I was in New York for a bit of a vacation a couple of weeks back, and managed to find some time to visit Stephen Kroninger... It was a wind and rain filled day, and I showed up at the door drenched and a little off kilter from the walk there.
I didn't visit one damn museum while in Manhattan, but Kroninger's studio more than sufficed. Art plasters every surface along with his collections of ephemera and objects. The studio was a nest of everything (the best kind) and made me feel as though I needed rethink how I create in my own.
I'm afraid my pictures barely scratch the surface. I must have been cold, because the photos I took of the art and memoribilia on the walls are terrible - far too blurry to show here.
I'll be back Stephen - and next time I'll be there to pick up "you know what"!
If you're in Toronto on Thursday June 6th, do come by to see a group show of work I've put together!
Months ago, David Campbell and Nathaniel Garcia came to by my studio to see if I would by interested in curating a show for the Eliile Gallery. A beautiful and large space, I happily accepted. I've curated many group shows in the past, but this seemed like a good opportunity to do something slightly different.
Featuring work by illustrators printed by master printer Dimitri Levanoff, on specially created hand-made paper by the Japanese Paper Place, this project was a very interesting collaboration that brings digital printing to another level.
Photos of the evening we looked at small proofs, and a shot of the entrance to the gallery.
On the very same evening, my good friend and illustrator Sandra Dionisi (who is also in the PAGES show) is having a wonderful solo show that you must see as well... So please do mark the date in your calendars.
I could have put two hundred images in this post that have been influential! It starts with illustrated books I still think of from when I was small, and onward.
I've never actually done this before, collecting these fragments together in one spot, trying to skim it down to images or ways of working that I feel are present in my mind, despite how long it's been... But I see a thread throughout that I didn't expect and that's exciting.
Thanks Yuko - wish I could edit it more, but I don't want to!
The Cuckoo Clock, by Mrs. Molesworth - Illustrated by C.E. Brock. Right: The Real Mother Goose - illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright.
Illustrator Garth Williams - Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie. I love the softness he brought forth, in the expressions, the tone...
This book cover has stuck with me since I was under ten years old... Will have to go home to dig out the book to find the illustrator.
Snow White, as illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. I have a stolen copy of her version of Sleeping Beauty as well... My apologies, Waterloo Public Library!
Around age eleven I was given a book of Edgar Allen Poe stories... The illustrations are burned indelibly in my brain - scared the hell out of me - (still freak me out a bit), but perfect for a kid who was into ALIEN, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock.
Andrew Wyeth, The Helga Pictures
Paul Klee, Magic Fish (Was in college when I discovered these paintings.)
J.C. Leyendecker, Alberto Vargas
Edward Hopper, Hotel Room, 1931
Right: Maxfield Parrish
Enoch Bolles (my favourite pinup artist), Alberto Vargas and the Blue Fairy from Walt Disney's Pinochio.
Was in college when I met "Women Friends" by Klimt... There are other pieces by him that I have grown to like better, but at the time this one burned bright in my head.
Florence Carlyle, The Tiff, 1902
Czech film poster, found in a basement bookshop while in Prague.
Ramon Casas i Carbó La Sargantain 1907
Passoti... Been trying to find a book or poster with this image for the longest time.
