TIM BURTON EXHIBITION AT MOMA
TAKING INSPIRATION FROM SOURCES IN POP CULTURE, TIM BURTON HAS REINVENTED HOLLYWOOD GENRE FILMMAKING AS A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE, INFLUENCING A GENERATION OF YOUNG ARTISTS WORKING IN FILM, VIDEO AND GRAPHICS.
America’s premier modern art gallery, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is hosting an exhibition of 700 drawings, paintings and sculptures and other paraphernalia – with pieces dating back to early childhood drawings- all by Burton. Following the current of his visual imagination right through to his latest work, the exhibition presents artwork generated during the conception and production of his films, his earliest non-professional films and student art.
In addition Burton’s entire cinematic oeuvre of 14 feature films will screen over the course of the five-month exhibition in the Museum’s Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and Sweeney Todd (2007). His early short films Vincent (1982) and Frankenweenie (1984) will also be screened.
The exhibition will be at MoMA, New York from November 22, 2009 – April 26, 2010.
Burton is an acclaimed filmmaker, attending the California Institute of the Art. He was quickly drafted in to join the Disney animation ranks. But Burton was not suited to animation; they made him a conceptual artist. His concept drawings didn’t go down well as they were far too dark and twisted for the standard Disney fare. However, he soon set tow rok on his own projects. His early films were all mildly successful, but it was 1989’s Batman that made industry insiders sit up and take note.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) was the first time Burton had full creative control over a feature film; having written the story and also produced the movie. The film was a hit with filmgoers and critics alike, and, significantly, marked the beginning of Burton being taken seriously as an artist. His darkly surreal vision had returned audiences back to their own childhood vulnerability and in the process, created a modern fairy tale.
He has continued this tradition with stop-motion films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005), none of which did anything to dispel the image of Burton as a slightly macabre figure. Having once said, “I’ve always been misrepresented. You know, I could dress in a clown costume and laugh with the happy people but they’d still say I’m a dark personality,” he is further than ever from shaking off his ghoulish image, if the title sequence of 2007’s winter blockbuster, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is anything to go by.
Burton has also dabbled in poetry. His first ever film, Vincent, was in fact was based on a poem Burton had written himself. The short film tells the sad tale of Vincent Malloy, a suburban child who wants to be just like his idol, Vincent Price. Burton’s illustrated collection of poetry The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories (1997), gave birth to a wide variety of loveably macabre characters, such as ‘Oyster Boy’, a baby born as an oyster because his parents ate one too many of the salty dish and ‘Stain Boy’ whose superpower is to leave behind a filthy stain.
These intriguing characters are sure to be an indication of what to expect from Burton’s artworks, with curators already hailing him ‘the next Warhol.’ Deserved praise? We think so.
Words Almaz Ohene
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RAIF ADELBERG – ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS
IT IS THE DAY BEFORE RAIF ADELBERG’S ANTICIPATED PHOTO SHOOT FOR THE AW09 LOOK BOOK FOR RAIF, THE CLOTHING LINE; MODELS ARE FLYING AROUND GETTING FITTED, MAKE-UP ARTISTS ARE LISTENING TO RAIF’S CONCEPT FOR HIS CLOWN INSPIRED SERIES AND HE IS LAUGHING WITH POTENTIAL COLLABORATORS, PASSING OUT CANS OF PABST BLUE RIBBON AND EXPLAINING HIS ART DIRECTION. THERE ARE NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF STRESS ON THIS HIS FACE. AND WHY SHOULD THERE BE? RAIF ADELBERG IS AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FASHION DESIGNER BORN TO A FASHION MANUFACTURER AND AN ART COLLECTOR. THIS LIFESTYLE, FULL OF COLOUR, CREATIVITY AND THE LAST-MINUTE RUSH, IS ALL HE KNOWS.
Image - Fiona Garden
Responsible for fashion lines RICHARD KIDD, Naked, RAIF, and Dead Boys Club House, his new body of work follows the pressure and anticipation you’d expect from a highly-acclaimed designer. Yet as he prepares to open ++ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++, his first photographic exhibition in London, Raif remains as calm and collected as someone you know this lifestyle comes naturally to.
Adelberg lives and breathes creativity. He claims that what he does is not work; it’s just what he does. And for this Canadian born trick-of-all-trades, the Railtown Studio in Vancouver, is where he does. Masterminding with clothes, words, paintings and photos, he is revolutionising the fashion industry. His production refines, fixes, recalls and erases bits of art and fashion history into something the artist /designer decides is a more truthful, personalised representation of popular culture.
Through art, design and photography he transforms a military jacket into a jilted lover’s revenge story called, ”REVENGE FUCK.” He illustrates an agency model with a clown face, draped in an American flag and crying black tears associated with prison time, and in “SEARCH & Destroy in DCBH,” he depicts Adolph Hitler laughing with a clown.
Every action, thought, word and image stems from his analysis on identity. He wants to characterise, through clothes, photos and paintings, what influences our identity and how we live within our own limitations; for each man, father, Jew, German, American, artist, and indeed, clothing designer. His work is giving the audience a depiction of humans and letting them interpret it as they will.
The canvas of tattoos that transform Adelberg’s body into a conceptual entity tells a story of his life and loves. Raif has used his own skin as canvas for his unbridled creativity; exhibiting his philosophy of life through illustration. Tattoos, like the high collars, ruffles and high-waist jodhpurs of Quentin Crisp and Oscar Wild, are a sign of self-worship; a defence against suffering and a celebration of life.
