar, but which you have never seen  before. It’s a distant coast of you.
        
-ALAN MACDONALD

Alan MacDonald 7 — All the shapes and forms my work takes, have evolved over years. Painting clothes that resemble period clothing, for example, happened naturally. At first because it just seemed right, but I now realize that it brings to the work a sense of someone lost and out of time, desperately trying to work out the universal question, “What the hell am I doing here?”

Alan MacDonald is a brilliant artist, and I would be proud to hang his art within my home.

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.

Space Cadet (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby’s Is a Friend of Mine

Starman Jones (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein.

The Lottery (Full Text) by Shirley Jackson

Farnham's Freehold (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Invisible Boy (Full Text) by Ray Bradbury

Job: A Comedy of Justice (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Spell my name with an "S" by Isaac Asimov

Not the First (Full Text) by A.E. van Vogt

Space Jockey (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

An experiment of a bird in a vacuum jar.

Articles & Links

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Introduction to the art of Mark Ryden.

Mark Ryden is an American artist based in California. He is said to have ushered in the new genre of painting and Pop Surrealism, into mainstream art culture. His style, which is reminiscent of the works of the Old Masters, has blurred the traditional boundaries between high and low art. Though inspired by surrealist techniques, he has filled his work with cultural connotations. His work is both mystical and realistic, innocent and eerie. The bright colors and childlike figures on the surface hide a darker, mysterious psyche. His paintings are meticulous and full of detail, with each detail having a significant importance.

Mark Ryden 0 — Mark Ryden is an American artist based in California. He is said to have ushered in the new genre of painting and Pop Surrealism, into mainstream art culture.

Mark Ryden. The painter Mark Ryden is one of the prominent representatives of the Lowbrow art movement, which is also called Surrealist Pop. 

- Mark Ryden - 42 artworks - WikiArt.org

Tell me a bit about yourself? How did you life in art begin?

M.R.: I spent  the vast majority of my time as a youth drawing and painting. I was also  very interested in math and science, but art was my main love.  In  college, I pursued illustration because I didn’t see myself fitting it  with what was happening in the fine art world of the 1980s. I had a  passion for classical art, figuration, surrealism, and imagination.  These subjects were all but banned from what I saw as a dry and dull art  world at that time.  For a decade I did commercial work, but things  started to change dramatically in the 1990s.  I found myself part of the  fresh exciting art movement of Pop Surrealism.

Mark Ryden 1 — “I spent the vast majority of my time as a youth drawing and painting. I was also very interested in math and science, but art was my main love. In college, I pursued illustration because I didn’t see myself fitting it with what was happening in the fine art world of the 1980s.”

Dressed in black with round, wire-rimmed glasses, a black fedora and a silvery goatee, the Pop Surrealist looks like a magical wizard as he surveys the fantastical haven of desserts he’s created for American Ballet Theatre’s new production of “Whipped Cream.”

It was quite the spectacle. It was his paintings brought to life.

Mark Ryden 2 — ” I had a passion for classical art, figuration, surrealism, and imagination. These subjects were all but banned from what I saw as a dry and dull art world at that time. For a decade I did commercial work, but things started to change dramatically in the 1990s. I found myself part of the fresh exciting art movement of Pop Surrealism. “

Ginormous sugary confections glint under draping stage lights: velvety swirls of sugar plum pastry, strawberry-topped cupcakes, powder-coated chocolate drops and glossy, melon-sized gum balls. Theatrical technicians, like Willy Wonka factory workers, scramble around the artist.

Stage hands roll towering peaks of whipped cream across the floor on dollies while prop artists affix Swarovski crystals to vanilla-iced tarts.

Mark Ryden 3 — Mark Ryden was born in Medford Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he paints slowly and happily amidst his countless collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, books, paintings and antique toys.

“C’mere,” Ryden beckons, slipping behind a cotton candy-pink dessert counter, a proverbial kid in his self-conjured candy store. The black backside of the giant set piece exposes the infrastructure behind the magic — ladders and trap doors that the dancers scurry up and through.

“It’s all these details,” Ryden says, showing off the underside of a monstrous tin coffee can that one of the characters pops out of. “We had to make these openings big enough for the dancers’ tutus to get through.”

Mark Ryden 4 — “I believe if an artist consciously attempts to develop a “style” that art will be hollow and superficial. An artist’s work has to develop more honestly and naturally. I think my work is simply the result of the subconscious accumulation of everything I am interested in.”

How did you develop your style or aesthetic?

M.R.: I  believe if an artist consciously attempts to develop a “style” that art  will be hollow and superficial. An artist’s work has to develop more  honestly and naturally. I think my work is simply the result of the  subconscious accumulation of everything I am interested in. I try not to  judge any particular inspiration as being more valid than another. I  can let an Old Masters painting influence me just as much as a vintage  cartoon.

