That Which is Wrought by Hand
The Power of Print
Looking back at the road travelled sometimes helps to give shape to the way forward. This week I was inspired to open up my archive of magazine work to thread together some of the strands of my career.
Magazines were my major influence when I began my career and in the 1990’s they were our social media and streaming service in a physically portable and shareable format. Going to the corner store and buying the issue with your work and turning the pages to see your image was always a moment of great anticipation…did it even get published, is the layout design good, is it printed well, …and there it would be, the ghosting of the next printed page bleeding through the white space, and either a page of design or garish advertisement on the facing page, and likely darker than you remember—-but it’s in print and it’s in your hands.
As I was going old school and turning actual pages in magazines, I came across an incredible series of illustrations. It was like I had opened a time machine and I was transported back to a place where art was made by hand and the critical aspect of the magazine was the graphic design, written content, and the visual solution of the illustrator connecting the message of design, text, and image. In the April 2006 issue of Premiere magazine dedicated to the 100 Best Performances of All Time, Art Director Dirk Barnett and Deputy AD Andre Jointe and Associate AD April Bell commissioned 7 illustrators to provide full page images. Enjoy these pieces on paper, a series of portraits where the art, and the medium provide another layer of meaning. The medium is the message.
The countdown began with 100 and a perfect union of illustrator Nathan Fox’s work and Malcolm McDowell’s portrayal of the sociopathic rapist Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange, 1971.
#83 is Hilary Swank portraying Brandon Teena in the 1999 Boys Don’t Cry, illustrated by R. Kikuo Johnson. A controversial film today for not casting a trans man and as actor J.J. Hawkins said in a 2019 New York Times article about the film contributing to pain for trans men. Seeing the film, Hawkins related, “That was the first time I realized that people who see me, see me as a girl dressed up as a boy.”
Paul Newman comes in at #64 as Fast Eddie Felton in The Hustler, 1961. Sadly, no Oscar for this performance but a tour de force illustration by the late great Jack Unruh. The 71 year old Unruh is a perfect choice for portraying the complex and cocky Fast Eddie.
23 year old Reese Witherspoon plays High Schooler Tracy Flick in Election, 1999 the 45th pick. The tightly wound and desperately positive Tracy is perfectly portrayed by the brush of Roberto Parada.
Eddie Guy’s beautifully crafted collage portrait of Faye Dunaway is #36, for her performance in Chinatown in 1974, echoing the drawn on eye brows and perfect lipstick of her character Evelyn Cross Mulwray.
The 17th spot goes to Denzel Washington in the Spike Lee biopic Malcolm X. Denzel Washington took a year to prepare for the role, Lee described his commitment, “He studied the Koran, learned to pray in Arabic. He gave up pork and stopped drinking. He knew he needed to have his mind, soul, and spirit in a place that would be able to receive Malcolm’s spirit.” I layered the black suit over the painting and left outlines as an expression of the multiple layers to Malcolm X and his life story.
The first, number 1 spot goes to Peter O’Toole for Lawrence of Arabia, illustrated with the unerring humour and style of David Hughes. It’s been 17 years since this list was compiled and it has been an incredibly eventful 17 years in culture and society.
The print edition of Premiere only lasted another year —to April 2007. By 2009 Facebook had nearly 360 million users and by 2012 had over a billion active users. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and the now ascendant TikTok provide instant distraction and dopamine. The slow world of the page turn and the context and content of editorial design and Illustration has less and less real estate in our visual landscape. I miss the view.
The views still exist it seems. They’re just fewer and further between- and perhaps require a bit more effort to appreciate.
Beautiful work here. Thanks for highlighting.