The Art of Frankenstein : Dave Lowe

Edward Hopper meets James Whale in a lovely, irresistible piece called Universal Nighthawks.

Dave Lowe is an illustrator, designer, custom prop maker and all-around creative dynamo who somehow finds time to post a daily cartoon up on Para Abnormal, his blog of “macabre mirth” where assorted critters, blobs and movie monsters mash with pop culture classics. Boba Fett meets Bozo the Clown, Smurfs eat your brains, and the Bride of Frankenstein gets Lichtensteined in a gallery of geek gags.

Dave also keeps a website, and fascinating design and art blog.

Via Buffet Complet.

Frankensteinian : Splice

A genetically engineered creature proves problematic and is soon seeking a mate. The Frankenstein template is put to work again with Splice, a new SF/horror film coming out next week. The filmmakers acknowledge their source material, naming the scientist couple Colin and Elsa.

Splice is co-written and directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, 1997) and stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. Delphine Chanéac plays Dren, the beautifully designed chimera. Guillermo Del Toro lends his name as executive producer.

Trailers and TV spots are among the offerings on the official Splice website.

The Art of Frankenstein : Lou Romano

This moonlit Frankenstein by Lou Romano was inspired by the beloved monster rally movie The Monster Squad (1987).

Romano produces wonderful retro-modern paintings, often with fantasy or horror themes. He also creates abstract science fiction art that recalls the work of Richard Powers.

Romano’s film credits read like an animator’s dream resumé. As an illustrator and designer, he has worked on such titles as The Iron Giant (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), The Incredibles (2004) and Up (2009). As a voice actor, he contributed to Cars (2006), WALL-E (2008), and he was Linguini, the human hero of Ratatouille (2007).

The set of five Monster Squad paintings are up on Romano’s superlative blog, otherwise brimming with eye-popping art.

Romano’s blog, and IMDB page.

An interview with the artist on Monzuki.

Cannes Frankenstein

“Monsters are never really monsters, they are only our mirror images, we ourselves produce them, we choose for them... and then we label them monsters. Monsters never emerge on their own, they are our own creation.”
— Director Kornél Mundruczó

Inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel, the Hungarian film Szelid Teremtes – A Frankenstein Terv (Tender Son - The Frankenstein Project) tells of a young man, abandoned and institutionalized as a child, who returns home seeking his father — the creation seeking its creator. Pure of heart, but unable to tell right from wrong, the boy becomes a hunted murderer and his once absent father now embarks with him on a tragic journey of redemption.

Originally produced as a play, the film is co-written by Yvette Bíró and director Kornél Mundruczó, who also plays The Father. The Son is played by Rudolf Frecska, his first experience as an actor.

Mundruczó recalls reading Frankenstein and finding it “heartbreaking… My first child was born around the same time and this made the book even more special for me given that it examined the relationship between the creator and his creation”. The film's plot structure is faithful to the novel's and parts of the films were shot in the Austrian Alps. “We were only 30 to 40 kilometers from the part of Switzerland where Frankenstein was written and where the novel’s story takes place.”

The film is part of the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, which wraps up this weekend. Awards will be announced on Sunday, May 23.

Interestingly, this year’s Cannes-Frankenstein connection extends to the Festival jury, which includes actress Kate Beckinsale who played opposite Shuler Hensley’s hulking Monster in Van Helsing (2004), and Victor Erice who directed the sublime The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), another unusual film inspired by Frankenstein. What’s more, the President of the jury is Tim Burton who made the short Frankenweenie (1984) — now being developed as an animated feature — and another superlative Frankenstein reworking, Edward Scissorhands (1990).

The Cannes Festival page for Tender Son, featuring two video excerpts and a press kit.

A Trailer (in Hungarian).

Paper Frankenstein

The Catalyst Theatre of Edmonton’s Frankenstein, first staged in 2006, has moved east to Toronto after extensive tours of the western provinces, garnering innumerable awards
along the way.

Written, composed and directed by Jonathan Christenson, the play is distinguished by its dreamlike fairy tale approach and darkly whimsical sets and costumes all created out of paper. It’s a delicate proposition that, in fact, requires two hours of fixes after every performance. The imaginative production design was created by Bretta Gerecke.

Led by Andrew Kushnir as Victor and George Szilagyi as The Creature, the cast of eight somehow multiplies into 40 distinct characters. The play is currently at the Bluma Appel Theater in Toronto until May 29.

Of note: The Catalyst Theatre’s repertoire includes Hunchback, inspired by the famous Victor Hugo story, and Nevermore, a musical exploration of Edgar Allan Poe.

The Catalyst Theatre’s Frankenstein pages, featuring bios, an extensive photo gallery and a video excerpt.

More photos of the striking paper sets and costumes on the Globe and Mail site.

The Art of Frankenstein : Mia

The paintings are like my journals in which I share my findings
and discoveries with the rest of the world.
— Mia (interview in Juxtapoz magazine)

Los Angeles-based artist Mia paints stunning portraits layered with details that suggest secret meanings and fleeting clues, their context achieved through free association. They are like ambiguous puzzles that aren’t mean to fit together, but rather draw us in, to raise questions and incite our curiosity.

Mia’s re-interprets the Bride of Frankenstein as a melancholic, haloed icon.

Her once plain shroud is now delicately embroidered and the hand bandages could be silk. She holds a skull intertwined with dark flowers and budding stems, symbolizing death and rebirth.

