The Museum of Modern Art in New York is honouring Director Tim Burton with a retrospective exhibit of the artwork connected to some of his most beloved films including Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The exhibition will include hundreds of never-before-seen paintings, sculptures and puppets from the artist’s own collection. Celebs including Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Danny DeVito, Tim Burton and partner Helena Bonham Carter attended the exhibition premier in New York this week (see footage). The exhibition will run from 22 November 2009 until 26 April 2010 and has been described by MONA as an exhibition of Burton’s work “as a director, producer, writer, and concept artist for live-action and animated films, along with his work as a fiction writer, photographer and illustrator.” (more…)

Whilst walking home on Friday night, I was fortunate enough to witness three guys perform a stealth operation right in front of my very eyes: one was the designated tip-tagger, and the other two were lookouts. Once the deed had been done they bolted down the street as if the armed forces were breathing bullets down their necks. I shook my head and then laughed out loud as I considered how bored and unstimulated one must feel to find the act of signing a rubbish bin so enthralling. The whole adolescent, gangster-wannabe thing seems just a tad … um … pointless. If I wanted to mark my territory I would find a more attractive way of doing it. Challenging authority through art or intellect seems to be far more useful than vandalising public property with some lame-ass signature. But dawgs will be dogs – at least urine wasn’t involved. (more…)

I love films – to escape with, to debate over, to analyse and to berate. But there is nothing that kills a great discussion like the pompous ass who self-righteously imposes his highfalutin intellectualisms onto the discussion. Differing opinions keep life interesting and when art is concerned, there will always be dissention. I agree that there is some kind of ethereal standard that separates the great movies from the good movies and the good movies from the poor ones. And subjectivity cannot be absolved from the standard – it’s the human condition. I guess my point is this: in the great conundrum of human existence, who actually cares about the so-called standard of greatness or which movies win awards or which films are intellectually and stylistically superior? Joe Queenan (guardian.co.uk journalist) says it best: (more…)

THE GENIUS OF TARSEM SINGH

Salvador Dali said “I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous”: a philosophy perfectly understood and applied by film director Tarsem Singh, whose cinematography encompasses the terrifyingly impressionable hyper-realism of surrealist art. The director’s images are intensely vivid in a subconsciously unrealistic manner. Each shot produced is a work of art – precisely crafted and coloured to reflect thought, tone and emotion within the context of the scene. Singh’s images are provocative as well as evocative. The magnificence and sheer opulence of the director’s art is most beautifully pictured in The Cell (2000) and The Fall (2006), both of which poignantly register Singh’s creative genius. (more…)

La Belle Dame Sans Merci – 1926, Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958)

Cowper’s exquisite painting is a visual representation of John Keats’ poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci or The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy. There are two versions of Keats’ ballad. The first version is from the original manuscript and the second version is the form the poem took when first published. The first version, which is generally considered the best, was altered upon publication in 1920. Keats’ ballad is inspired by an early fifteenth-century French poem by Alain Chartier of the same title: La Belle Dame Sans Merci, which belongs to the tradition of Courtly Love. Courtly Love is a noble and chivalrous expression of love and admiration. Typically, it was a secret affair between members of the nobility and was generally not practiced between husband and wife. Literature that forms part of the Courtly Love convention usually describes a man pining after a woman, who ignores his wooing until he has sufficiently proven his love and adoration for her. Only then will she succumb. The chivalrous and noble man is thus rendered a tragic figure as he faces the virtuous rejection of the woman he so loves. (more…)

Chuck Palahniuk is detested by his critics and adored by his fans. The author’s writing dictates no half measures – it’s love OR hate. And of course, there is always the third party which just doesn’t get it. Okay and a fourth party that appreciate from a distance but don’t get involved. Palahniuk is the Marilyn Manson of literature. He has been labelled a “shock writer” – similar to Manson’s “shock rocker” title. I despise the use of the term shock in this context. Both novelist and singer certainly pack a punch but the reductive properties of the term overwhelm its impact: a) The group of people that these artists appeal to are shocked by very little b) How about about looking past the ’shock’ value to consider what the point of the so-called ’shock’ tactic is – what are these artists trying to say? Attaching prefix/adjective shock to the name of an artist applies the principle of ’shock for shock’s sake’ to the artist’s creation, and this is in turn suggestive of the laziness and ignorance of the word’s user. It is a word usually coined by the we don’t get it group – the group that, as a general rule, avoids the Why? question. (more…)

So who thinks that making Alien, Skeletor or Chewbacca into a My Little Pony is a good idea? I know that all your hands are raised and your shouts of enthusiasm can be heard for miles around…but sorry to disappoint. Mari Kasurinen has already snapped up this gem of an idea. The artist has launched a new collection of My Little Pony figurines that retail at £330 each. Yes, I did say £330 per pony. The range consists of fourteen ‘characters’, which look like things out of a horror movie entitled Rosemary’s Pony or Corpse Ponies, or Don’t Tell Mom My Pony Killed The Baby-sitter or Buffy The Killer-pony Slayer or Pony Chainsaw Massacre. They will either make you run in terror or laugh hysterically. Please observe: (more…)

The soul of an artist is revealed through his Art, and the soul of an individual is revealed through his response to Art. Dominique Francon of New York and Kayhlan Amnel of the fantastical world of the Midlands (Aydindril) are characters created by different authors, existing on different planets, but are fictional representatives of the same entity – Life. Ayn Rand, in her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, explores the theory of objectivism – a theory she devoted her life to creating, developing and teaching. The influence of Rand’s revolutionary literature, particularly The Fountainhead, and the ethics of objectivist thinking are poignantly apparent in Terry Goodkind’s fantasy novel Faith of the Fallen – the sixth in the eleven-book ‘Sword of Truth series’. The parallel between the aforementioned female protagonists, is drawn through the artistic representation of the Spirit of each character. (more…)

I have a dream…that one day I will earn more than peanuts so that I’ll be able to afford a trip to Japan – to hang out with the harajuku girls in Tokyo and the Geisha in Kyoto.

The art, mystery and beauty of the Geisha culture is spellbinding and the sacrifice and discipline involved in a Geisha’s pursuit and perfection of art is awe-inspiring. It is a great pity that the ancient practices of the Geisha are undermined by the Western perception that Geisha are merely prostitutes. The most direct translation of the word Geisha, which was coined in 1688, is “artist” or “performing artist” – (gei) meaning “art” and (sha) meaning “person” or “doer”. By definition, a Geisha is art personified. Her purpose is to entertain. (more…)

St Eulalia by John William Waterhouse is the most magnificently evocative painting. I simply adore it. When I saw it at the Tate Britain for the first time it brought tears to my eyes. Eulalia, in the foreground of the painting, was a twelve year old girl who was martyred in the fourth century (AD 304) in Barcelona for refusing to worship Roman gods. Diocletian was Emperor at the time and had ordered the persecution of Christians who did not offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Eulalia endured hours of torture – her body was torn with iron hooks and her breasts were set alight, until she was finally suffocated as a result of the smoke and flames issuing from her burning body. Legend reveals that upon Eulalia’s death a white dove flew from her mouth and ascended into heaven as miraculously it began to snow. Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, who was a Roman Christian poet, wrote an account of Euralia’s martyrdom. The account is contained in Liber Peristephanon (Crowns of Martyrdom) which is a collection of 14 lyric poems on Spanish and Roman martyrs. Liber 3 is the story of St Eulalia – a story of courage and unfailing faith: (more…)