{creative history} wladyslaw hasior

i know, i know. who the heck is that? you're asking yourself.

several years ago while traveling around europe with a friend, we found ourselves in a little town in poland called zakopane, very close to the slovakian border. this was truly one of the most wonderful places i have ever been. it was a polish ski town of sorts, with a ski resort at the top of a mountain at the top of which was the obrder between poland and slovakia.


but i digress. one of the most interesting parts about visiting zakopane was our trip to the wladyslaw hasior gallery. hasior (1928-1999) was a polish painter, sculptor, stage designer, and poet. he had one heck of a personality, and reactions to his work were often extreme-- ranging from hatred to admiration. his works were indeed strange, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes funny, and there was this bizarre, ethereal music running throughout the gallery the whole time we were there that made the whole experience more complete. the gallery was born in 1985, by hasior himself. it is in a building that was built in 1935, in the zakopane style which is so prominent in the region.

he used all kinds of materials in his work, from mannequins to forks to scraps of metal. useless objects were transformed into strange pieces of art that were intricately tied to hasior's reality of living through the war (wwII) and being accused of patronizing the communists.


this is what is said about his work in the exhibition catalog in his gallery in zakopane:

"wladyslaw hasior's works are universal. they are very Polish, too. while they are connected with the Podhale region, its culture, beliefs, history and nature, and are concerned with the basics of work, the rhythm of life, and with regional tradition and modernity, they also convey a more general message. this message is not just something extra, appearing alongside local values. all hasior's work incorporates some universal qualities." (quoted from here)



if you are ever in poland, please do not miss zakopane, and you will be so pleased if you visit the wladyslaw hasior gallery, i promise!

{creative history} ralph steadman

ralph steadman is 71 years old and he has a myspace page. i kid you not.

i first learned about ralph steadman when i read fear and loathing in las vegas in high school. let's say i was intrigued by his artwork. i had never seen anything quite like it, which is it hink what ralph steadman wants.

he is best known as a cartoonist, and has drawn illustrations for publications such as the new york times and rolling stone, as well as a number of books-- for example alice in wonderland and animal farm, and, of course, fear and loathing in las vegas.

steadman had a long partnership with hunter s. thompson, the author of fear and loathing, and together they developed what's called 'gonzo journalism.'

now gonzo is not something i can even begin to try to describe, so if you would like to learn more about what mr. steadman has to say about it, you may click here. his thoughts are interesting and unique, as i imagined they would be.

ralph steadman has had quite the career-- he has done everything from write books about God (the big i am), to illustrating books, to designing postage stamps, to printmaking, and you can see it all on his website.

{creative history}: tim burton

sorry for the late posting today, but better late than never, because today's {creative history} is a fun one-- tim burton!

i've always been a big fan of tim burton's movies, but i've never actually learned anything about him. i am so drawn to his quirky, kind-of dark, and intensely creative films-- the curling, spiraling, hills, the pale skin and dark ratty hair look, the lonely outcast feeling of his characters..... i think he must live in a different world than the rest of us. and he is engaged to helena bonham carter, and what's not to love about her?

tim burton grew up in burbank, california, which seems SO the opposite of his films (dark, twisted, quirky vs. hollywood glitz and glamour!), but i guess living near hollywood gave him a sense early on that he would like to make films later on in life.

and, where have i been, did you know that tim burton directed pee wee's big adventure??? one of my favorite childhood movies! it all makes perfect sense now.... the morbid scenes where francis has pee wee's bike, the bizarre film sets when pee wee steals his bike back from the faux nun.... ahhhh, childhood memories. :)


anyway, back to tim burton. pee wee's big adventure was one of his first big projects, in 1985.
the next big film he made was beetlejuice, in 1989, starring winona ryder and michael keaton. (oh, how i love this movie!) and then his first big budget film was batman, in 1989, also starring michael keaton.



(interesting fact: before he started making films, after college tim burton worked for disney as an animator apprentice! his job was to draw 'the fox and the hound,' but he didn't like the artistic direction of the movie. he made several short films intended for children that were not quite what disney had in mind when they hired him, and had very limited releases, as disney did not know what to do with them. ) (cited from wikipedia)

in 1990, burton made edward scissorhands, which was one of his first well-received films. "elements of gothic horror were introduced into a contemporary suburban milieu... which suggest... that the evils of suburban living were far more terrifying than anything a mere mad scientist could cook up." (cited from senses of cinema)


in 1993 came the nightmare before christmas, which tim burton did not actually direct (he was filming batman returns at the time.) henry selick, whom burton knew from disney, directed the film. it is the first full-legth stop-motion film ever produced by disney.


more recent films include: ed wood (1994), mars attacks! (1999), big fish (2003), charlie and the chocolate factory (2005), and sweeney tood (2007), among others.


and if you would like to watch a couple of burton's earliest stop motion animations, here ya go! first is "frankenweenie," and second is "vincent."