Ryden, nicknamed the “godfather of Pop Surrealism” by Interview magazine, is known for his kitschy, brightly colored paintings blending pop culture elements and old master techniques for a glossy, danger-tinged, fairy-tale-like aesthetic. His first European retrospective, at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in Spain, closed on March 5.

Mark Ryden 5 — Ryden, nicknamed the “godfather of Pop Surrealism” by Interview magazine, is known for his kitschy, brightly colored paintings blending pop culture elements and old master techniques for a glossy, danger-tinged, fairy-tale-like aesthetic.

Can you describe your working process from idea to finished product?

M.R.: I start  by looking at the things I surround myself that inspire me. I can’t move  forward in any way if I don’t feel a strong spark of excitement or  creativity. It’s important to be in a peaceful state of mind and then I  invite the spirits to come into the studio. I don’t stare into a blank  canvas or paper. I look through my various collections of books, toys,  statues, photographs and other things, and something will trigger an  idea. I will make many, very loose sketches. Eventually I will be forced  to pick something to take further. The decision is difficult because I  can’t make that many finished paintings.  They are meticulously painted  and take a very long time to create.

Mark Ryden 6 — “I start by looking at the things I surround myself that inspire me. I can’t move forward in any way if I don’t feel a strong spark of excitement or creativity. It’s important to be in a peaceful state of mind and then I invite the spirits to come into the studio.”

Ryden, who launched his career designing book and album covers, including Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous,” did more than simply design the costumes and backdrops though. His cutesy, seemingly saccharine style with a darkly humorous, Tim Burton-like twist inspired the creation of the production.

There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface.”
              
-Alexei Ratmansky

Mark Ryden 7 — “His style is completely original, it’s very precise and detailed. He uses classical techniques, but the story he tells is very contemporary,”

“His style is completely original, it’s very precise and detailed. He uses classical techniques, but the story he tells is very contemporary,” Ratmansky says. “There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface. I just thought it was a good fit for the music and that it would make this 1920s work feel contemporary.”

What are the various challenges you face?

M.R.: My  biggest challenge is managing my time. There are some many paintings and  various projects that I want to do, but I can only do so many things.  I  often try to do too much. The business and logistical side of being an  artist can swallow up all my time if I am not diligent to prevent it.  I  spend too much time with email. I hate email.

Mark Ryden 8 — Over the past decade, this marriage of accessibility, craftsmanship and technique with social relevance, emotional resonance and cultural reference has catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and to the attention of museums, critics and serious collectors. Ryden’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of.

Ryden typically works solo, painting on flat canvases in his Portland, Ore., studio. He and his wife, the artist Marion Peck, moved there last year after Ryden had spent 35 years in L.A.

What kind of narratives or stories do you like to convey through your work?

M.R.: I don’t  attempt to convey any of my own stories or narratives, instead I like  that my work can trigger the viewer to imagine their own narrative or  story. For me, the meaning of a painting can’t be described with words  or a story. Instead it is the image itself that is the meaning. I choose  to work with figures that carry iconic power, but I like to leave the  mystery undisturbed. I leave it to the viewer to interpret the images  how they will.

Mark Ryden 9 — Mark Ryden is a veteran of the Pop-Surrealism style, having been at the forefront of this genre since the late 1990’s when it was first taking roots in the artistic community.

Mark Ryden is a veteran of the Pop-Surrealism style, having been at the forefront of this genre since the late 1990’s when it was first taking roots in the artistic community. A curiosity cabinet personified, Mark Ryden’s works are often presented in thematic groups where one major theme is explored throughout the series, further interacting with Ryden’s main influences, including: Post world-war toys to historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, meat, dogma, religion and symbolism, and into numerology, mysticism and occultism.

Ryden’s primary medium is oil on canvas or panel, with each piece beautifully and precisely encased in its own unique frame, many of which are original designs by Mark Ryden himself, with the remainder coming from restored antique frames. The frames are an artwork of and to themselves, and when married with the artwork, transports the viewer through the looking-glass and into a most surreal vision of the 19th century.

Mark Ryden 10 — Mark Ryden’s works are often presented in thematic groups where one major theme is explored throughout the series, further interacting with Ryden’s main influences, including: Post world-war toys to historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, meat, dogma, religion and symbolism, and into numerology, mysticism and occultism.

What would you cite as your inspirations behind your work? 

M.R.: Inspiration  is the most valuable commodity for an artist; it is for me anyway. My  studio is packed full of things that inspire me. I live inside my own  cabinet of curiosities. My studio and house are overflowing with stuff. I  regularly go to flea markets and antique shops where I have amassed a  variety of things that inspire me. I collect everything from old  children’s books, interesting product packages, to toys, photographs,  medical models, skeletons, shells, minerals, and religious statues. I  also have an extensive collection of books on shelves that go all the  way up to the high ceiling behind my easel and drawing table. I think it  is the range of diversity of my inspirations that most defines my art.

