Pop Culture Print Exhibit: G1988 (West) "Fairy Tales"

The opening reception for Gallery 1988's newest exhibit "Fairy Tales: A Print Show" was held last night. I gather from the brief literature available that the exhibit is supposed to be more graphic (design) in nature rather than full illustrative or "art pieces". These are the images released via the affiliated Fire Wire Pop Culture Blog and various "leaks" here and there around Tumblr, personal blogs and Twitter.  Gallery 1988 has shown about half these on their website as well. I'm not sure how many works will be shown in total but Gallery Nineteen Eighty-Eight has promised to post more over the next few days.

Strollin... by Ridge Rooms

UPDATED with correct title & website link 1/12/14: Seven Wives by Nicole Rifkin

The Fairest of Them All by Eric Tan

Pied Piper by Kim Herbst

In Case of Great Fall by Dave Perillo

Born To Kill by Ross Proulx

As with pretty much all artwork, I would guess that seeing these in person would be very different from the online peeks we're getting (especially seeing as they're considerably low resolution) but at least, for those of us who can't get there to see it in person, we have an idea of what's trending in the print art scene in LA right now.

Red Riding Hood by Barry Blankenship

by Dave Quiggle

You Can Trust Me by JP Valderrama

Snow White by Glen Brogan

Enchanted Forest Product by Clark Orr

Little Red Riding Hood by Rocco Malatesta

UPDATED 1-12-14: “The Once And Future King” by Ryan Brinkerhoff

Although I'm not surprised to see a couple of different Red Riding Hoods it's interesting that Snow White is keeping a strong representation at the moment, especially considering these works have been created very recently, for this almost-New-Year exhibit. I would have thought Sleeping Beauty or Goldilocks might make an appearance.

Rapunzel poster by David Welker

Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me Come In by Chris Brake

The Real Puss In Boots by Noël Ill

Snow White by Andrew Trabbold

Snow Queen by Priscilla Wilson (valorandvellum)

The Crane Wife by Deborah Bencosme (of castlepöp)

Being a "print show" I'm curious as to how they'll be presenting the works. For example wouldn't it be kind of cool (and memorable) to see a bushel of apples with those "Product of Enchanted Forest" stickers on them, under the print or "full label"/ad?

I also wonder if they'll be merchandising any of the images there? They're doing prints, perhaps obviously. From what I've seen on Twitter and more, artists have been getting their limited release prints ready and numbered for the opening, but I'm wondering if they're doing t-shirts, bags or other things. I do very much like the White Stag, Sneewittchen and Crane Wife works.

"White Shoe" - A Ferragamo Fairy Tale

A lovely short film was made specially for a uniquely "fairy tale entwined" exhibit, built on the many stories, tales, legends - both fairy tale and real - of shoes. This particular film is based on the life, talent and work of one of Italy's most famous shoemakers, Salvatore Ferragamo (saying "cobblers" doesn't seem quite right!).

The exhibit is titled The Prodigious Shoemaker: Tales and Legends of Shoes and Shoemakers so the specific fairy tale quality of the film fits exceptionally well.

The film was designed to be viewed by visitors as they wander through the presentation in which art pieces and works in various media, blend together. They put history and fantasy side by side, with the express intent of showing one couldn't live without the other (as aspect I LOVE!). The stories range from tales - both true and fantastic - around Chinese foot binding, to Cinderella, to The Red Shoes and much, much more.

The official website for the exhibit is in Italian and to do too much to translate it in a hurry from the auto-translate seems to lose a little of the magic of the description, so I'm leaving most of the odd language intact for you to be enchanted by, just as I was on first reading it:

To show the tales, it would seem a contradiction in terms to show what was/is real physically and what is fantasy. Instead, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Florence will show from April 19, 2013 to 31 March 2014 that you can also watch the legends and not just listen to them. It will be through the world of the fairy tale, filling the spacious rooms of the Palazzo Ferroni with "The Prodigious Shoemaker," which will open in Florence on April 18. It's a magical time for fairy tales. At the movies Tim Burton brings his "Alice in Wonderland" and other filmmakers have updated certain icons of childhood, from Little Red Riding Hood to the Beauty and the Beast, to two recent versions of Snow White. And this month are leaving "the great and powerful Oz" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" while in the near future are provided "Hansel and Gretel" and a "Maleficent" starring Angelina Jolie, taken from "The Sleeping Beauty". In short, what was a wealth of children today it is also great, so need to dream.