The Bride's sweeping hair is ornamented with pearls, tassels and vegetation, topped by a cemetery crown against a skyfull of wheeling constellations. The background shows an alchemist’s candlelit, moss-invaded laboratory.

There’s more beautiful art on Mia’s website (click the gallery images to see them extra large) and blog. Both sites carry links to interviews with the artist.

From the Frankensteinia Archives: Frank Frazetta, 1928-2010

A giant has passed away. Frank Frazetta died today, May 10, 2010.

I don't think I can improve on this post I made about two and half years ago. Please accept this as my tribute to the great Frank Frazetta...

A brutal, battling Frankenstein’s Monster straddles a tumbling tombstone on a cemetery knoll, rats and bats in attendance, and torch bearing villagers converging under a bloody orange sky.

When he delivered this dramatic, atmospheric oil painting for the cover of Creepy no. 10 (August, 1966), Frank Frazetta was at his creative peak. Over the next incredibly prolific seven years, Frazetta would produce most of the cover images that would cement his reputation as an artist’s artist. His paperback covers for Lancer Books’ Conan reprints not only fixed the image of the muscle-bound barbarian in the public consciousness, they fueled sales for the series in the millions of copies.

Publisher Jim Warren, an unabashed fan of Frazetta’s work, offered him total creative freedom. “Just do it,” Warren said. “Just bring it in!”. Frazetta would produce stunning covers for Warren’s horror comic magazines Eerie and Creepy, and sensuous masterpieces for Vampirella. Free to experiment, the artist explored unusual compositions and startling color combinations.

The outstanding Frankenstein cover for Creepy number 10 is three-dimensional, its main elements popping off the page, the graveyard in deep focus receding to a far horizon. The dynamic characters, anchored by heavily textured soil, are framed and focused by the dead tree and its clawing branches. If you are familiar with the work of Jeff Jones and Bernie Wrightson, you can actually see elements in this painting that influenced and informed their styles.

Though Frank Frazetta’s distinctive brushstroke signature would become instantly recognizable to fans, it is nowhere to be seen on this cover. The artist playfully engraved his name on the overturned tombstone.

Frank Frazetta Wikipedia page, and an “unofficial” Frazetta gallery site.

There are four Frazetta books edited by Arnie and Cathy Fenner of Spectrum fame: Legacy: Selected Paintings and Drawings by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta; Frank Frazetta: Icon; Testament: The Life and Art of Frank Frazetta, and the newly published Spectrum Presents Frank Frazetta: Rough Work.

On DVD: Fire and Ice, Ralph Bakshi’s sword and sorcery epic designed by Frazetta is available in a two-disc limited edition that includes Painting With Fire, a documentary directed by Lance Laspina. Frazetta - Painting With Fire is also available as a standalone DVD.

Frankensteinia featured on i09

I am delighted to report that this blog, and specifically the art I post here, is featured this week on i09, the science fiction website run by Gawker Media.

Under the title The Haunting Gothic Loveliness of Frankenstein Art, managing editor Charlie Jane Anders writes, “We've been blown away by the breadth and depth of the Frankenstein art on the site”. A fine section of 18 images first featured on Frankensteinia accompany the short article.

Welcome to all the new visitors referred here. You can quickly access a lot of art using the Art and Illustration label, but be aware that the whole blog is visually oriented and art, covers, posters, animation and advertising illustrations are scattered throughout.

Enjoy your visit and do come again!

Related:
The Bride Unwrapped, another post previously referenced on i09.

Jack Pierce, 1889-1968

Today, May 5^th, marks Jack Pierce’s 121^st birthday.

Bela Lugosi’s Ygor, Boris Karloff’s Monster and director Rowland V. Lee gang up on the legendary makeup man in a delightful, atmospheric gag shot from late 1938, on the set of Son of Frankenstein (1939).

The photo, erroneously dated “1940”, comes from Jack Pierce's personal scrapbook.

Related:
The Make-Up Man: Jack Pierce
Posts about Jack Pierce

The Bride Rethought

A new short story called The Bride of Frankenstein, by Mike Resnick, is up for a Hugo, the prestigious rocket-shaped award for science fiction and fantasy. Published in the December 2009 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction, it’s a humorous reflection on the tribulations of being Mrs. Frankenstein, stuck in a drafty old castle with a self-absorbed mad scientist husband, his stinky, hunchbacked assistant and a dopey, oversized Monster.

Author Resnick is no stranger to honors, his short fiction holding some sort of worldwide record for nominations and wins, including an astonishing 34 Hugo nods. That's at least one nomination every year, with only 2 exceptions, since 1989, and winning five times.

Resnick’s Frankenstein tale is online for everyone to read, courtesy of Asimov’s. Voting is reserved for supporters and attendees of the World Science Fiction Convention. Winners will be announced on September 5 at the Worldcon, held this year in Melbourne, Australia.

Worth noting: This is the second year in a row that a Frankenstein-related story is nominated for a Hugo. John Kessel’s excellent Pride and Prometheus, a Nebula winner, made the Hugo ballot in 2009.

Read The Bride of Frankenstein, by Mike Resnick.

Mike Resnick’s Wiki Page

Aussiecon4 web page, with Hugo Awards information

Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine

Related:
Frankenstein Meets Jane Austen
Pride and Prometheus wins Nebula Award