Mark Ryden 11 — Ryden’s primary medium is oil on canvas or panel, with each piece beautifully and precisely encased in its own unique frame, many of which are original designs by Mark Ryden himself, with the remainder coming from restored antique frames.

Artworks from Ryden’s 1998 “The Meat Show” series contemplate meat and the idea that we, stripped of our humanity, are ourselves meaty creations. Ryden also explores the relationship we have to meat as food, in comparison to the living creatures the meat was originally taken from, and also how the viewing of meat has changed over the centuries to a point where to see it depicted in contemporary artwork is almost absurd and strange. Such is our modern-day relationship with meat in much of western society.

Mark Ryden 12 — ““I believe to get ideas you have to nourish the spirit. I stuff myself full of the things I like: pictures of bugs, paintings by Bouguereau and David, books about Pheneous T. Barnum, films by Ray Harryhausen, old photographs of strange people, children’s books about space and science, medical illustrations, music by Frank Sinatra and Debussy, magazines, T.V., Jung and Freud, Ren and Stimpy, Joseph Campbell and Nostradamus, Ken and Barbie, Alchemy, Freemasonary, Buddhism. “

“I believe to get ideas you have to nourish the spirit. I stuff myself full of the things I like: pictures of bugs, paintings by Bouguereau and David, books about Pheneous T. Barnum, films by Ray Harryhausen, old photographs of strange people, children’s books about space and science, medical illustrations, music by Frank Sinatra and Debussy, magazines, T.V., Jung and Freud, Ren and Stimpy, Joseph Campbell and Nostradamus, Ken and Barbie, Alchemy, Freemasonary, Buddhism. At night my head is so full of ideas I can’t sleep. I mix it all together and create my own doctrine of life and the universe. To me, certain things seem to fit together. There are certain parallels and clues all over the place. There may be a little part of Alice in Wonderland that fits in. Charles Darwin, and Colonel Sanders provide pieces. To me the world is full of awe and wonder. This is what I put in my paintings.”

Mark Ryden 13 — “I admire and have been influenced by countless artists. Most are from long ago such as Carpaccio and Bronzino from the early Italian Renaissance. I like Northern Dutch artists like Van Eyck and the later French academic painters David, Gérôme and Ingres.”

Which artists do you admire? How have they influenced you?

M.R.: I admire and have been influenced by  countless artists.  Most are from long ago such as Carpaccio and  Bronzino from the early Italian Renaissance. I like Northern Dutch  artists like Van Eyck and the later French academic painters David,  Gérôme and Ingres. But, I also like contemporary artists like John  Currin. One of my favorite painters right now is Neo Rauch. They all  influence me in many different ways. I like the way Bouguereau  exquisitely paints flesh while the characters of Leonoroa Carrington  seem mystical.

Ryden is also a proficient writer and includes artist statements and review essays for each of his artistic series, which can be found at his website here. Reading through the writings, one is immediately drawn to the open frankness Ryden has when discussing his method, as described in his statement for “Wondertoonel” 2004, (which roughly translates as “wondrous theatre”) which gives the viewer an insight into the mind of the artist whilst also providing a guide to navigate his breathtakingly surreal artworks by:

Mark Ryden 14 — Clearly infused with classical references, Ryden’s work is not only inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting.

“It is only in childhood that contemporary society truly allows for imagination. Children can see a world ensouled, where bunnies weep and bees have secrets, where “inanimate” objects are alive. Many people think that childhood’s world of imagination is silly, unworthy of serious consideration, something to be outgrown. Modern thinking demands that an imaginative connection to nature needs to be overcome by “mature” ways of thinking about the world. Human beings used to connect to life through mystery and mythology. Now this kind of thinking is regarded as primitive or naive. Without it, we cut ourselves off from the life force, the world soul, and we are empty and starving.”

Mark Ryden 16 — Artworks from Ryden’s 1998 “The Meat Show” series contemplate meat and the idea that we, stripped of our humanity, are ourselves meaty creations.

What would you say is your favorite piece of your own work and what does it mean to you?

M.R.: I like different pieces for different reasons. One piece that pops into mind is Medium Yams because of its modest scale and simplicity. In general I gravitate towards creating massive, detailed, and epic works.  While Medium Yams was a very small  and simple piece it held great power. It was a favorite of many at the exhibition where it was displayed.

Mark Ryden came to preeminence in the 1990’s during a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting. With his masterful technique and disquieting content, Ryden quickly became one of the leaders of this movement on the West Coast.

Mark Ryden 15 — Mark Ryden came to preeminence in the 1990’s during a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting.

Upon first glance Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’ fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances.

Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artist’s final intent – a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past.

