Put on your best cape and let’s fly to the Norman Rockwell Museum! Today’s post is by one of our store managers and resident comic book nerd, Jake.
I was online last Friday morning when I read that a friend was going to see an Alex Ross exhibit at the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge, MA. I was flabbergasted! How in all of geekdom did I not know about a show of one of my all-time favorite comic book artists that was going on just a couple of hours away?! Even more catastrophic, it was ending in 2 days! This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see some very famous (for comic book fans, anyway) original pieces of his painted superheroes. I managed to take the afternoon off from work (hey, we got a blog post out of it), grabbed my wife along with her niece & nephew, and made like the Flash to western MA .
It was amazing! I was familiar with nearly every artwork in the exhibit – they were all on my bookshelf at home. While some pieces were high quality reproductions from Ross’s own collection, many were the actual paintings. Seeing Aquaman or the Green Lantern in the scale that they’d been rendered, with all the little details that you don’t see in the published versions, was something I didn’t think I’d ever get to do. 
Ross became known in comic books when the medium was on a real downturn – there was a glut of junky art and mediocre stories in the early 90s. He brought a fresh look and gave iconic characters back their prestige. His classical approach to depicting super heroes with incredible realism hadn’t really been seen like this before. Typically, publishers use 3 aritsts – a penciller, an inker, and a colorist. But Ross told stories thru painting all of his own work. Not many artists can please fans like he did and make the leap into the mainstream where his work became known outside of just avid collectors.
If it seems strange that the Norman Rockwell Museum would be hosting a show of comic book art, it’s because Rockwell’s work has always informed Alex Ross’s paintings – he’s never made a secret of that. After noticing the close resemblance between some of the pieces, more cynical people might say that he’s ripping off the great American artist. Personally, I love that there’s such a strong tie between the two. It makes sense to me because comic books and Rockwell’s images are so very American. And I enjoy the idea that Rockwell’s sensibilities help elevate these characters that many think of as being cartoonish or goofy. But with Ross’s help, visitor’s to the show left with the same impression of these heroes that those of us who visit our local comic shop live with everyday.
Here’s a great comparison of the two artists, along with Ross’s own words about how Rockwell’s illustration for the United Nations inspired him.
“What impacted me so strongly here was the flatness of the composition in imagining all these people swapped out for superheroes, which I did, there’s something very powerful to that. Something too that I engaged with from how this particular pencil piece worked, is that the foreground figures of the United Nations members are lit by some kind of overhead light which separates them from the background figures. He also had a way of illuminating subjects where it felt very realistic in a way that would help me get across the idea of wanting to render these fantastic characters realistically. I wanted you to believe them. I wanted you to look at them and believe that they could be real, but also legitimate too. That the idea of being real people was not devoid of the fantasy that they were also embracing – that the two things seemed utterly understandable and realistic.”
This isn’t our first post about Alex Ross’s comic book art. Take a look at the time we got to frame one of his original drawings!
We hurried to post today’s discovery because it’s of some truly unique and beautiful work. Beijing artist Li Hongbo makes sculptures our of thousands of layers of soft, white paper. There’s a history in China of traditional decorations called “paper gourds” made from glued layers of paper that lay flat, but can be opened into a shape. Hongbo, whose background includes designing books, began to apply the paper gourd idea to the human form, resulting in these highly flexible sculptures.
He recently showed his work at the Dominik Mersch Gallery in Australia. Fortunately, the gallery thought to create the videos below, because otherwise the effect of the sculptures are lost in still photos.
Would you frame a picture with no glass? How about displaying a photograph without glass, or your child’s drawing? Of course you’d put glass over all of this art. These aren’t the kind of items that you’d want to dust or otherwise clean. And if it’s conservation glass, they’ll be protected from fading. So why shouldn’t you put glass over a painting?
You absolutely should! The mayor of Boston found this out on a recent episode of Antiques Roadshow – you can see the video here. When the TV show came to Boston, Mayor Menino presented them with a winter painting by native son Aldro Hibbard. It was a winter scene in Vermont done in 1948.
The appraiser was Colleene Fesko. When valuing the piece she said, “Beautiful painting, framed under glass. That has kept the painting in very good condition and is quite clean, doesn’t need any restoration. And a beautiful, hand-carved frame. For insurance, I would think that we would value the piece at between $45,000 and $50,000.” The Boston Globe followed up with an article that pointed out, “Because it had been framed behind glass, Fesko said, it had maintained excellent quality.”
