Visual Literature Test - Certain artists

Background information and some works

Dave McKean

• Illustrator born in Berkshire

• Chosen by Apple as one of their key creatives

• Worked with The Rolling Stones (The Voodoo Lounge), The Misfits

• Worked with Sony Playstation, Smirnoff, Kodak, BMW/Mini, Nike, Playboy

• most known works: “Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash”; “Violent Cases”; “Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel”; “The Blood of a Poet”

• Other works: books, posters, comics, covers, records, children’s books, illustrations, adverts, drawings, paintings, photographs, films, exhibitions

• many of his works resemble unsorted dreams rather than static landscapes

• blending of mediums and styles; dark, surreal, unsettling atmosphere, collage art, uncanny valley

Maurice Sendak

• Illustrator born in Brooklyn to Polish-Jewish immigrants

• His early life was tainted by the death of his extended family during the Holocaust, which influenced his art

• Enthralled by Mickey mouse and other Disney animated films, fantasy-like illustrations, mimicking the dream-like imagination of children

• Children’s book writer

• most known works: “Where the Wild Things Are” (inspired by Jewish folklore), “In the Night Kitchen”, “Outside Over There”, “The Nutshell Library”

Shaun Tan

• