Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
TOP 25 HORROR FLICKS - 2009
Top 25 Horror Movies of 2009 The Definitive List
By now you should have probably noticed a ton of Top Lists for 2009 on site written by the staff members of our site. To give you an objective overview of what the top films of 2009 really were I have taken all of the Top Lists written by the staff and scored each film 1 through 10 given them 25 to 3 points depending on where the staff member ranked it and built one main Top Horror Films List.
Also included in this list are the votes of a few guest editorial writers and you the members of our site. Every film in our site has an approval rating based on the average of all reader reviews and that number was also incorporated into our Top list to make it as accurate as possible.
Afterall we like to think we know our stuff but you readers know the genre just as good and in many cases even better. So without further ado here is the Definitive List of the Best Horror Films of 2009. If you have not seen any of these films.. you need to. As far as our staff and the readers of our site are concerned these horror movies are the cats ass!
#25: Last House on the Left Remake: I find this one incredibly shocking but then that is what happens when you include almost 30 people in judging for your Top Films of 2009.. a remake makes it on. Quite honestly all things considered I really do not disagree with it landing at #25 on our Top 25 since it was both disturbing and dark and as much as it is a remake it was well done with a focus on building a great story and not garnering mass appeal at the box office. Last House on the Left was great for a remake and lands at #25.
#21 Dead girl: Dead girl is a film summed up easily with the word Sadistic. But its also quite engaging in its story. Dead Girl will draw you in and spit you out with its intense writing and extreme brutality. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
#14 Thirst: This one needs no intro. Directed by Park Chan Wook the genius behind the Oldboy series of movies its a vampire tale that every fan of Park's should watch!
# 9 Martyrs: Although Martyrs only made it to #9 on the score cards I think it really deserved to be alot higher. Martyrs is one of the most disturbing and captivating movies I have ever seen. I saw it based on reccomednations from those who had seen it and I was far from dissapointed. Shocking and incredibly disturbing it is wrapped in a story that pulls you in deep and then spits you out. This movie redefines the word disturbing but in the same token is a fantastically written story. I had to fast forward through parts... it bothered me that much.
# 5 Zombieland: Zombieland is easily one of the best commercial zombie movies to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. Its the North American answer to Shaun of the Dead while still very much being its own movie. The rules, the action, the romance and the laughs makes Zombieland easily one of the best films to hit the horror genre in 2009. It lands at #5 on our list.
Also included in this list are the votes of a few guest editorial writers and you the members of our site. Every film in our site has an approval rating based on the average of all reader reviews and that number was also incorporated into our Top list to make it as accurate as possible.
Afterall we like to think we know our stuff but you readers know the genre just as good and in many cases even better. So without further ado here is the Definitive List of the Best Horror Films of 2009. If you have not seen any of these films.. you need to. As far as our staff and the readers of our site are concerned these horror movies are the cats ass!
#25: Last House on the Left Remake: I find this one incredibly shocking but then that is what happens when you include almost 30 people in judging for your Top Films of 2009.. a remake makes it on. Quite honestly all things considered I really do not disagree with it landing at #25 on our Top 25 since it was both disturbing and dark and as much as it is a remake it was well done with a focus on building a great story and not garnering mass appeal at the box office. Last House on the Left was great for a remake and lands at #25.
#24 House of the Devil: At #23 on our list is House of the Devil which tells the story of an attractive college student who takes a job in a creepy old mansion as a babysitter to earn money for a deposit on an apartment. Unfortunately for her the creepy man who works at the Mansion is much more then just creepy and there are no children that need sitting... it all ends badly!
#23: Carriers: Carriers is a fantastic take on the infectious plague genre that lacked the confidence of its studio and ended up with a limited theatrical release in about a dozen theaters and even worse an irritating release onto DVD which had me hunting all over to buy it. It makes its way onto the Top 10 not from staff votes but from the guest and member votes and I agree with them. Carriers is a character film that focuss on the humanity of its characters and the story more then action as a brother and two girls try to escape and survive a plague that has turned the United states into a wasteland of suffering.