Not all the paintings we take in are worth that much monetarily, but our customers still want their art to last and not get dirty or damaged. Here’s the world’s simplest solution! Put glass over your paintings like you would anything else for the very same reasons and you’ll get the best value out of your framing.
We recommend museum glass because it’s 99% reflection free and provides greater clarity of color. The diminished glare means that you’ll be able to see each brush stroke and really appreciate your art. There are also have several ways to frame a painting that keep the glass from touching it, so that it’s safe, such as a stacked frame or linen liner.
Is this a photograph of A) the villain’s secret volcano hide-out in the latest James Bond movie, B) a new ride at Disney World, or C) the entrance to Robin William’s family restaurant, “Fiddlesticks”?
Sorry, it’s none of the above, although it’s almost as strange. This is the Rådhuset subway station in Stockholm. It’s one of 90 decorated stations in a metro system that’s sometimes called “the world’s longest art exhibition.” There are contributions from over 150 artists in the subways that are a combined 68 miles long. Each station is quite unique, ranging from a child’s rainbow dreamland, to gardens fit for a king.
If we were to describe the prints, paintings, sculptures, or photographs by Valerie Hammond, you might dismiss it as the kind of imagery that you’ve seen before in half a dozen galleries. The feminine sensitivity in her repeated depiction of hands combined with botanical elements to describe our relationship with the world of nature might get abused as nostalgia in the wrong hands. Hammond’s crafty handling of multiple mediums instead turns the subjects into mysterious relics that grabbed our attention after the first glance. Her website (which is really well designed, btw) shows how her exploring of the same imagery from different angles has yielded a range of subtle differences that make each work intriguing. She recently showed in our own backyard at the Walker Contemporary Gallery in Boston and we certainly wish we’d gotten to check these out in person. In her own words, Hammond tells about what inspires her –
Growing up in a small agricultural community in California, my exposure to cultural institutions was limited, at best. I have always been drawn to places and objects that are full of mystery. Some of my most significant visual influences were images I saw in church. While the religious aspect of my church experience was less pressing, the visual cues at church were what kept my attention. I am fascinated by shrines and ex-votos-devotional votive objects that families make to show love and respect. These objects inspire the type of physical intimacy that holds my artistic practice. Asian art is also a strong influence on my work. From Tibetan medical drawings to Buddhist sculptures, I find myself looking to ancient forms for inspiration. Gesture often plays a most prominent role for these artists, as it does for me, whether it plays out in a small aspect of the image or is its essence, as with the images of hands.
To look at Mark Landis, you’d never guess that for the better part of thirty years the 57-year-old Mississippi native managed to dupe nearly fifty art institutions in over twenty states into accepting works of art that he had forged. Watch this two-part video from The Avant/Garde Diaries in which Landis refers to himself only as a “philanthropist” – in fact, he didn’t make one penny off of this habitual practice. He always donated the works, explaining that the paintings came from the collection of his deceased mother. To insure that his story would be convincing, Landis took on the guise of a Jesuit priest whenever approaching a museum with his paintings.
Put on your best cape and let’s fly to the Norman Rockwell Museum! Today’s post is by one of our store managers and resident comic book nerd, Jake.
It was amazing! I was familiar with nearly every artwork in the exhibit – they were all on my bookshelf at home. While some pieces were high quality reproductions from Ross’s own collection, many were the actual paintings. Seeing Aquaman or the Green Lantern in the scale that they’d been rendered, with all the little details that you don’t see in the published versions, was something I didn’t think I’d ever get to do. 
“What impacted me so strongly here was the flatness of the composition in imagining all these people swapped out for superheroes, which I did, there’s something very powerful to that. Something too that I engaged with from how this particular pencil piece worked, is that the foreground figures of the United Nations members are lit by some kind of overhead light which separates them from the background figures. He also had a way of illuminating subjects where it felt very realistic in a way that would help me get across the idea of wanting to render these fantastic characters realistically. I wanted you to believe them. I wanted you to look at them and believe that they could be real, but also legitimate too. That the idea of being real people was not devoid of the fantasy that they were also embracing – that the two things seemed utterly understandable and realistic.”
This isn’t our first post about Alex Ross’s comic book art. Take a look at the time we got to frame one of his original drawings!
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