My Iconic Monsters Series

thought i'd post some pics of some old artwork. i did these many moons ago, when i lived in texas. the idea of iconic characters in twentieth century film has been something i've had an interest in for quite a while. bela, of course, was the first, and the greatest. these are all pastels on paper, and are, appropriately, movie poster size (30"x40".) If you click on the images, you can see a larger version of them.

there was only one possible successor to bela, and that would be boris karloff. although i really wanted to include the mummy in this collection as well, i ultimately decided against it, and chose boris as frankenstein instead.

can't have a frankenstein without including his beautiful bride. elsa lanchester defined this role, this image, and this hairstyle for generations to come.

vincent price is the only figure in the collection who doesn't seem to have a definitive role, but that's only because of costuming issues. anyone who watched monster movies in the sixties and seventies knows that vincent price was the ne plus ultra mad scientist.

and of course, the wolfman. perhaps it's a personal preference, or just prejudice, but i chose lon chaney, junior over any other wolfman, hands down.

and the series finishes with lon chaney, senior. he was the man of a thousand faces, but the one we know the best, of couse, is the phantom.

these next two pieces are from an aborted series i started and then abandoned. in what was intended as a criticism of the twentieth century tendency to worship celebrities, especially the dead ones, my idea was to portray iconic film and music figures as gods. i chose a palette of earth tones and metallics to convey an idolistic quality. the two i finished are marilyn monroe as kali and james dean as christ. the ones planned but never completed where jim morrison (bacchus), john belushi (buddha) john lennon (african tribal mask) and jimi hendrix (i hadn't yet chosen.) in truth, i was never entirely satisfied with my results on the following two pieces, which is why i eventually abandoned the project. but i sometimes mull over in my mind the idea of starting the whole thing from scratch.