#22 Cold Prey: Cold Prey teaches the cold lessons of why you dont want to go skiing in the alps... especially not to an abandoned ski lodge currently inhabited by a psychopath. Released in theaters over seas in 2007 it released wide onto dvd here in north america Jan / 2009 which is why it made this list.
#20 Babysitter Wanted: Babysitter Wanted flew under alot of readers radar until Goon reviewed it and people went out and bought it and started talking about it on site. Babysitter Wanted teaches the important lesson of why there are much safer ways to get money then babysitting in an old isolated farm house far from the safey of the city.
#19 The Collector: The Collector got mixed reviews from readers staff of this site but still made alot of Top 10 lists for 2009. The Collector is gruesome, disturbing and reminds us all why crime doesnt pay.
#18 Surveillance: Surveillance is a film by Jennifer Lynch and its both disturbing and violent while still being very deep and through provoking. It tells the story of a town of crooked cops, two serial killing partners and a team of FBI agents out to get them. You will never guess the ending and the last 5minutes will definitely knock the wind out of you. Not for the weak of heart.
#17 The Children: Think of the Children as a modern day telling of Children of the Corn only this time its a virus making the kids go bat shit crazy. The Children is a creepy christmas tale of a family that heads to the woods to celebrate and discovers their children have more in mind then unwrapping presents. Creepy and dark the Children is a fantastic film with a dark ending.
#16 Splinter: I am a huge fan of the thing and up until now no film has touched it. I say until now because Toby Wilkins SPLINTER is genius. Its dark, is gorey, its violent and it mixed scifi, nature and horror all in a nice little bundle that is sure to make you think twice about going to the woods anytime soon. Definitely an hommage to The Thing its easily one of the best indie films to be made in the last 10 years.
#15 Doghouse: Doghouse is one of those movies that just re-enforces why as men we need to make sure we dont confuse the women for the weaker sex. Especially not when they are a bunch of flesh eating zombies looking to put all the men in the doghouse... or their bellies!
#13: End of the Line: I love zombie movies but I also love apocalyptic films with religious overtones. Seems I am not alone as the combined votes of our staff and members put End of the Line in the #14 spot on the Top 25 Horror Films of 2009. Beware religious whack jobs in uniforms sporting knives looking to bring about the end of days! Dark and gruesome End of the Line is everything a good apocalyptic hororr film should be.
#12 The Orphan: I actually had the ending of this movie ruined by a forum member who posted the ending without a spoiler alert. Regardless I still watched it and much to my surprise enjoyed it. Although it did not make my Top 10 list I can see why it made so many staff members top 10's and made it into the Top 25. The Orphan is a movie that will ensure orphanages around the world are a little fuller for awhile.
# 11 Let The Right One In: Let The Right One In is easily the best vampire film to come out of the foreign markets in many years. A love story told between two teens it is shot in a very atmospheric way and is both creepy and endearing. The movie is so good I am actually interested in seeing how the remake Matt Reeves who directed Cloverfield is working on turns out.
# 10 REC: Not much to say about REC other then its the first truly scary zombie movie to arrive on the scene in many years. I love zombie movies and watch them all but admittedly most are for entertainment value and not scares. REC is both entertaining and scary and will make you think twice about staying in an apartment complex in Spain. REC was released onto dvds this year but had an international run in theaters in 2007. Real shame that we never experienced it in theaters.
# 8 Dead Snow: Nazi's, Zombies, Chainsaws, carnage and medical students skiing in the mountains. This is what Dead Snow brings to you. Its a foreign film which brings some laughs, plenty of carnage and lots of zombies. It reminded me of a mix of Evil Dead meets Shaun of the Dead with a little bit of Night of the Living Dorks thrown in the mix. This film landed high on alot of our staffs Top 10 lists which is why it ended up at #8.
# 7 Drag me to Hell: Sam Raimis return to the genre that got him started was by most measures a success. It got mixed reviews from some horror fans but critics and the rest of the fans thought the film was genius. For me Sam Raimis Drag Me To Hell was a return to his roots. The film was filled with hommages and easter eggs from his earlier films and was a complete riot with an ending that will please just about anyone. Definitely a fun film that lands at #7 on our list. This movie teaches us to never screw with an old Gypsy... they might just git you!