"The Prodigious Shoemaker - Tales and Legends of shoes and shoemakers," curated by Stefania Ricci, Sergio and Luca Recovered Scarlini hath been given the task to fly the minds of visitors through the history of the shoe, a theme that has always fascinated writers of fairy tales. Wearing shoes was a sign of wealth and power but the shoe is also a job, that of shoemaker and cobbler, antique flavor of passion and sacrifice and so hungry. It 's the story of Salvatore Ferragamo, who has taught so much. 

Many authors and artists from different disciplines who have joined the show, creating works by helping interventions. Experts in children's fiction, as Faeti Antonio and Michele Rak, film scholars like Alexander Bernardi, writers and poets such as Hamid Ziarati, Michele Mari, Elisa Biagini for this project have written new tales supported by illustrators like Francesca and Michela Petoletti Ghermandi.The great composer Luis Bacalov wrote a new musical score as an overture to the show, while young photographers Simona Ghizzoni and Lorenzo Cicconi Massi, along with expert Henry Coppitz, have the photographer Salvatore Ferragamo shoes make them fabulous. And then the work of Annette Lemieux Messenger was approached by the myth of Mercury, that of Carol Rama to the hard version of Cinderella, that of Daniel Spoerri at Tom Thumb. An entire section of the exhibition is dedicated to the sculptures and drawings by Mimmo Paladino: For this occasion the artist field has collaborated on an original animation with the writer ecomico Alexander Berger, author of a visionary tale. And many others.

I hope to be able to write more about the exhibit soon, because the details of various pieces in particular are amazing, but for now, I'll just include this excerpt of the official introductory blurb from The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, that's hosting and housing the exhibition:

...fairy tales are invading our imagination. As if now, more than ever, there was the need to address through the paths mysterious fantasy and dream solutions, the answers to that set of moral questions, doubts  and hardships that afflict our times. It is in times of crisis that presents a more urgent need to fantasize with imagination and overcome obstacles and fears. It is a universal need as this  is primal instinct. That's why fairy tales are considered inexhaustible reservoir of our archetypes,  of our primitive experiences.

Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure, White Shoe:

The Prodigious Shoemaker: Tales and Legends of Shoes and Shoemakers (in which White Shoe is shown in various backdrops as part of the multi-media presentation), is currently showing in Florence, Italy at The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum until March 31st, 2014.

Sanderson's "Dancing Princesses" Find A Forever Home at the Norman Rockwell Museum (+ an "Art of" Book In the Works)

Have you ever wanted to see Ruth Sanderson's original oil paintings? Particularly the The Twelve Dancing Princesses? Well, very soon, you can. All you will need to do is find a way to visit the Normal Rockwell Museum, which is now the new, permanent home of the originals.

From MassLive:

Sanderson, known for illustrating many classic fairy tales as well as her own books, will have 64 pieces of art on display during the exhibition, "Dancing Princesses: The Fairy Tale Art of Ruth Sanderson," from Dec. 7 through March 9, 2014. 

“They were thrilled to be able to have that book in their archive,” said Sanderson, of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" art work that was donated to the museum by Palmer-based Sanderson MacLeod, a company owned by Sanderson's brother. 

“Then they asked me if I’d like to expand the show to have art work from other books. They took art work (on loan) from four of my other fairy tales, and they hope to tour the exhibit around the country.” 

Sanderson’s art from “Cinderella,” “The Snow Princess,” “The Enchanted Wood,” and “The Golden Mare, the Firebird and the Magic Ring” will also be included, along with costumes that she had made specifically to include in her illustrations for “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” Art from one of Sanderson’s currently in-progress books will also be on display. 

Sanderson’s latest book, called “Golden Dreams: the Art of Ruth Sanderson” is a 224-page, full color art book on Sanderson’s career. 

Sanderson said she hopes fans of picture books enjoy the experience of seeing the art work in person. 

“The detail, texture and luminosity in oil paintings can never be exactly reproduced in printed books, so seeing the actual paintings is a more complete and personal experience of the art work,” Sanderson said. “It is my hope that families will enjoy the magical fairy tale worlds I have created.”

You can read the whole, much longer article on the exhibition, how Ms. Sanderson's works found their home at the Museum and more about her new book HERE.

And here's a bonus from Ms. Sanderson's website:

I am pleased to announce that you can now order a copy of my new 224-page art book, GOLDEN DREAMS, The Art of Ruth Sanderson in the SHOPS area of my website. We will begin shipping in early December. The book will feature hundreds of pictures from almost 40 years of illustration and fantasy art. And with every art book purchased in November, you will receive a FREE 8.5″ x 11″ print of The Snow Princess & The Polar Bear!

