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.
Description: "Stevie" was only the second piece I did when I started this particular pop art adventure in early 2015. It's got many of my staples, but one of my techniques that I don't use quite as much as I would like is the thick-lined color gradients you see here. On this one, I went with a circle that evolves into elliptical waves emanating from Stevie Wonder's amazing mind. For my color gradient technique, inward to outward I use dark to light gradients on the main image and light to dark on the background palette. The result is a surreal, psychedelic effect I have not seen used in art before, which is one of the reasons I am proud of this piece and the technique.
Description: "Stevie" was only the second piece I did when I started this particular pop art adventure in early 2015. It's got many of my staples, but one of my techniques that I don't use quite as much as I would like is the thick-lined color gradients you see here. On this one, I went with a circle that evolves into elliptical waves emanating from Stevie Wonder's amazing mind. For my color gradient technique, inward to outward I use dark to light gradients on the main image and light to dark on the background palette. The result is a surreal, psychedelic effect I have not seen used in art before, which is one of the reasons I am proud of this piece and the technique.
Description: My film poster for The Third Man is my tribute to one of the greatest films of all time, and my very favorite film noir. From the eerie, unique zither music soundtrack to the striking cinematography to the beautiful Vienna, Austria setting to the brilliant writing and directing to the exceptional acting, The Third Man is, quite simply, a perfect film. And Orson Welles was a big part of this perfection.
Description: My film poster for The Third Man is my tribute to one of the greatest films of all time, and my very favorite film noir. From the eerie, unique zither music soundtrack to the striking cinematography to the beautiful Vienna, Austria setting to the brilliant writing and directing to the exceptional acting, The Third Man is, quite simply, a perfect film. And Orson Welles was a big part of this perfection.
Description: Version 2 of my artwork for The Third Man featuring the inimitable Orson Welles recalls the grand sewer chase at the crescendo of the film, particularly one very famous and beautiful shot where Harry Lime freezes while running, and his silhouette is backlit by the sewer entrance, which I stylized to be a perfect circle in greyscale gradient banding, true to my Mod Pop Art style.
Description: Version 3 of my artwork for The Third Man featuring the inimitable Orson Welles recalls one of the greatest and coolest screen entrances of all time, as Harry Lime attempts to hide in the dark from Holly Martins, but the apartment light illuminates just his face along with a very Welles-ian coy grin, revealing the shocking truth that he is in fact very much alive. As Welles himself said, the role of Harry Lime was a "star part" - meaning one in which the character is spoken of often until finally making an entrance - and he played it to perfection.
Description: Ah, Casablanca. Due to Ilsa & Rick's obvious deeply important connection to France, I laid out this piece to be an abstract depiction of the French flag - blue, white, red, left to right. For the background, I used something that appears on the surface to be merely decorative but is actually an extremely important element of the story; true Casablanca aficionados will notice the background was based on the ornate design on the piano Sam plays in Rick's Café Américain. The result is one of my favorite works to date.
Description: The Twilight Zone is my favorite show of all time, despite it having concluded long before I was born. Rod Serling is a hero of mine - a perfect wordsmith and creator of truly fascinating studies of the human psyche, tales that due to stellar writing, directing, and acting, feel almost more real than most TV today, despite the outlandish sci-fi scenarios. For this, I chose 4 of my favorite episodes that could be instantly recognizable with floating heads, and I used color symbolically. For the background color gradients, I created a subtle "Z" shape as a nod to the show. I also developed a new shape-drawing technique to create the faces piece by piece. It is a very tedious process, but rewarding, as it is an original look!
Description: Ah, poor Henry Bemis. The episode "Time Enough at Last" is a classic example of ironic tragedy, played perfectly by the great Burgess Meredith in a rare virtually solo performance. I used blue for Henry's color for fairly obvious reasons: he may just be the saddest character in Twilight Zone history.
Description: If for some terrible reason I had to narrow the genius of The Twilight Zone down to just one episode, "To Serve Man" may just be the one. If I could bottle the feeling I got when I saw the end reveal of this episode for the first time, I'd sell it and make billions. It's the twist of all twists. I'm not even going to spoil it, just in case there's some off chance you haven't seen it. And if you haven't, go watch it and come back to honor this Kanamit by wearing him (or buy now, then watch)!