Mark Ryden 17 — There is an obvious horror connected with the meat industry. The blood, the gore, the inhumane butchery. So many of us indirectly participate in this with our ravenous consumption of meat.

There is an obvious horror connected with the meat  industry. The blood, the gore, the inhumane butchery. So many of us  indirectly participate in this with our ravenous consumption of meat.  Sue Coe has explored that arena exquisitely in her work and writings. In  my own art I am not personally making a statement or judgement about  the meat consumption in our culture. I feel more like I am just  observing it. Just like T-rex, I myself am a passionate meat-eater. I  feel that the consumption of animal flesh is a natural primal instinct  just like sex and making paintings. But there is that paradox of knowing  how that scrumptious porterhouse made it to my dinner plate. We have  lost any kind of reverence for this. It would be interesting if people  would have to kill an animal themselves before they earned the right to  eat it.

 Beyond the conceptual impact, meat simply has a very strong visual  quality. The wonderful variety of textures and patterns in the marbling  of the meat is sumptuous. Subtle pinks gently swirl around with rich  vermillions and fatty yellow ochres. These visual qualities alone are  seductive enough to make meat the subject of a work of art. Meat is  glorious to paint. It is so easy to transcend the representational to  the abstract. Meat has been a subject for painters from Rembrandt to Van  Gogh. 

- In a quote from Juxtapoz magazine back in the day, Ryden explains his reason for incorporation meat into his work.

Clearly infused with classical references, Ryden’s work is not only inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting.

Mark Ryden 18 — “There may be a little part of Alice in Wonderland that fits in. Charles Darwin, and Colonel Sanders provide pieces. To me the world is full of awe and wonder. This is what I put in my paintings.”

Over the past decade, this marriage of accessibility, craftsmanship and technique with social relevance, emotional resonance and cultural reference has catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and to the attention of museums, critics and serious collectors. Ryden’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art.

Mark Ryden was born in Medford Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he paints slowly and happily amidst his countless collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, books, paintings and antique toys.

Mark Ryden 19 — There’s something very unsettling, disturbing, about his paintings, which hides behind the sometimes very sweet surface.

To see more of Mark Ryden’s stunning artwork, please visit his website, or his Facebook page.

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Introduction to the art of Greg ‘CRAOLA’ Simkins.

This is an introduction to the art of Greg (Craola) Simkins. He has created his own form of art with appears to be an off-shoot of the “low brow” movement that originated out of California. He is a talented young man that paints a very odd and eclectic mixture of birds and contemporaneous themes all mashed together in a kind of confusing array of post surrealistic nightmares.

His niche is low-brow bird portraiture.

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins was born in 1975 in Torrance California, just south of Los Angeles. He grew up with a menagerie of animals including a number of rabbits, which often emerge in his paintings. He began drawing at the early age of three and was inspired by various cartoons and books.

Some standout books that still find their way into his art are Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins 1 — The idea of escape is getting lost in a daydream and wandering through one’s imagination.

Why the name The Escape Artist?

The idea of escape is getting lost in a daydream and wandering  through one’s imagination. As I make art, this process is very important  to me. It’s important in the planning stages as I just fill my  sketchbooks with whatever interesting images that entertain me, and it  is important at the composition stage where I lay out these ideas in  their ideal situations so as to move onto the final stage of painting  them.

Once I get to the painting stage, the concept is at most finalized,  but with a bit of room for improvisation. Once I start painting, the  muscle memory and mechanics take over and I will put on music,  audiobooks, movies, podcasts, etc… but generally, find myself zoning out  and falling into the process of painting which can be almost  meditative. Next thing you know and 8 hours have passed by and something  new has been created on the canvas. It’s an awesome feeling being in  that “Escape Zone.”

Simkins’ art continued to progress to the age of 18, when he started doing graffiti under the name ‘CRAOLA’. Graffiti art became his impetus for creating and gave him the confidence to paint large works. In addition it taught him perspective, color theory and further developed artistic skills, which later translated into his work with acrylics.

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins 3 — Falling into the process of painting which can be almost meditative. Next thing you know and 8 hours have passed by and something new has been created on the canvas. It’s an awesome feeling being in that “Escape Zone.”

What’s an average day in the studio?

Once I get in, I answer emails, go through sketches and draw a little  to warm up, maybe edit some video, finish my coffee, and then sit down  at the easel and pour my paint for the day. Once that is in place, I  will paint as long a stretch as possible. I don’t like taking breaks and  will generally eat my lunch while working as well.

I try to keep in that creative headspace and block out the rest of  the world. Around dinner time, I go inside and help out making food and  getting the kids to the table, we spend time together as a family, put  the kids to bed at bedtime, and then sit down to watch a show with my  wife and work on drawings and concepts.

