Description: For this piece, I created an old school medical chart, simplifying the dreaded "Brain Cloud," Joe Banks's condition in Joe Versus the Volcano. I first drew it with just the cloud, but it was missing something. Then I realized what it needed was the iconic lightning bolt shape that continuously appears in the film. I decided to use this recurring "crooked path" symbol as the glue that ties together the three pieces in the collection, just as it ties together the various themes in the film.
Description: As I tied my Joe Versus the Volcano collection together with the iconic "crooked path" lightning bolt symbol that occurs throughout the film, I thought one of the pieces should be just the symbol itself. But I needed a color scheme that was thoroughly Joe-centric. Upon one of countless viewings of the film, the orange Jump Soda cans the Waponi drank (and wore) *jumped* out at me and then I had the answer.
Description: The third of three pieces in my Joe Versus the Volcano collection is my personal favorite. I love to use silhouettes in my art (can you tell?) and I was happy that my drawing of Tom Hanks came out fairly recognizable in silhouette profile. The scene is a depiction of Joe serenading the unconscious Patricia while stranded in the ocean on his "tight-as-a-drum" luggage, which is one of my most beloved moments in the film.
Description: Who isn't spooked by The Shining? When the audience first sees the creepy Grady twins standing at the end of that long hallway in front of Danny on his tricycle, it's one of the weirdest and greatest moments in cinema. One of my signature art styles is to superimpose two images over each other, which I did here with the iconic carpet pattern in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel ... but this is perhaps the piece in which superimposition makes the most sense, considering the two main subjects are dead. And by dead, I mean ghosts. You know, because ghosts are known to be somewhat transparent. Boo!
Description: Who isn't spooked by The Shining? When the audience first sees the creepy Grady twins standing at the end of that long hallway in front of Danny on his tricycle, it's one of the weirdest and greatest moments in cinema. One of my signature art styles is to superimpose two images over each other, which I did here with the iconic carpet pattern in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel ... but this is perhaps the piece in which superimposition makes the most sense, considering the two main subjects are dead. And by dead, I mean ghosts. You know, because ghosts are known to be somewhat transparent. Boo!
Description: Who isn't spooked by The Shining? When the audience first sees the creepy Grady twins standing at the end of that long hallway in front of Danny on his tricycle, it's one of the weirdest and greatest moments in cinema. One of my signature art styles is to superimpose two images over each other, which I did here with the iconic carpet pattern in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel over the silhouette of our young hero, Danny Torrance.
Description: I love simplicity in many things, including art. This piece is inspired by not only the film Halloween, but also John Carpenter's brilliant soundtrack: simple but direct. I love the overwhelming feelings, emotions, and number of thoughts that can be conjured up by presenting a single simple image, like a knife superimposed over a mask ... a mask of William Shatner, at that (although if you're a Halloween fan, you probably already knew that). To get back to the soundtrack, true fans will know the title of this piece is borrowed from one of the many cool track names.
Description: If you're here checking out this design, chances are good you understand; I don't need to explain to you the glory of True Romance. So many giants of cinema are in this film. Most are one- or two-scene performances, but many would say they make the movie. The best of them - Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, and James Gandolfini - blew me away to the point that I felt they deserved the full 4-tone shaded Plaid treatment, despite the minuscule screen time. Also available as a Ltd. Ed. fine art print @ www.PlaidDesign.co/TrueRomance, each of the elements of this design are their own separate art pieces, so putting it all together was a task that took weeks to complete. Hope you dig it!
Description: True Romance is a film chock full of excellent individual scenes featuring legendary actors in small roles, and many (myself included) have praised these roles and scenes as "making" the film. But at the heart of this ultra-violent and bitingly funny and smart film is a love story. It would be easy for all of the powerful scenes and huge cameos to overshadow the leads, Alabama and Clarence Worley, but Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater don't let that happen; they have no problem carrying the main story, and somehow make several ridiculous premises believable. The genuine sweetness and love between them is ultimately the most satisfying element of the film, and the real reason we keep coming back to watch.
You're So Cool (Classic Variant) (Patricia Arquette & Christian Slater in True Romance) T-Shirt
$16 $24
Description: True Romance is a film chock full of excellent individual scenes featuring legendary actors in small roles, and many (myself included) have praised these roles and scenes as "making" the film. But at the heart of this ultra-violent and bitingly funny and smart film is a love story. It would be easy for all of the powerful scenes and huge cameos to overshadow the leads, Alabama and Clarence Worley, but Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater don't let that happen; they have no problem carrying the main story, and somehow make several ridiculous premises believable. The genuine sweetness and love between them is ultimately the most satisfying element of the film, and the real reason we keep coming back to watch.
You're So Cool (Patricia Arquette & Christian Slater in True Romance) T-Shirt
$16 $24
Description: Gary Oldman is an Oscar winner and one of the most respected and revered actors ever. But to me, his best work is still playing the disgusting pimp Drexl Spivey in True Romance. Drexl is a central character to the story, though Oldman is essentially only in one scene ... a legendary scene so good it would have stolen the whole movie if not for the Walken/Hopper scene.
Description: Gary Oldman is an Oscar winner and one of the most respected and revered actors ever. But to me, his best work is still playing the disgusting pimp Drexl Spivey in True Romance. Drexl is a central character to the story, though Oldman is essentially only in one scene ... a legendary scene so good it would have stolen the whole movie if not for the Walken/Hopper scene.
Description: If you love True Romance as much as I do, it's almost a guarantee that Christopher Walken's performance as mobster big boss Don Vincenzo is a big part of the reason why. Walken has made a career of playing small roles that steal movies, and this is no exception; in fact, it could be the best of the bunch. But you already know that, so honor the man by putting him on your wall!
Description: If you love True Romance as much as I do, it's almost a guarantee that Christopher Walken's performance as mobster big boss Don Vincenzo is a big part of the reason why. Walken has made a career of playing small roles that steal movies, and this is no exception; in fact, it could be the best of the bunch. But you already know that, so honor the man by wearing him!
Description: Everyone knows James Gandolfini from his stellar work on The Sopranos, but long before he ever had a starring role, he often played brutish goons. His main scene in True Romance is a doozy, to say the least, and without a doubt helped get him some of those bigger roles, because he was so authentically creepy in one of the most brutally violent scenes in cinema. It's a tiny role in the film, but made such a huge impact that he deserves his own piece.
Description: Everyone knows James Gandolfini from his stellar work on The Sopranos, but long before he ever had a starring role, he often played brutish goons. His main scene in True Romance is a doozy, to say the least, and without a doubt helped get him some of those bigger roles, because he was so authentically creepy in one of the most brutally violent scenes in cinema. It's a tiny role in the film, but made such a huge impact that he deserves his own piece.
Description: Dennis Hopper as Clifford Worley is in arguably the best scene in True Romance, a movie with countless stellar scenes. But he's not just in the scene - he's a huge part of the reason it's the best scene. It's not easy to play off of Christopher Walken as a major mob boss, but Hopper more than holds his own, unsurprisingly. As I often do, I paused the film and took my own makeshift stills to work from. I carefully chose a pose in which Clifford is smiling, as he gets the last laugh by insulting Don Vincenzo to his core, something he knows no one gets away with alive. It's a scene that's intense, chilling, and laugh-out-loud funny all at the same time - a difficult feat to pull off.