# 6 Grace: Grace tells the story of a woman who brings a baby to term and delivers it knowing that the outcome will be less then healthy. Grace is a disturbing film that is sure to make all expectant parents quicker and stare at those pregnant bumps with terrified eyes. Landing high on our staffs top lists it ended up at #6 overall.
# 4 Paranormal Activity: Paranormal Activity really does not need alot said about it. Made for around $25,000 it went on to become the most profitable movie ever made. Considered by some to be over rated and by others to be one of the most terrifying theater experiences in years. Anyway you cut it a good film that lands at #4 on our staffs list.
# 3 Antichrist: Antichrist was all the buzz this year as easily one of the most messed up films of the year but also one of the most terrrifying. PoppaScotch who was one fo the judges on this list put it best when he said Lars Von Trier is either a genius film maker or an absolute madmen. Antichrist tells the story of a couple who head to the woods to fix their relationship after a tragic loss and nature takes its course exploding into a truly mad film.
# 2 Trick R Treat: I really cant argue with the #2 spot at all for 2009. Trick R Treat is one of the best horror anthologies I have seen since Creepshow. A mix of tales that tell their own story while still being interlinked its creepy, gruesome and also lots of laughs. Without a doubt Trick R Treat is a fantastic film and it seems all the staff of HM.ca agree as it lands in the #2 spot. If you buy any movie off this list make it Trick R Treat and I will be shocked if you dont love it.
# 1 Pontypool: The #1 place on our Top Films list goes to Pontypool and honestly I am somewhat surprised. I figured for sure that films with more notice like Zombieland or even Martyrs would have made it to #1 but it seems our staff have alot of love for this low budget Canadian zombie film about a DJ on the air during a disturbing and violent outbreak of a zombie like infection. Pontypool is a smart zombie movie that plays out like a stage play and focuses on the characters more then the action. Pontypool wont appeal to everyone but for this zombie fan it is one of the best written and most intelligent zombie films since Night of the Living Dead. It is also what our staff voted to be the #1 horror film of 2009.
Two Closing notes. First a thank you to all the staff who contributed their votes for Top film of 2009 and also a thank you to the 20 some odd members of our community who also took time to contribute votes to this list making it truly a Top Horror Films list by fans... and for fans. Without a doubt because of how we did this list you will be able to find a film on this list that you can truly love!
My Final closing note is a decision I made as site editor. District 9 actually landed at #3 on this list and frankly well deserving but I had to cave to the 'scifi' crowd. Alot of people have made comments to me that District 9 is scifi and not horror and although I refuse to take it off the site since its such an awesome and gruesome tale I do concede it does not belong on a Top Horror Films for 2009 list. So I made the choice to remove it but DEFINITELY make sure you buy District 9. Its a really awesome flick.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
GOREZONE MUSIC
Ossuary members and people who read my blog know that there is little I dislike more than people and critics who dismiss the genre as gross and worthless or who judge genre fans in general based on the movies they like rather than actually getting to know them for who they are. Axelle Carolyn, wife of director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) as well as burgeoning filmmaker and author of It Lives Again: Horror Movies in the New Millenium, once said in a Horrorhound magazine interview that:
“Horror fans are the most enthusiastic movie fans you can possibly find, and often they’re the ones with the widest film culture too. Filmmakers aren’t in it just for the paycheck or to make the next blockbuster; they genuinely love what they do and they care about bringing something fresh and new to their audience. And despite all the guts and blood and violence on-screen, the horror community is where you’ll find the nicest, sweetest, most peaceful people.” (Horrorhound Issue 15, emphasis mine)
Our genre is just as worthwhile, worthy of praise, and capable of being considered genuine cinematic art as any other genre. Sure, not every film in it is a Citizen Kane, a Casablanca, a Silence of the Lambs, or an Exorcist, but they still all deserve to be taken on their own merits. The genre is capable of showing grotesque horrors, gory violence, and psychotic deviants… but people forget it’s just as easy to find true beauty in it as well.
That’s where this list comes in. One of my favorite parts of watching horror movies are the conflicting ideas they can sometimes create when music of great beauty is used to underline films and events that are anything but. While there are clearly more than the five listed here in no particular order (with one stated exception), these are my favorite 5 beautiful or compelling pieces of music unexpectedly used in horror and exploitation films. I’ve purposely limited myself to one selection per composer.