After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California State University of Long Beach in 1999, Simkins worked as an illustrator for various clothing companies and bands. He later moved on to Treyarch/Activision where he worked on video games including Tony Hawk 2X, Spiderman 2 and Ultimate Spiderman while attempting to paint with every free moment he had.

In 2005, Simkins pursued his desire to paint as a full-time artist. Since then, he has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and had successfully sold out solo exhibitions.

Birds are key figures in your work. Where does your fascination with birds come from?

How could anyone not be fascinated with birds? They are these jewels,  weapons, music boxes, and much more that dart around the sky as masters  of the air. They defy gravity, they curiously watch us—waiting for us  to make a move, they come in so many varieties, some create bonds with  us, others taunt us, and some would even comfort us.

They are incredible creatures, and I have chosen to give them personalities in my work and in The Outside  for all these reasons. The main bird in my work is Breeze, a large blue  jay that befriends my character Ralf “The White Knight” and protects  and teaches him the way of that world.

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins 4 — After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California State University of Long Beach in 1999, Simkins worked as an illustrator for various clothing companies and bands.

It is his careful weaving of pop culture, the old masters, nature, carnival kitsch, and (most importantly) his warped imagination, that makes Greg Simkins a sought-after surrealist painter today. Simkins’ artwork has appeared in galleries throughout the world.

The exhibition includes a number of beautiful works on paper.  What’s your relationship with drawing and how is it part of your  creative process?

It can be either to get an idea out as fast as possible so as not to  lose it or something to later be refined into its own finished project. I  enjoy getting the gesture of an idea to use later on in a piece, but  sometimes I feel that gesture is beautiful in itself, even with all its  flaws. It is the kernel of an idea and I chose to share some of those in  this exhibition.

I also enjoy doing charcoal portraits which gives me a whole other  way to study shape and form and mark making, which speaks to my other  work. Working in multiple mediums always teaches me something new to add  to each other.

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins 5 — How could anyone not be fascinated with birds? They are these jewels, weapons, music boxes, and much more that dart around the sky as masters of the air. They defy gravity, they curiously watch us—waiting for us to make a move, they come in so many varieties, some create bonds with us, others taunt us, and some would even comfort us.

“My creative demands are self imposed and my frustrations are my 
limitations. I sketch a lot and plan many pieces that I never get to paint. It kills me, there are so many things I want to paint and find the ticking of the clock to be deafening. Most of the time it is too many ideas and a lot get shelved or pop up in future shows. It is also a blessing sometimes because I get to revisit these ideas and tinker with them a bit and watch them blossom into something far greater than my original vision. It is as if the technique catches up with the idea over that time span, and I am thankful for it.” 

– Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins (Empty Lighthouse Magazine)

Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins 2 — It is his careful weaving of pop culture, the old masters, nature, carnival kitsch, and (most importantly) his warped imagination, that makes Greg Simkins a sought-after surrealist painter today. Simkins’ artwork has appeared in galleries throughout the world.

Fictional Story Related Index

This is an index of full text reprints of stories that I have read that influenced me when I was young. They are rather difficult to come by today, as where I live they are nearly impossible to find. Yes, you can find them on the internet, behind paywalls. Ah, that’s why all those software engineers in California make all that money. Well, here they are FOR FREE. Enjoy reading them.

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Introduction to the art of Todd Schorr.

Today’s artist is the one the only, the amazing painter that turns pop-culture into surreal art, Todd Schorr! Everything he gets his brushes on are simply amazing. All his paintings have so much detail that every time I look back at the paintings I always notice something new to trigger my amazement.

Todd Schorr 17 — Schorr began doing professional illustration while still in college, and soon after graduating in 1976 he moved to New York City where he provided work for a wide variety of commercial projects including album covers for AC/DC, movie posters for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and covers for Time magazine that now reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Artist Todd Schorr has earned broad recognition as a master painter. The style and influences of his complex narrative painting have been attributed from a multitude of sources from Northern Renaissance to 18th and 19th century Romantic painters.

Todd Schorr is an American artist and one of the most prominent members of the "Lowbrow" art movement or pop surrealism. Combining a cartoon influenced visual vocabulary with a highly polished technical ability, based on the exacting painting methods of the Old Masters, Schorr weaves intricate narratives that are often biting yet humorous.

-Wikipedia

Todd Schorr 16 — Every viewer brings their own personal perceptions to a depiction of say, Fred Flintstone, but the context he’s been placed in and how he’s been altered physically, triggers new associations in the viewer that didn’t exist before. Conversely, if a depiction of a generic cave man was used in the composition, it might not generate the same intimate emotional response.

Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images. Thematically, his art deals with some prominent pop culture themes ranging from fairy tales to television and movie references, from alien encounters to not-so-subtle commentary on modern society.

Todd Schorr 15 — Todd Schorr was born in New York City in 1954 and grew up in Oakland, New Jersey. His parents enrolled him in art classes when he was five, and understandably he claims influences from movies such “King Kong” and the early animated cartoons of Walt Disney and Max Fleischer were (and apparently still are) a driving force in his creative visions.