What a great opportunity. If you can, give yourself a special holiday present and go see the exhibit in person. I have a feeling it's an experience you will never forget.

Green Hill Arts Hosting Multiple Fairy Tale Events (aka I'm Moving to Devon. I Wish)

Actually, I'd settle for a visit during this coming last week of June. At least for starters. You see, Devon (in the UK) is where Green Hill Arts lives and a LOT of fairy tale goodness happens there all year round. The end of this month, however, is particularly tempting. And if I could go but had to choose only one of the special events, I would choose the Women & Fairy Tales talk (poster shown above, info at link).

Here's the event blurb:

Fairy tales, which we now think of as children's stories, were not originally intended for children at all. Only since the 19th century have the complex, dark, sensual or bawdy tales of the oral tradition been collected, edited, and set down in print in the watered-down forms we are most familiar with today: filled with square-jawed princes and passive princesses who invariably end up living "happily ever after." 

But how many modern readers know that in older versions of Sleeping Beauty, the princess wakes up not with a chaste kiss but with the birth of twins after the prince has come and gone again? Or that Red Riding Hood's wolf demands she takes off her clothes, piece by piece, and join him in bed? Or that Rapuzel's witch first learns of the prince's secret visits when Rapunzel's belly swells with pregnancy? 

 In this talk, Terri will explore the strange, surprising history of the world's most familiar stories -- explaining why these stories have such a hold upon her, and why fairy tales still matter today -- while Howard will regale you dark, old versions of the tales that are a far, far cry from Walt Disney....

Or perhaps I'd choose the Coffee with the Artists event, because there's no way you could avoid talking fairy tales with those guys and I can just imagine all the napkin scribbles left over...

A wonderful opportunity to spend time with these three well-renowned artists who will talk about and show some of their work in an informal and intimate setting whilst you enjoy coffee and delicious cake. 

Hazel Brown is painter, illustrator, and bookmaker whose work has been published The Art of Faery and Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters. 

Virginia Lee is a painter, sculptor, and illustrator of The Frog Bride, Persephone, and other children's books. She also worked as a sculptor on the set of the Lord of the Ringsfilms. 

David Wyatt has illustrated numerous books including Peter Pan in Scarlet (the first authorized Peter Pan sequel), the bestselling "Larklight" books by Phillip Reaves, and fantasy classics by JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Brian Jacques, and others. 

Terri Windling will join the coffee morning as the discussion moderator. Terri Windling is a collage artist, folklore scholar and an award winning author of over forty books including ‘The Wood Wife’ and ‘Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells’.

But, no. I really, really want  to hear what Terri has to say about "the strange, dark history of fairy tales as stories for adults..."! I'm hoping (please?) that someone will be recording, taping, transcribing, taking notes, pics - something! - from the event so for those of us who can't go can still participate. In absentia. From the outside. After the fact. But still, I know that anything said will be good fodder for fairy tale brain cells and anything we can do to continue that "17thC French Salon" mentality of talking tales among authors, writers and thinkers, would be fantastic.

You know what? If I were in Devon I'd just go to both: scrub floors, collect dishes - heck, I'd clean puppet orifices! - and listen from the kitchen if I absolutely had to!

Let's just break from my fantasizing for a moment to exclaim over the scrumptiousness of all three Green Hill Arts posters!! If they make prints I'll happily purchase a good sized one for my wall. (Hint, hint.)

But that's not all. There are ongoing Midsummer Mythic Artists exhibitions happening right now through August 7 this year!

Midsummer – Saturday 22nd June – Wednesday 7th AugustWalking “widdershins” (counter-clockwise) is the traditional way to enter the realm of myth and enchantment. Come to Green Hill Arts this summer and let us show you the way... 

Widdershins is an exhibition of art works by a group of celebrated and internationally renowned mythical and fantasy artists. 

Dartmoor’s landscape is steeped in magic and mystery and it is home to many artists whose work is inspired by mythic themes. Widdershins showcases the work of those who live on Dartmoor (or have local connections), but whose paintings, sculptures, books and films are known far beyond: Hazel Brown, Neil Wilkinson Cave, Brian Froud, Wendy Froud, Paul Kidby, Alan Lee, Virginia Lee, Rima Staines, Terri Windling, David Wyatt.
Widdershins explores local legends, world myth, folklore and faery tales in diverse, surprising ways... and although it all starts ‘Once Upon a Time’, it is definitely not for children only. In addition to the exhibition itself, we have a full programme of mythic, magical events for adults and children. It includes artists’ talks, book-signings, storytelling, puppetry, music and much more. 