1) “Resurrection” by Christopher Young (from Hellraiser)
Quite possibly the most stereotypically “horror” song on the list, I love this one because, as odd as it sounds to say, it “sounds” like a resurrection whether you actually have the visual or not. It starts very slow and calm, as if one’s staring down at Frank Cotton’s bones. Then slowly, over the course of two and half minutes, it speeds up and gets progressively louder before reaching its crescendo as Frank resurrection concludes. In addition to that, it has a mechanical quality that fits with the Hellraiser mythology created through the Lament Configuration as well as the gory mess of the visual resurrection. While it would be challenging for this song to be in a genre outside of horror, it would make sense in any movie where a villain was brought back to life or ascended to power, like a superhero movie.
2) “Opera” by Claudio Simonetti/Daemonia (from Opera)
Of the Simonetti/Goblin themes for Argento movies, “Opera” is probably the least stereotypically synthy. The addition of the female vocalist and lighter instruments fit well with the dramatic/operatic setting of the film and make the selection stand on its own outside of the genre. Quite possibly the last thing an uninitiated person would think of upon hearing it for the first time would be that it came from a film in which a black-gloved killer restrained a woman repeatedly and taped needles to her eyelids, forcing her to watch his crimes to prevent injury to herself. Later, after Simonetti formed the electronic metal band “Daemonia”, he would record new versions of his classic themes (and some from other horror films as well). I am not embarrassed in the slightest to say that hearing Daemonia’s version of “Opera” for the first time was the first time a song literally brought tears to my eyes.
Opera Simonetti version:
Opera Daemonia version:
3) “Theme from Carrie” by Pino Donaggio (from Carrie)
This is another case where the song is absolutely beautiful on its own yet it fits into the film perfectly because of what the film is. In many ways, Carrie, both the book and the movie, is about both Carrie’s telekinetic powers AND her puberty and coming of age under her mother’s oppressive thumb. While the music is perfect on its own, it’s made twice as good as when used in the movie over the opening sequence in the showers as it betrays nothing but Carrie’s innocence that is about to be broken in that shower. The song doesn’t end until Carrie’s period starts and the world as she knows it until that point crashes down around her. Thus, the song is a perfect way to start the movie, basically wrong-footing the audience from the start using the musical equivalence of purity and innocence as a set-up and segue into menstrual blood and horrific bullying.
4) “Cannibal Holocaust (Main Theme)” by Riz Ortolani (from Cannibal Holocaust)
I saved this and the next one for last because they illustrate my point possibly the most clearly of all five of these. This one’s first because it’s a more well-known example. The theme of Cannibal Holocaust is so slow, soft, and almost happy that it’s almost the diametric opposite to the horrors and shocks the movie has to offer. For the record, if you DON’T think the movie is shocking, I’d suggest you try doing what I did the very first time I saw it: watch it in 35mm, uncut, and without being able to stop or fast-forward the film. It’s… uncomfortable (though I enjoyed it). Getting back to the song, this is another instance of wrong-footing the audience. As it’s initially used, the main theme plays over idyllic overhead helicopter shots of the jungles. It fits perfectly because it’s as beautiful as the scenery we watch fly by below. In many ways, I’m pretty sure Ortolani did this on purpose so that, later in the film, the EXACT SAME SONG makes an already horrible, despicable scene twice as uncomfortable. By using identical music during the burning of the native village, the movie plays with the viewer’s mind, simultaneously showing them destruction and scoring it with a song initially associated with nature and happiness. And there is nothing that makes someone feel more uncomfortable than the combination of watching a realistic shock sequence… set to happy music. This, of course, is not to even mention the OTHER scene in which this is used in the later parts of the movie.