{creative history}: yellow submarine

in my illustration craze of late, i got to thinking of the animated film "yellow submarine." i began wondering who was behind the fantastic (and often bizarre) drawings that make up the film, and thought this would be a perfect place to explore it!

it turns out the film was animated by over 200 artists (200!!), and it took 11 months. the film was directed by george dunning, and the art director was heinz edelmann.

heinz edelmann, along with milton glaser, were at the forefront of the psychedelic art style that is the basis of "yellow submarine" and dominated the visual style of the 1960s pop culture.

something i find interesting is that the beatles were not initially enthusiastic about making "yellow submarine," but they had a 3-picture deal with united artists that they needed to fulfill. once they saw the beginnings of the animation, though, they warmed up to the idea and even agreed to appear in a cameo at the end of the film.

some other artists who worked in the psychedelic style at the time were: peter max (who had nothing to do with the creation of "yellow submarine," but for which he's often given credit), victor moscoso, rick griffin, wes wilson, alton kelley, and stanley mouse. *

the psychedelic period in art was part of the anti-establishment thinking of the 1960s, and a reaction to the conservativism of the 1950s. it is a visual representation of the desire for change that dominated the thinking of the generation's youth.

(information cited from design history mashup... a great article about peter max from april 1, 2008, as well as the ever-useful wikipedia).

here is a video you can watch, and there are many more on you tube:



stay tuned for next week's installment of {creative history}!

{creative history} alphons mucha

why hello there! were you wondering where the weekly creative history lesson was today? well, fear not my friends, here it is!

the late posting is due to the fact that i had a busy day.... but better late than never, eh?

today i decided i would like to learn more about alphons mucha. i saw his work in prague a few years ago at the mucha museum and was truly blown away. the detail in his work was incredible to see in person, and everything was so perfect and stylized and beautiful in the way that only art nouveau can be. (art nouveau is characterized by highly-stylized, flowing designs often inspired organic shapes and floral/plant-inspired motifs, as well as the idea that everything could be art.)


mucha was a czech art nouveau painter and decorative artist, and what i find most interesting in my research today is that it was the identification with this particular style that he was trying to escape for much of his life. he was annoyed by his commercial success and the fact that his style was widely imitated. he believed art existed to express a spiritual message and should not adhere to a particular style, and he repeatedly said that his art came from within rather than following some popular form of the day.


mucha first presented this style of work to the public on january 1, 1895 (which was right around the time art nouveau came into fashion) with this poster, which was for a sarah bernhardt play:


and he became an overnight success. he was commissioned to design all of sarah bernhardt's poster, costumes, and sets for her plays, and portrait commissions and other projects came rolling in. he illustrated covers of american magazines, designed the bosnia-hersegovina pavilion at the 1900 world fair in paris, created postcards, posters, and advertisements, and had a generally flourishing career.


his popularity stayed strong in the public, although with the turn of the century and the coming of modernism in art, his style was no longer considered "new" by art critics and was somewhat scorned. his work was still influential, though, which led to his arrest by nazi germany in 1939, and he died shortly thereafter.


i hope you have enjoyed learning a bit about alphons mucha with me!

{creative history}: Dr. Seuss!

ok friends, readers, and art lovers, i'm excited to share with you this first post in a brand new series on this blog called "creative history." this is a series i have been wanting to create for a while, and the post i wrote about archigram last monday was finally the tipping point. i want to learn more about the creative history of our world!
each week i will feature an artist, designer, or creative movement that has either inspired me at some point in my life or is currently inspiring me. if there is an artist or movement that you would like to suggest or see featured in this column, please do drop me a line! i'd love some input.

for this week's feature i have chosen dr. seuss, one of my all-time favorite artists.


did you know that dr. seuss (whose real name is theodor geisel, by the way... seuss was his middle name and his mother's maiden name) moved from springfield, massachussetts to la jolla, california after WWII? having just visited la jolla a few weeks ago, i'm having a good time picturing dr. seuss living there! during the war he drew political cartoons for the us goverment in direct support of the war effort against communism. he even joined the army to become the commander of animation department, making propaganda films and army training films.

here are a couple of examples of his political cartoons:

i think it's interesting that the style of these cartoons was similar to that of his children's books, despite the bleak subject matter.

much of dr. seuss' inspiration was drawn from the zoo where he loved to spend time in his early teen years. he later worked on his college newspaper drawing cartoons, using the name "seuss" to his drawings because he'd been banned from extracurricular activities for having a drinking party during prohibition!


while in la jolla, dr. seuss wrote some of his most popular books, including: the cat in the hat, green eggs and ham, if i ran the zoo, if i ran the circus, and how the grinch stole christmas.

dr. seuss also wrote several books for adults, such as:

you're only old once,

the lorax (my personal favorite!), a story that is especially poignant in our current times of environmental destruction,


oh, the places you'll go! (this is the last book written and illustratoed by dr, seuss, published in 1990),


and in 1995, audrey geisel, dr. seuss' wife, published the secret art of dr. seuss, which is a book full of his unpublished work and a more presonal insight into his life and work.


i would love to see this book in person. if anyone has seen it, please do share!

i hope you've enjoyed learning a bit more about dr. seuss!
happy monday to you all. :)