"There is still a persistent reluctance on the part of  many of these larger institutions in acknowledging this art, but I  really feel they’re shooting themselves in the foot on this point, and  fail to realize the broader audience this art has the potential to bring  in. 

I recently witnessed a rather humorous situation at the Museum Of  Art in New York where the gallery displaying surrealist art was  jam-packed with onlookers, while the gallery containing work of recent  conceptual work was occupied solely by a young mother changing the  diaper of her baby infant. Does that not tell you something?"

-Todd Schorr quoted in Arrested Motion

Todd Schorr was born in New York City in 1954 and grew up in Oakland, New Jersey. His parents enrolled him in art classes when he was five, and understandably he claims influences from movies such “King Kong” and the early animated cartoons of Walt Disney and Max Fleischer were (and apparently still are) a driving force in his creative visions.

Todd Schorr 14 — Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images. Thematically, his art deals with some prominent pop culture themes ranging from fairy tales to television and movie references, from alien encounters to not-so-subtle commentary on modern society.

By the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Schorr was drumming in bands and found further influences in the psychedelic music posters and underground comics coming out of the west coast art scene. In 1970 he visited the Uffizi gallery in Italy and began to formulate an idea of combining cartoons with the painting techniques of the Old Masters.

 “Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and  investigative thought along with trial and error as well as constant  honing of technique to reach the point where I felt I had created a  language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of  purpose. I work in what is best described as a surreal style but  filtered through the mind and eyes of what is, for better or worse,  uniquely American.” 

– Todd Schorr

Todd Schorr 13 — Schorr works in acrylic, creating complex narrative paintings of his favorite childhood characters — Popeye, Tony the Tiger and King Kong — with a technical bravado borrowed from the Old Masters.

In 1972 he entered the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of The Arts) with designs towards being a painter, but he was directed instead to the illustration department.

Schorr began doing professional illustration while still in college, and soon after graduating in 1976 he moved to New York City where he provided work for a wide variety of commercial projects including album covers for AC/DC, movie posters for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and covers for Time magazine that now reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Yeah, Schorr's stuff is just uh-maze-ing.  Really on a whole other  level, there also HUGE.  I think that first one I posted is 90-something  inches across.  

-Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 11 — Fantastic imagery, cartoon characters, and other pop culture icons rendered with an exacting technique and colorful palette defines the signature style of Schorr’s artwork. His iconic work to date is “A Pirate’s Treasure Dream”, 2006, which depicts a plethora of zany phantoms and animals (such as Donald Duck, Coco the Clown, and a Worry-Bird), all parading around — none other than – the lusty Los Angeles Lowbrow (art movement) collector Long Gone John.

AM: One of the things that people love about your work are  your many references to pop culture. Can you tell us a little about the  significance of this aspect of your paintings?

 
Schorr: I consider myself a cultural anthropologist and use pop  culture reference points in my work because they strike an emotional  resonance with people while also forming a common pictorial language  that’s accessible to just about everyone. They get the viewer’s  attention and pull them into the little scenarios that I’ve laid out  before them on my canvases. Every viewer brings their own personal  perceptions to a depiction of say, Fred Flintstone, but the context he’s  been placed in and how he’s been altered physically, triggers new  associations in the viewer that didn’t exist before. Conversely, if a  depiction of a generic cave man was used in the composition, it might  not generate the same intimate emotional response. I try to get the  essence of the pop culture elements I’m referring to but alter the  perception of that image.

Schorr works in acrylic, creating complex narrative paintings of his favorite childhood characters — Popeye, Tony the Tiger and King Kong — with a technical bravado borrowed from the Old Masters.

Often, they pay humorous homage to his baby boomer childhood or a revered painter, as in “Parade of the Damned” (2005), based loosely on the 1562 Flemish masterpiece by Bruegel called “Mad Meg,” which depicts a harridan who drives everyone around her crazy.

Todd Schorr 0 — Schorr, 54, grew up in New Jersey, immersed in the world of cartoons, commercials and Hollywood horror films. But it was after he went to Europe as a teenager and visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, that a light bulb went on: “If I could learn how to paint in the techniques of the Old Masters but use as subject matter my favorite cartoons, I would have the best of all worlds,” he told himself.

In Schorr’s version, the monsters all come from the world of pop culture: Frankenstein and King Kong join a cast of fiends as they casually make their way toward the mouth of hell, where they’re warmly welcomed by Morticia of the Addams Family.

Sometimes, his works have a distinctly sociopolitical undertone, as in “The Hydra of Madison Avenue” (2001), a bacchanalia display of old Saturday morning TV commercial characters — Tony the Tiger, Smokey Bear, Mr. Clean — all sprouting from a many-headed beast as the Jolly Green Giant struts alongside a pink fairy tale castle spewing a cloud of black smoke.