See? Clearly I should be in Devon.


But Devon isn't the only place where the fairy tale fantastic is happening (though, these few weeks, they definitely have the lion's share). Look what I missed announcing earlier this year from Australia:

Apparently there are fairy tale salons (because conversation and exchanging ideas on fairy tales, is an important part of all these) springing up all over the world!

Some lucky Victorians (that is, people at the Monash University in Victoria, Australia, just had their own salon event in May:
In Fairy Land.

You can see an online catalogue/slideshow of the fairy tale rare books they viewed and discussed HERE.

Even better, though, The Monash Fairy Tale Salon is a regular group! (Do they take penpals? Voip-pals? I want in!)

The event from the year before  is shown at right: >>> (screencap only  - links are not clickable sorry) >>>


And HERE's a brief recap of the event on the Storytelling Australia blog.

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? I would have been there with bells on if I could. (Where's a Tardis when you need one?)

Oh, for a fairy tale passport that would whisk me to fairy tale salons and events all over the world... *sigh*

I'll leave you with an alternate poster for the exhibitions at Green Hill Arts to inspire you (and perhaps, my passport, to get it's act together in time for the Winter Solstice events... or at least Midsummer next next year!).

Paul McCarthy's Dirty White Snow - Discretion Advised

Excuse me if I'm somewhat reluctant to post on this one but I don't get to choose the news. -- OK I do, but I wouldn't be reporting responsibly if I didn't at least wave you all in the direction of the fairy tale elephant in the newsroom of the New York Times...

No, I didn't get my titles backward. This is Snow White as portrayed by "transgressive artist Paul McCarthy" in the Park Avenue Armory. Just to be clear, we're talking a shock-value, XXX rated, large scale installation of a disturbing interpretation of (interestingly, Disney's version) of Snow White.

I'm really not interested in the "what" here but the "why". Why Snow White? Why like this? Why on such a HUGE scale??

I'm just going to give you some quotes, add some brief commentary, upload some family friendly pics then let you go follow the links if you're interested in seeing more.

Excerpted from gothamist.com:

...The show, called WS, "weaves together a fantastical forest and a three-quarter-scale house modeled after McCarthy’s own childhood home, with multi-channel video projections to immerse visitors in a world of fantasy and depravity."

Sounds really interesting, right up to the last word... 

"WS is a true Gesamtkunstwerk," says Alex Poots, Artistic Director of the Armory.

Wow - that actually sounds pretty great. I wish I wanted to see it. *blink* (Irony strikes while the shoes are hot.)

[Note from Wikipedia: A Gesamtkunstwerk (translated as total work of art, ideal work of art, universal artwork, synthesis of the arts, comprehensive artwork, all-embracing art form or total artwork) is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. The term is a German word which has come to be accepted in English as a term in aesthetics.]

"It is an overwhelming creation born out of the original Brothers Grimm fairytale and the subsequent popular interpretations that became iconic American symbols in the 20th century. Going far beyond the confines of the story, it explores the vast and at times distressingly dark corners of the human psyche."

Again: Why Snow White to explore this? Is it because she's supposed to be so innocent and free of vice that's it's all nudge-nudge, wink-wink? Isn't that a little simplistic for "high art"? The one thing that catches my eye is he includes a Walt character in the "shenanigans-is-too-nice-a-word". There are certainly more than a few people who have issues with how Mr. Disney portrayed women but I'm not even sure that's even one of the aims of the display here.

WS is an evolving work-in-progress which will continue to change during the course of the exhibit, which opens to the public tomorrow and continues through August 4th. The first thing you'll see upon entering the drill hall is a massive artificial forest filled with towering 30-foot tall trees and colorful, oversized flowers that extend across a raised lush landscape. Nestled at the center of the installation is an 8,800-square foot yellow ranch-style (haunted?) house (a three-quarter-scale exact replica of McCarthy’s childhood home), where the project’s video performances were filmed. 

(From the NYPost:)“right down to the stains in the bathroom sink,” as Damon McCarthy, the artist’s son and collaborator, put it.

Do we need to know that? I guess we do... *would not be surprised to see a portrait gallery of therapists lining the walls of one of the rooms* 

 Note: "A seven-hour video of performances shot in and around a massive set is part of the work."