5) “Ménage a Trois” by Daktari Lorenz (from Nekromantik)
This, by far, is my favorite example of this phenomenon. I watched Nekromantik for the first time in 2010 and loved it. That’s not to say I don’t have problems with it. As we just mentioned Cannibal Holocaust, all I will say here is substitute “sea turtle” for “rabbit” and you’ll know if you should ever watch this movie. I get why it’s there artistically speaking, but it in no way excuses it. I completely understand the people who’ll never watch it for that very reason, much less the subject matter. However, unlike Cannibal Holocaust, I watched Nekromantik alone, in my apartment, and was able to stop the dvd if I needed to. I did so a few times more to process what I was seeing than literally not being able to take it. But the moment that immediately became one of my favorite movie scenes of all time was a sex scene scored by this. Click play on the video and close your eyes and listen a bit before reading on, if you like. It’s a beautiful, haunting little piano melody that could be used for basically ANYTHING. Jörg Buttgereit and Daktari Lorenz, because at least one of them was the GOOD kind of mad genius, decided they would use it over a scene in which two people fit a piece of steel pipe on a corpse and have sex with it and each other (hence the title “Ménage a Trois”, a French idiom for a threesome). This is the kind of piece I’d like to play for a mainstream film critic who’d never seen the film and ask their opinion of it. I’d expect to hear words like those I used to describe it above and the like. Then I’d watch their eyes shrink and their mouth drop open once they heard how it was used. And, again, much like Cannibal Holocaust, it gets used yet again later on in a far more disturbing scene.
Always remember: Horror can be beautiful. Horror can be grotesque, shocking, and disturbing. However, horror can also be both at the same time and deserves some level of respect for that. And Horror Freaks should never be embarrassed to love the genre or be who they are just because “normal people” think differently of them or don’t understand it. Quite frankly, if everyone were normal, then we’d all be the same. Just think how scary and boring that would truly be.
“Horror fans are the most enthusiastic movie fans you can possibly find, and often they’re the ones with the widest film culture too. Filmmakers aren’t in it just for the paycheck or to make the next blockbuster; they genuinely love what they do and they care about bringing something fresh and new to their audience. And despite all the guts and blood and violence on-screen, the horror community is where you’ll find the nicest, sweetest, most peaceful people.” (Horrorhound Issue 15, emphasis mine)
Our genre is just as worthwhile, worthy of praise, and capable of being considered genuine cinematic art as any other genre. Sure, not every film in it is a Citizen Kane, a Casablanca, a Silence of the Lambs, or an Exorcist, but they still all deserve to be taken on their own merits. The genre is capable of showing grotesque horrors, gory violence, and psychotic deviants… but people forget it’s just as easy to find true beauty in it as well.
That’s where this list comes in. One of my favorite parts of watching horror movies are the conflicting ideas they can sometimes create when music of great beauty is used to underline films and events that are anything but. While there are clearly more than the five listed here in no particular order (with one stated exception), these are my favorite 5 beautiful or compelling pieces of music unexpectedly used in horror and exploitation films. I’ve purposely limited myself to one selection per composer.
1) “Resurrection” by Christopher Young (from Hellraiser)
Quite possibly the most stereotypically “horror” song on the list, I love this one because, as odd as it sounds to say, it “sounds” like a resurrection whether you actually have the visual or not. It starts very slow and calm, as if one’s staring down at Frank Cotton’s bones. Then slowly, over the course of two and half minutes, it speeds up and gets progressively louder before reaching its crescendo as Frank resurrection concludes. In addition to that, it has a mechanical quality that fits with the Hellraiser mythology created through the Lament Configuration as well as the gory mess of the visual resurrection. While it would be challenging for this song to be in a genre outside of horror, it would make sense in any movie where a villain was brought back to life or ascended to power, like a superhero movie.
2) “Opera” by Claudio Simonetti/Daemonia (from Opera)
Of the Simonetti/Goblin themes for Argento movies, “Opera” is probably the least stereotypically synthy. The addition of the female vocalist and lighter instruments fit well with the dramatic/operatic setting of the film and make the selection stand on its own outside of the genre. Quite possibly the last thing an uninitiated person would think of upon hearing it for the first time would be that it came from a film in which a black-gloved killer restrained a woman repeatedly and taped needles to her eyelids, forcing her to watch his crimes to prevent injury to herself. Later, after Simonetti formed the electronic metal band “Daemonia”, he would record new versions of his classic themes (and some from other horror films as well). I am not embarrassed in the slightest to say that hearing Daemonia’s version of “Opera” for the first time was the first time a song literally brought tears to my eyes.
Opera Simonetti version:
Opera Daemonia version:
3) “Theme from Carrie” by Pino Donaggio (from Carrie)
This is another case where the song is absolutely beautiful on its own yet it fits into the film perfectly because of what the film is. In many ways, Carrie, both the book and the movie, is about both Carrie’s telekinetic powers AND her puberty and coming of age under her mother’s oppressive thumb. While the music is perfect on its own, it’s made twice as good as when used in the movie over the opening sequence in the showers as it betrays nothing but Carrie’s innocence that is about to be broken in that shower. The song doesn’t end until Carrie’s period starts and the world as she knows it until that point crashes down around her. Thus, the song is a perfect way to start the movie, basically wrong-footing the audience from the start using the musical equivalence of purity and innocence as a set-up and segue into menstrual blood and horrific bullying.
4) “Cannibal Holocaust (Main Theme)” by Riz Ortolani (from Cannibal Holocaust)
I saved this and the next one for last because they illustrate my point possibly the most clearly of all five of these. This one’s first because it’s a more well-known example. The theme of Cannibal Holocaust is so slow, soft, and almost happy that it’s almost the diametric opposite to the horrors and shocks the movie has to offer. For the record, if you DON’T think the movie is shocking, I’d suggest you try doing what I did the very first time I saw it: watch it in 35mm, uncut, and without being able to stop or fast-forward the film. It’s… uncomfortable (though I enjoyed it). Getting back to the song, this is another instance of wrong-footing the audience. As it’s initially used, the main theme plays over idyllic overhead helicopter shots of the jungles. It fits perfectly because it’s as beautiful as the scenery we watch fly by below. In many ways, I’m pretty sure Ortolani did this on purpose so that, later in the film, the EXACT SAME SONG makes an already horrible, despicable scene twice as uncomfortable. By using identical music during the burning of the native village, the movie plays with the viewer’s mind, simultaneously showing them destruction and scoring it with a song initially associated with nature and happiness. And there is nothing that makes someone feel more uncomfortable than the combination of watching a realistic shock sequence… set to happy music. This, of course, is not to even mention the OTHER scene in which this is used in the later parts of the movie.
5) “Ménage a Trois” by Daktari Lorenz (from Nekromantik)
This, by far, is my favorite example of this phenomenon. I watched Nekromantik for the first time in 2010 and loved it. That’s not to say I don’t have problems with it. As we just mentioned Cannibal Holocaust, all I will say here is substitute “sea turtle” for “rabbit” and you’ll know if you should ever watch this movie. I get why it’s there artistically speaking, but it in no way excuses it. I completely understand the people who’ll never watch it for that very reason, much less the subject matter. However, unlike Cannibal Holocaust, I watched Nekromantik alone, in my apartment, and was able to stop the dvd if I needed to. I did so a few times more to process what I was seeing than literally not being able to take it. But the moment that immediately became one of my favorite movie scenes of all time was a sex scene scored by this. Click play on the video and close your eyes and listen a bit before reading on, if you like. It’s a beautiful, haunting little piano melody that could be used for basically ANYTHING. Jörg Buttgereit and Daktari Lorenz, because at least one of them was the GOOD kind of mad genius, decided they would use it over a scene in which two people fit a piece of steel pipe on a corpse and have sex with it and each other (hence the title “Ménage a Trois”, a French idiom for a threesome). This is the kind of piece I’d like to play for a mainstream film critic who’d never seen the film and ask their opinion of it. I’d expect to hear words like those I used to describe it above and the like. Then I’d watch their eyes shrink and their mouth drop open once they heard how it was used. And, again, much like Cannibal Holocaust, it gets used yet again later on in a far more disturbing scene.