If all of this analysis is too heavy, the considerate artist adds levity to the depth of his emotion by fusing all the images together with pop music references, the greatest social equaliser. Examples include, “Baby I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney, and, “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison, acting as inspiration for his photographic collection, ++ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++.
The amount of work produced at the studio from day to day is mind boggling. He allows for no separation between the artist, the designer, the clothes, the artwork; everything, including conversation, is approached with a curiosity and collaboration that characterises Raif’s creative process, saying himself: “Intensity is my normal resting place.”
The need to communicate and to make sense of life spills out of everything about Raif Adelberg. You get the feeling when you are in his studio that he is still looking for the perfect medium, one that
will satisfy his need to uncover life the way it is supposed to be lived.
An interview with Raif is next to impossible; the direct approach will take you in a circle of riddles. For any satisfaction or closure, you must answer the questions yourself, using his designs as inspiration for questioning, theorising and concluding.
He is asking you to be responsible for your own feelings, thoughts and ideas about what you see around you. And of course, to use his tools to make up your mind for yourself. He’s just making pictures, designing clothes and talking to people.
Words Maeve Doyle Editor Natasha Al-Atassi Images Raif Adelberg
DOYLE DEVERE presents:
+ALL I HAVE ARE MY DREAMS++ original photographs by Raif Adelberg
30 Ledbury Road, London, W11 2AB
Tel: 07889 182757
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THE EARLEY DAYS; TALENT FROM WAY BACK WHEN
Walk through a hall of mirrors and pass by the one that turns you into a lanky stretched-out version of yourself. After pulling a few faces, doing a little dance and quite possibly making a little love and/or getting down tonight; remember that gangly reflection. That’s you. And for the short amount of time before you move on to the next mirror, that ‘you’ is almost a Lori Earley rendition of yourself. Almost. What that image lacks however, among the many other aspects of an Earley painting, is the celestial quality and the almost ridiculous amount of emotion that is poured into each one of her portraits.
DRAINED - OIL ON BOARD (2007)
So why is it only now, after years of producing unique portraits, that Earley is truly being recognized, and more importantly appreciated, by the general public? Could it have something to do with the painting of Madonna on show for this year’s Grammy’s? I don’t think so. Because if one was able (and many were, trust me) to take a look at that image and instantly know it was a Lori Earley portrait, then surely she was heard of before? Too right – you were just late for that little bandwagon.
Earley began exhibiting her work in 2004 in New York where she not only grew up, but also nurtured her talents at the School of Visual Arts: New York. Just one other reason to put on that awfully camp ‘I ♥ NY’ t-shirt you “don’t recall” buying, you say? Really, is there ever a reason? (Take it off, burn it and we’ll never speak of it again). A gifted artist from a young age, Earley managed to create a concrete distinct style by the winter years of her adolescence. Storming through all sorts of mediums including canvas, paper, oil and graphite with flying colours, Earley was soon ‘acclaimed as an exceptional new talent’- getting much notice for her instantly recognisable portraits.
Her twisted take on reality drew praise and attention from various galleries and other artists, not to mention collectors. The sad truth is though, the public as a whole are rather slow to catch on to these sorts of things so going through her gallery, you’d be forgiven for thinking her work is a tad repetitive; the same lengthy-limbed anorexics with big anime-esque eyes; yes, yes we saw it all in her other galleries in a slightly different setting. I’m not going to disagree with you there, but as we weren’t around to witness these collections develop, seeing them as a whole makes it harder for us to appreciate just how much Earley has grown as an artist.
Of her work, Earley believes her paintings are a ‘combination of classic realistic rendering with a personal element of distortion…[which] comes from [her] innate desire to transform…emotions into tangible planes’. To me, the thing about these bizarrely seductive skeletal sirens is, as with most things, the details. Do you realize none of them are smiling? Did you pick out the abundance of beautiful naked shoulders and décolletage? I did. Oh, you did too? Well yes, well done you and I then. I mean sure, we all noticed that for an artist noted for her ‘undeniable feminine force’, these angular individuals she paints are all just that. Very angular, skinny ladies who instill that ‘why do the only designer clothes I can afford come in sample sizes?’ feeling in her more shallow, newer fans. But were you aware of the subtle lighting that really makes these paintings what you know they are, but just can’t quite put your finger on. They have that glow; those understated shafts of light that reflect off those pointed shoulders. The colours that work together to form a seamless dreamscape that we can only hope to even imagine. The often sad but strong women in her works have more emotion in their eyes than this writer could ever express, no matter how many articles she writes; run-on sentences and all. These ladies are jarring and almost wrong in such a beautiful way, that they must exist somewhere; either in different worlds or times to ours. Their overly expressive eyes are rich with detail and knowing. And it’s the urge to learn what it is they know that is valuable enough to steal you away from whatever space you observe them from, straight into their hall of mirrors.
THE PARTING - OIL ON LINEN (2005)
And if having your work thought valuable enough to be stolen is a sign of just how far you’ve come, then these really are Earley’s days. Her last show ‘Fade To Gray’ was unlucky (or lucky from a publicity point of view) enough to have not one, but two paintings pilfered. While the thief was caught, the drawings are yet to be recovered. However, fans of the 2008 solo show will still be able to enjoy at least one of the drawings as a limited edition print. And to me, knowing that somewhere in our fat, dull- eyed, boring little world there’s a little bit of Ms Earley hidden away in a cheap poster tube waiting to be discovered (and by that I mean her artwork, you twisted madman)…Well that is pretty darned thrilling.
Words Niki Renganathan Images Lori Earley
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