Exclusive: The Films Of Quentin Tarantino Art Series By Tim Doyle Part 2
Yesterday, artist Tim Doyle took you through his thought process for the first four in a series of seven prints he created for the Spoke Art Quentin vs. Coens show opening at the Bold Hype Gallery in New York next week. You can read his write ups for Reservoir Dogs, both Kill Bills and Death Proof by clicking here. Today, Doyle discusses Inglourious Basterds and exclusively reveals Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. These prints will first be available April 7 at the opening of the show in New York. Get all the info and see full images after the jump.
Here are all seven images. Read Doyle's discussions of each below.
"Putting out the Fire With Gasoline"
12x24 edition of 175 signed and numbered by the artist.
Inglorious Basterds was another film that I hadn't seen before starting this project, and let me say-I wish I saw it in the theater. It's without a doubt QT's best. Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill might be more FUN, but IG is a better film. The acting, the music choices, the casting...just as perfect a film as you could ask for. Like a lot of my Wes Anderson prints for Spokeart.net, this one was inspired by the music choice for the scene depicted. Bowie's "Cat People" might seem a little out of place for a WW2 period piece, but it just perfectly captures and enhances the feeling of finality and determination of the Shoshanna character. Her arc is really the driving one for the film- Inglorious Basterds is Shoshanna's story. In fact, as much as I enjoyed watching the Basterds blaze a bloody trail across France, their involvement in the story is completely incidental to the outcome. Shoshanna was going to burn every single one of those Nazi scumbags alive in her theater- the Basterds just happened to be there that night as well.
This print is the one that I did completely digitally- all the others were hand-drawn. I wanted to make sure I got the tie-fighter-esque window perfectly, and I wanted to be able to noodle around with the composition as much as possible to get it perfect. Also, hiding a 'secret swastika' in wall paper patterns is what Photoshop was made for. (Now, THAT is my favorite insane sentence.) Like my Godfather prints from a couple of years ago, I wanted this print to be what would appear as a 'pretty picture' at a glance, and then you notice a bit of hidden menace- the Nazi flag in through the window, and the gun on the table.
"Marcellus Wallace Becomes Acquainted With a 1980 Honda Civic Hatchback"
12x24 edition of 175, signed and numbered by the artist.
Even though I watched all of QT's films in order working on this project, I saved Pulp Fiction for almost last, as I was really stuck on what to do for it. Not because I didn't have any ideas- it was because I had TOO MANY ideas. Pulp Fiction is a collection of just killer moments on top of moments. Pulp Fiction came out when I was a senior in High School, and among my group of friends, it hit like a pop-culture A-bomb. The film changed the way we talked and interacted and helped inform the people we were- from what we thought was cool, to how we dressed. In short- it really fucked our shit up. And that was a good thing. Pulp Fiction was the antidote for a Summer that included the treacly, overly sentimental Forrest Gump. From the structure, to the style, to the music, it hit Hollywood where it counted and spawned a legion of imitators.
For me, the scene where Marsellus is about to get plowed under by Butch's Civic is pure comedy genius. Butch had just come out of what is probably the 2nd most tense scene in the film, and we've had the death of Vic Vega to process. And we all breathed a sigh of relief. He's got his watch, he's on his way out of town, and 'Flowers on the Wall' is playing on the radio. Everything is great. And then Marsellus walks onto the scene and with a simple 'Muther-Fucker' the whole film take a left turn into crazy town culminating in Butch going samurai on Zed and Co. Up until this point, all we'd seen of Marsellus was the back of his head and that mysterious iconic Band-Aid; an image I wanted to echo here.
"Louis Gara Meets His End in a 1973 Volkswagen Bus"
12x24 edition of 175, signed and numbered by the artist.
I had to save Jackie Brown for last, as I really struggled with this one. I like the movie a lot- but it's probably the least 'Tarantino' of all of QT's movies. It's slow and quiet and subtle in a way none of his other films are. The film isn't as much as a visual feast as his other works either (unless you count the stunning vistas of Pam Grier...yowza!) Which fits the story just fine- a hyper stylized, jump cut type flick would've steamrolled the script and acting. I've been sneaking VW Mini-buses into my work for years now, from my comic 'Sally Suckerpunch' back in 2001, through my recent 'King Crab' print- so the opportunity to do the same with this series was too much to resist. Ordell shooting Louis in the front seat is just a great moment- the disgust on Jackson's face at how far Louis had fallen from his former self, and the casual nature with which he blows him away speaks volumes about the character. (Almost as much as his completely disgusting beard/soul patch thing does.) Again, much like my "Full of Grace" Godfather 2 print, this would be just a nice picture at first glance. In some ways, this print is my favorite of the bunch- it took me the longest to come up with an idea for, and I got to throw in 'city junk' and a VW bus- color me happy.
All these prints (including a wood variant edition of 7 of each print) will be available for sale at the gallery opening in NYC and online shortly thereafter.
Thank you, Tim Doyle.
No Tim, thank you.
Quentin vs. Coens will be open from April 7-9 at the Bold Hype Gallery, 547 W 27th St, 5th floor, NY, NY. The show opens at 6 p.m. for an opening reception on April 7. The gallery is usually open from noon-5 Tuesday-Saturday, but those hours might be extended for this show. Visit boldhype.net or call 212-868-2322 for more info.
For more information on the show, visit Spoke Art's homepage, their Facebook page or the show's event page.