Always remember: Horror can be beautiful. Horror can be grotesque, shocking, and disturbing. However, horror can also be both at the same time and deserves some level of respect for that. And Horror Freaks should never be embarrassed to love the genre or be who they are just because “normal people” think differently of them or don’t understand it. Quite frankly, if everyone were normal, then we’d all be the same. Just think how scary and boring that would truly be.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
DOUBLE VISION
Seattle based artist EGO (featured) was asked to curate a show at the Bherd Studios Gallery in Seattle, and came up with a unique idea for the show. 8 artists were chosen, each one created a piece of art with no restraints, and then EGO drew names from a hat and each artist reinterpreted the painting they were drawn with. So for instance EGO worked from an Amy Huddelston painting while Amy worked from a John Osgood painting. It’s a killer idea and one that I hope to see more often. The work doesn’t seem to be online yet, but I was sent a couple of images to share here. The show features works by EGO, Amy Huddleston, NKO, Solace, Wayne Liostro, John Osgood, 179, and Parskid.
ROSSBACH
French artist Jean-Sebastien Rossbach is a cover artist for Marvel, and has also worked for Ubisoft, Blizzard, Wizards of the Coast, EMI Music, ImagineFX, and many more. Spectrum 17 stated his work “blends a classic painter’s sensibility with cutting edge technology” and I couldn’t agree more. He works not only in digital, but watercolor and gouache which the images featured here are made with. I have been a fan of his work for quite some time, and honestly have no idea why I am just now sharing it. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do. Hit the jump link for some more images, and make sure to check out his homepage and INPRNT page for some prints.
OF DOLLS AND MURDER
  For more info about the premiere visit the Lowell Film Collaborative. |
PETER ADAMYAN: WORX
During the reception at Peter Adamyan’s solo show at the Lopo Gallery (reviewed), I talked to him about doing an interview for the site. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but here it is. I wanted to get a better insight to this artists work, and I hope this interview does that.
Creep: You stated that you have been drawing since you were very young, did you have any formal art education? If not what was it that helped with the current set of skills you have now?
Peter: For the most part I’m self taught. My brother was my first big influence, he taught me how to make up my own cartoon characters by created a chart of different features I could mix and match. We used to watch Imagination Station with Mark Kistler on PBS which is how I first learned basics like perspective and value. When we weren’t watching that we were drawing Spiderman, Spawn and X-Men out of comics and The Simpsons off the television. In high school I took the usual art classes that everyone who’s interested in art takes to fill up their elective classes and through that I got a scholarship with the Ryman program where I first drew from a live model. But most of what I know comes from reading books and doing research on the internet and just from loads of practice particularly when it comes to painting which I’ve never been formally trained in.
Creep: One of the first things that caught my eye about your art, was the cutout pieces of wood, and layers that you build with them. Pictures don’t show this very well, but one painting could easily be 3-5 layers deep. What was it that inspired this layered style?
Peter: When I first started making art seriously I wanted to be able to work with any medium, so I started doing the cut out to be able to experiment with different mediums while still being a painter with a consistent style. Eventually the painting aspect became more important. At the same time I enjoyed cutting out the pieces and having a collage look as well as not having my work stuck inside of a rectangular composition, I wanted the paintings to take their own shape and it didn’t seem to make sense if it were just a one layer cut out.
Creep: Since your work is 3-dimensional in a way, will fans one day see your work getting even more sculptural? I can only image how amazing a full body sculpture of some of the scenes you have created would be.
Peter: The largest piece in my latest show at Lopo Gallery took about 400 hours of work and is the most complex piece to date and I’d love to do more like it and maybe even do more insulation based work in the future but every piece will be as elaborate as it needs to be and I will continue to push myself, we’ll see where it leads.
Creep: Most of the works that I have seen from you, whether or not they are on wood or paper, almost always have color in them. Nothing that could be considered a drawing or sketch. Do you carry a sketchbook, or something to capture the ideas you want to work on?
Peter: My sketch book isn’t to me what it is for other artists, it’s more of a tool to work out my composition, the ideas are mostly worked out in my head beforehand. I write down all my ideas for paintings in a separate book as I have more ideas then I have time. When time comes to work on them I usually have a pretty clear picture of what I want and use my sketch book to fit it all together in a cohesive way.
Creep: Speaking of these ideas, some of the paintings have the most unique connections in them, The Incredible Hulk with a Gap logo, not to ruin the magic, but what process do you use to come to these connections?