“There’s an undercurrent of malice going in,” acknowledges Schorr, speaking by phone from Los Angeles. “The way I’m presenting it, it’s a serious presentation, but it has an absurdity built into it. I’ve got these ridiculous cartoon characters, but I’m trying to paint them the way an Old Master would paint them.”

The painting is at once deeply personal and sociopolitical: “It’s about advertising, of course,” he says. “You cut the head off, and it keeps coming back. I have mixed feelings about advertising. I think it’s a horrible profession, but at the same time it has given us all these fascinating characters.”

Schorr, 54, grew up in New Jersey, immersed in the world of cartoons, commercials and Hollywood horror films. But it was after he went to Europe as a teenager and visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, that a light bulb went on: “If I could learn how to paint in the techniques of the Old Masters but use as subject matter my favorite cartoons, I would have the best of all worlds,” he told himself.

Todd Schorr 10 — Sometimes, his works have a distinctly sociopolitical undertone, as in “The Hydra of Madison Avenue” (2001), a bacchanalia display of old Saturday morning TV commercial characters — Tony the Tiger, Smokey Bear, Mr. Clean — all sprouting from a many-headed beast as the Jolly Green Giant struts alongside a pink fairy tale castle spewing a cloud of black smoke.

From December 2001 through February 2002 the exhibit “Secret Mystic Rites: Todd Schorr Retrospective” was organized by the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida. The museum used Schorr’s painting “Clash of the Holidays” on the invitation which provoked some outrage, with various South Florida civil leaders accusing Schorr of blasphemy.

Fortunately the controversy died down after meetings between local, state, and museum officials determined that the cost of the county’s heretic burning permit exceeded the city’s budget for the month.

This resulted in a later ruling by the Florida Supreme Court which reduced the sentence for blasphemy from burning at the stake to simple drawing and quartering, under the logic that the threat of fire damage to the Everglades superseded the rights of local preachers to protect their flocks from outside influence.

Todd Schorr 9 — The art world is very much tied to fashion and fads, and many young artists easily stray into these traps to gain acceptance and what they perceive as popularity. Consider yourself a very fortunate artist indeed if you manage to find just one or a couple of patrons that truly love your work and stick with you through thick and thin.

In most ways, Todd Schorr is living every artist’s dream: His beastly cartoon paintings are plastered throughout the Internet, where they are studied, discussed and analyzed for meaning on hundreds of art blogs.

AM: Many of the younger artists we talk to list you as one of  their inspirations or influences. Being a dedicated artist is not easy,  especially in this economic time. We know you also had some struggles  when you gave up a lucrative illustration career to focus on your own  personal art. Any advice for the younger generation of artists out  there?

Schorr: If a person has artistic inclinations and has something that  by compulsion needs to be expressed, they will somehow find an outlet  and hopefully be able to make a living from that talent. Unlike  commercial art, where you can target the type of client or market you’d  like to work for, the “fine art” gallery world is such an unpredictable  mess of agendas and “of the moment” fashion posturing, that it’s folly  to suggest any one path to success.

However, here are a couple of important thoughts to consider. Stay  true to your vision and what makes you unique while constantly seeking  to evolve and improve on previous efforts. Don’t follow trends. The art  world is very much tied to fashion and fads, and many young artists  easily stray into these traps to gain acceptance and what they perceive  as popularity. Consider yourself a very fortunate artist indeed if you  manage to find just one or a couple of patrons that truly love your work  and stick with you through thick and thin.

Hollywood celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette collect his massive canvases. Tycoons, such as Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, commission his work, while less well-to-do devotees settle for covering their bodies with tattooed replicas of his iconographic images.

Todd Schorr 8 — Indeed, he says, if those Flemish Old Masters were living today, they’d be painting cartoons too. And, who knows, he adds, but maybe art lovers of the future will revere paintings of King Kong, Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch.

Today Schorr lives the life of a reclusive billionaire, quietly depicting the reality of a twisted cartoon otherworld while tossing scraps of lobster to his trained pack of hyenas which provide a secure front line between himself and the frothing mass of groupies camped at his gates.

Todd Schoor is brilliant!!! If you like his style, check out paintings  by Robert Williams. Robt. Williams pioneered the multi-layered, low-brow  painting style. 

 -Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 7 — Although the label “lowbrow” may be shunned by other artists of his generation, Schorr actually validates the colloquial term and summarizes the genre’s basic traits. In other words, he takes what are often considered to be low cultural references and elevates them into significant artifacts that pulsate with intellectual viability.

There may not be a more dedicated and industrious artist than Todd Schorr. His work ethic is legendary, his output exemplified by dogged attention to detail and skill in technique.