7 ???! Hours!

Thanks to descriptions supplied by the NYPost I have one positive expectation from this: considering the use of roast chicken during the exhibition, there's a good chance viewers will turn vegan (or at least anti-chicken). Ick.

From the Armory press release:

Surrounding the installation, large-scale video projections feature scenes from a subversive and explicit alternative fairytale in which the character Walt Paul—played by McCarthy as an amalgam of himself and the archetypes of a movie producer, artist, father and other roles—cavorts with a cast of characters including White Snow, a figure who represents both the archetypal virgin and vixen, a daughter as well as a fairytale princess. Dwarves, the Prince, and doubles for Walt Paul and White Snow are part of the action. Drawing loosely upon the classic story and interweaving references to the history of art, the performance becomes a bacchanal.

• Is it news? Yes. (To deny this is to deny the fairy tale elephant in the press room this week!) 
• Is it big? YES! (All seem to agree that the size of this is... big.)
• Is it amazing? Probably.
• Is it an achievement? Yyyeee...sss? (Depends on what you're trying to achieve... All the giant trees, food and sprinkles splatter, sound a little large-scale hokey to me, as do the shock-factor antics - but, of course, to give props, that takes work too... *wonders about funding, realize I don't want to know*)
• Is it necessary? Not for me.
• Is it Art? ...(please fill in the blank)...

I'll leave you with one more thing: this is the most thoughtful (and useful to fairy tale people) quote I found, wading through all the splashy-splashy, snicker-snort, avant-garde-kowtowing, shock-horror, how-dare-he-sully-Snow! extremes of coverage today. (I should preface it by telling you the article first makes it clear just how depraved some of the acts are, that viewers pay to see. Discretion advised if you go look them up. Seriously.) 
From Vulture.com:

There's a long history of fairy tales being not just scary but actually sexual, involving adult romps, cannibalism, chaos, torture — the whole nine-yards of our twisted inner lives. McCarthy is trying to tap into that. He always has, sometimes fantastically well. This time, that drilling down didn't strike the darkness...

One very tony Upper East Side lady pulled me aside at the opening and whispered, "What's shocking about all this is how un-shocking it is. It's just standard clowning around." She’s right.

And now the ELEPHANT has been acknowledged. 

From here on, I can blog happily, ever after.

- The End -

(I'm wishing...)

Russian Animation Classic "The Snow Queen" on Special Exhibit

In case you didn't know, there was an animated film made in Russia 55 years ago of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. It won awards from all over the world and still has animators and layout artists discussing it today.

 From Haute Living:

Currently on exhibit until Feb. 5 at the Na Solyanke Gallery in Moscow is the “Cold and Beauty: The Snow Queen is 55.”  The exhibit features the work of modern world-renowned artists and animators, the airing of “The Snow Queen” and the original sketches by Alexander Vinokurov to the 1957 Russian award-winning animated film.

The exhibit honors the 1957 Soviet animated film “The Snow Queen” directed by Lev Atamanov -the film is based off of the story with the same name by Hans Christian Andersen- after its release, the film won numerous awards around the world.  It was incredibly popular in the Soviet Union and kids to this day still watch the “Snow Queen.”

To mark the success and impact of Atamanov’s animated rendition of the “Snow Queen,” Na Soyanke Gallery featured works from many artists who created pieces themed after the dreamlike tale.  Some of the pieces include David Birkin’s frozen video portraits of famous Russian athletes and celebrities.  Other artists involved in the exhibit were Andrei Bartenev, Khaik Simonyan and Katya Bochavar.

Although there was no way the curator of the exhibit could have known Disney would revive it's Snow Queen project yet again just recently, the timing for such an exhibit is excellent. If this was showing after Disney's Snow Queen (titled Frozen) started releasing teasers and marketing, I don't think as many people would be as interested. At the very beginning of Frozen is a completely different matter, so I hope it gets the attention it deserves.

 Interested in seeing more stills? Go HERE and enjoy. (Note: there are actually 2 more posts "Snow Queen 2" and "Snow Queen 3" of stills and layouts from the same film at this blog.)

Speaking of Frozen in case there was any question whether or not Disney's revived fairy tale project was to be hand drawn or CG it's definitely CG. And 3D. Sigh. (Note: I did have confirmation of this in my announcement post HERE but a lot of people must have skimmed that little tidbit in the excitement of seeing Snow Queen thawing at Disney once again - not that I blame them!) The current release date for Frozen is a 2013 Winter release on November 23.