Peter: Like every artist I get ideas from many sources, sometimes it’s a message or belief I want to convey, sometimes it’s just a connection I thought was funny and other times it’s just something I want to do for fun like my portrait of Walt Disney. I usually have a bunch of ideas I want to put into the painting, lots of different details, as the idea develops and I work out the composition I usually have to drop a few ideas to make the piece work. In the Hulk piece you’re speaking of it originally started as an idea for a painting with Richard Simmons and The Incredible Hulk sharing the power of purple shorts, but it was eventually simplified to Green And Proud.
Creep: Your work is filled with religious, political, and pop culture references. Pop culture as you have stated before is “our Gods and our fables”, and a common theme with lowbrow artists. However, politics and religion are themes that many artists tend to stray from. What continues to drive you forward with these themes, when you could easily be painting “cute” or tame images as many have stated the scene has now headed toward?
Peter: I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I painted cute imagery. Most of today’s so called Low Brow artists are better off as decorators for nurseries and play schools. I think it’s a sad turn for the movement to go in. The cute imagery started off being cute only on the surface and as you looked closer you would see a twisted humor but now the big eyed painters and home decorators have taken over. I’ve always believed art should be more then just decoration, it should be a form of entertainment and a way of sharing ideas. At the least it should make you think or make you laugh, or both. Ideas are what make me want to make art and those ideas are inspired by my beliefs. Not all my work is political like the work from my most recent show but I used the show as a way to vent a lot of my frustrations with society.
Creep: Who are some of the artists that were instrumental in the way your work has come about, and what artists continue to inspire you today.
Peter: Like I’ve said before I started off drawing cartoons and comic books which were my first influences. I went through high school studying the masters of art history and in the end of high school I came across the work of Britt Ehringer who inspired me with his use of photo-realism and collaged compositions. Later I came across the work of Micah Sherrill who inspired my experimentation with different mediums and unusual materials. I continued to find inspiration in my love of illustrations from B-movies and pulp magazines and of course the original Low Brow artists like Robert Williams, Joe Coleman, S. Clay Wilson and R. Crumb who have taught me to not hold anything back, even if it makes me feel uncomfortable.
Creep: When I first met you it was at your Lopo Gallery show. One of the things I enjoyed was the reaction that many of the patrons had about your work. Can you tell us a bit of the way people have reacted to your work, any extreme situations?
Peter: Nothing extreme as of yet, for the most part I’ve only heard loud laughter. My first solo show at the Hyaena Gallery was inspired by serial killers and other evil men and it had a lot of people who didn’t know me well asking “is this what’s in your head” whatever that means. The only negative response I’ve received so far has been from cowardly curators who are afraid I may scare off their collectors.
Creep: Are there any pop culture references that you would not integrate into your work?
Peter: There has been a few times where I’ve told myself, “Maybe I shouldn’t do this?” such as in my Aladdin painting, but I tell myself that?s exactly why I have to go through with it. The only line I have not been willing to cross, and don’t find myself likely to cross is making fun of human suffering caused by natural disasters, but I have no problem making fun of people who cause the suffering of others and I use any pop culture reference I see fit for doing so because as I’ve said in other interviews, I try to use our popular culture as symbolism for the greater message.
Creep: Finally, can you give us an idea of what new series or imagery you are working on for future shows?
Peter: Right now I’m just working on a few pieces for group shows and working on a series of head cut outs I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I have multiple ideas for shows with long lists of painting ideas for each but I won’t give much away. I’m always working on something, I really don’t have a choice in the matter, like most artists making art is a habit that I couldn’t break if I wanted to.
Thanks to Peter for taking the time to answer these questions. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out his homepage for more work and news.
Peteradamyan.com
Peteradamyan.com
SHAWN BARBER'S DOLLHEADS
Opening tonight, July 8th, at the Fecal Face Dot Gallery in San Francisco is a new solo exhibition by Shawn Barber. Having moved to Los Angeles two years ago, this new show is a great opportunity to see Shawn continue with his “Doll Series” right here in San Francisco. This show will feature 11 new paintings, and for the reception from 7-11pm, the artist will be in attendance. Check out the preview pics below, and get to the show if you are in the area.
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