Art Post # 3: And then....there were Trolls!!!

If you've seen my other art posts you already know I love to "recreate" art from children's books. Some might say I am just "copying" the artwork (because that's basically what I am doing). Some might find it really a worthless endeavor.

From my prospective they are acts of love and reverence for my childhood memories.

In my humanities class I have a day where we discuss the definition of art and we have a grand old time (it's always great to be the first person to introduce most of my students to Duchamp's Fountain and Dada art). Last semester I even mentioned my "recreations" as one of my hobbies.  We briefly debated if they should be considered "art" or not.  The class was pretty divided but we didn't dwell on it too long as we had more fun stuff to talk about like if Thomas Kinkade is really an artist or not.

Strictly and literally speaking, I don't think my "recreations" are "art" in any real sense of the word.

They are really no more than paraphrases of an original and beautiful poem.  They are like when someone else is telling you a story they heard but didn't experience. It may be a good story, but there's nothing like hearing it from the person who experienced it.  That may sound harsh, but I enjoy the challenge of it and I have a lot of fun doing them....so they are very worthwhile to me.

Of course further complicating this is the little ol' fact that I title these posts as "Art Posts".  The truth is I didn't think about it too much and I really don't care. Consider "Art" in the above title to be the board, generic meaning of the word.  Or just give me a little grace, will ya?

On to the task at hand. This piece was inspired by one of my favorites called "Favorite Tales of Monsters and Trolls". This has to be if not my favorite, in the top three of my childhood favorites. There are three stories - The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Trolls and the Pussy Cat and The Stone Cheese. It's by George Jonsen and illustrated by John O'Brien.

Now, it's one of my daughter's favorites and it surprises me the trolls don't scare her at all.

The stories are great but the artwork is simply amazing.  The artwork is so detailed, layered and rich.  You can stare at each page and discover new weird, strange and silly little creatures you never noticed before.  For underneath rocks, tree roots or even in people's hats live little people or strange creatures (like a half bird-half human with no arms or a tree with legs).  I recommend this book for lovers of  mythology, detailed artwork and trolls. And yes, that reads just like I'm doing a book review on Reading Rainbow.

Anyway here are the pics....

The Trolls and the Pussy Cat

October-December 2010

Detail  

  Another Detail