Moon
My friend James Panozzo of Lawrence Asher Gallery and pig roast fame recently wed Lowbrow maven Merry Karnowsky. Last week, I stopped by Merry’s gallery, The Merry Karnowsky Gallery, to extend my best wishes and see the opening of Dave McKean: Persistence of Vision.
Dave is one of those artists who is as prolific as he is masterful. Three rooms were packed with his drawings, mixed media paintings, and, perhaps my favorite, his photograph series called The Particle Tarot: The Major Arcana. (I dabble in Tarot card reading, so I was immediately intrigued.) It was truly awe-inspiring.
I confess this was my first exposure to his work. He has a huge following in the graphic novel/comic book world and is said to be influenced by contemporary graphical artists José Antonio Muñoz and Lorenzo Mattotti. To me, his work resonated with the spirit of preeminent cubist Georges Braque (1882-1963).
Violin and Candlestick by Georges Braque, 1910
Inspired by the haunting wolf in Moon (top) I did some digging for more “dogs” in his art. I was surprised to discover McKean is a children’s book illustrator, collaborating with Neil Gaiman on The Wolves in the Walls
The success of the book inspired the stage production of the same name last year at the National Theater of Scotland. The Guardian called it “Endearingly terrifying…Like Bambi with fangs.”
AP photo by Richard Campbell
Finally, Dave McKean is also a celebrated filmmaker and a highly anticipated compilation of 17 of his short films called Keanoshow is being released today on DVD. You can buy it here
I have only scratched the surface of the body of work of this amazing artist. Here are some resources if you too are now a fan.
The Art of Dave Mckean is a comprehensive fansite.
The official Dave McKean website is a work in progress.
See images of The Persistence of Vision at The Merry Karnowsky Gallery and purchase limited edition prints and the catalogue here.
The show runs until August 16, 2008.