Such a notable career, when taken in sum, encapsulates a unique, personal vision of a conjured world in which he establishes surreal appeal by creating phantasmagorical images that mesmerize the viewer in their meticulously painted execution.

Todd Schorr 6 — Hollywood celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette collect his massive canvases. Tycoons, such as Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, commission his work, while less well-to-do devotees settle for covering their bodies with tattooed replicas of his iconographic images.

Although the label “lowbrow” may be shunned by other artists of his generation, Schorr actually validates the colloquial term and summarizes the genre’s basic traits. In other words, he takes what are often considered to be low cultural references and elevates them into significant artifacts that pulsate with intellectual viability.

Yeah, Robert Williams is pretty much THE MAN when it comes to lowbrow  art, he kind of coined the term (as it applies to this movement of art)  back in the early '80s,  not to mention his stuff is weird with a  capital W.  I'd post some of his work but it rarely prominently features  movie monsters.   

  -Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 5 — “Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and investigative thought along with trial and error as well as constant honing of technique to reach the point where I felt I had created a language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of purpose. I work in what is best described as a surreal style but filtered through the mind and eyes of what is, for better or worse, uniquely American.”

Schorr is a seminal figure in what’s known as the lowbrow school of art, an underground movement centered in Los Angeles that draws on an iconography of cartoon characters and baby boomer images from TV and pop culture. Other artists in the movement, which is also known as pop surrealism, include Camille Rose Garcia, Gary Baseman and Mark Ryden.

Since 1994, they have been steadfastly promoted in the pages of Juxtapoz Arts & Culture Magazine, a pop surrealist San Francisco-based publication.

Todd Schorr’s artistic journey is one that hardly conforms to the time-honored stereotype of Bohemian artist. It is rather a post-war tale bracketed by an America infatuated with the limitless potential of consumerism.

Todd Schorr 4 — Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images.

His formative years were spent in a world surrounded by the atomic and space ages, by Saturday morning cartoons and racks of comic books at the local drug store, a land populated by Revell models, Mad Magazine, Testors glue, Mickey Mouse and Rat Fink.

My kind of guy.

Further fueling his developing image bank were the seemingly endless icons from television’s early years: Robbie the Robot, Mighty Joe Young and reel upon reel of animated toons from the likes of Tex Avery, George Pal and Max Fleischer.

Todd Schorr 3 — Todd Schorr is an American artist and one of the most prominent members of the “Lowbrow” art movement or pop surrealism. Combining a cartoon influenced visual vocabulary with a highly polished technical ability, based on the exacting painting methods of the Old Masters, Schorr weaves intricate narratives that are often biting yet humorous.

The compulsion to replicate these characters led to a formal art education and exposure to a new set of influences drawn from the world of advertising and commercial art.

 Todd Schorr (born January 9, 1954) is an American artist and one of the most prominent of the group that has been dubbed "Lowbrow (art movement)" or pop surrealism. An early work is the cover of Patrick Adams Presents Phreek. 

Fantastic imagery, cartoon characters, and other pop culture  icons rendered with an exacting technique and colorful palette defines  the signature style of Schorr’s artwork. His iconic work to date is "A Pirate's Treasure Dream", 2006, which depicts a plethora of zany phantoms and animals (such as Donald Duck, Coco the Clown, and a Worry-Bird), all parading around -- none other than – the lusty Los Angeles Lowbrow (art movement) collector Long Gone John. Todd Schorr is one of the most "successful"/most expensive living artists in the Lowbrow (art movement) scene. 

Schorr studied Illustration and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art. His art and illustrations have been included in Time, New York Times, and Juxtapoz Magazine, to name a few. He is married to fellow Lowbrow artist, Kathy Staico Schorr.  Both live and work in Beverly Hills, California. 

-Art and popular culture

Todd Schorr 1 — Artist Todd Schorr has earned broad recognition as a master painter. The style and influences of his complex narrative painting have been attributed from a multitude of sources from Northern Renaissance to 18th and 19th century Romantic painters.

“The artwork I respond to is art that’s entertaining but also (makes) you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” he says. “It should be kind of thrilling. A total visceral response.”

Indeed, he says, if those Flemish Old Masters were living today, they’d be painting cartoons too. And, who knows, he adds, but maybe art lovers of the future will revere paintings of King Kong, Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch.

“This work is going to be tremendously important 100 years from now,” Schorr asserts. “It’s so much an art of our time and place.

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

Articles & Links

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My publisher went out of business. So I need to set it up using other means. -MM

I want to buy one of your books but it is out of stock on Amazon. Is there a way…

Thanks for that. *sigh* Life can be so interesting sometimes. -MM

Sometimes the words in the 'narrative' need to be precise, at least in terms of 'calendar time'., or else confusion…

" Thanks for the Russian missile movement update via ol’ Panicky-Hal, Metallicman. What would life be like without him!? Meanwhile…