Description: This is one of those pieces in which the artwork itself is a spoiler. Sorry about that, but I had to make this creepy pig-faced nurse for the cool kids who already know. The symbolic color here is green for envy, also associated with greed. "Eye of the Beholder" is a classic example of how people (or even non-people, apparently) in communities always try to fit in, try to be like each other, and feel the need to fall in line mindlessly, sometimes going to extremes to do so. Rod Serling holds up a big mirror to our society to reveal our very own sheep-like nature in another brilliant Twilight Zone episode that is utterly timeless.
Description: I used the color red on this one to symbolize anger, aggression, and danger, which our unfriendly neighborhood 3-eyed Venusian here most certainly represents. Based on another one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, this piece is essentially another spoiler (sorry), but I will assume my fellow fans of "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" won't mind.
Description: Picking a favorite Billy Wilder film is kind of like trying to narrow down my favorite Beatles record - too many masterpieces to choose from; besides, it kind of depends on the mood. But if I had to choose, it would be The Apartment. In my opinion, it's a near-perfect film. In my poster, I wanted to capture my favorite moment, the ending. C.C. professes his absolute love and adoration to Miss Kubelik, and her response is, simply, "Shut up and deal." It's a romantic comedy in which the two stars never even kiss each other. And yet, at the end we all know they are going to be together. This kind of subtlety shows a respect for the intelligence of the audience that is rare, and one of many reasons it's one of the best ever, film-wise.
Description: Picking a favorite Billy Wilder film is kind of like trying to narrow down my favorite Beatles record - too many masterpieces to choose from; besides, it kind of depends on the mood. But if I had to choose, it would be The Apartment. In my opinion, it's a near-perfect film. In my poster, I wanted to capture my favorite moment, the ending. C.C. professes his absolute love and adoration to Miss Kubelik, and her response is, simply, "Shut up and deal." It's a romantic comedy in which the two stars never even kiss each other. And yet, at the end we all know they are going to be together. This kind of subtlety shows a respect for the intelligence of the audience that is rare, and one of many reasons it's one of the best ever, film-wise.
Description: "Mariposa" is Spanish for "butterfly," which is apt for Maria Montessori for many reasons. The butterfly silhouettes in the background grow exponentially and infinitely, which is my symbolic gesture representing how her heartfelt teachings and practices help children grow into their full beautiful potential. As the butterfly silhouettes grow larger, they begin to resemble angel wings, fitting because Maria Montessori is a saintly and angelic figure in many people's minds and hearts. The quote on the shirt says, "The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind." How true this is, especially now, as hope for the success of our future generations is at an all-time high.
Description: "They're coming to get you Barbara ..." in the beginning of the film Night of the Living Dead, this phrase is said mockingly, and yet, it still comes off creepy as hell. It wasn't technically the first film to feature zombies, but it was the first centered around a world where the dead rise to literally eat the living. With one small, low-budget black and white movie, George Romero created an entire genre that would be adored by zillions forever. Why are so many people fascinated by zombies? There are many reasons, but the thought of people who were once good, sentient humans with thoughts and dreams and families, turned into mindless beasts whose one primal goal is to eat living people is pretty scary. Not to mention cool as hell.
Description: "They're coming to get you Barbara ..." in the beginning of the film Night of the Living Dead, this phrase is said mockingly, and yet, it still comes off creepy as hell. It wasn't technically the first film to feature zombies, but it was the first centered around a world where the dead rise to literally eat the living. With one small, low-budget black and white movie, George Romero created an entire genre that would be adored by zillions forever. Why are so many people fascinated by zombies? There are many reasons, but the thought of people who were once good, sentient humans with thoughts and dreams and families, turned into mindless beasts whose one primal goal is to eat living people is pretty scary. Not to mention cool as hell.
Description: "They're coming to get you Barbara ..." in the beginning of the film Night of the Living Dead, this phrase is said mockingly, and yet, it still comes off creepy as hell. It wasn't technically the first film to feature zombies, but it was the first centered around a world where the dead rise to literally eat the living. With one small, low-budget black and white movie, George Romero created an entire genre that would be adored by zillions forever. Why are so many people fascinated by zombies? There are many reasons, but the thought of people who were once good, sentient humans with thoughts and dreams and families, turned into mindless beasts whose one primal goal is to eat living people is pretty scary. Not to mention cool as hell.
They're Coming to Get You, Barbara (Monochrome) (Night of the Living Dead) T-Shirt
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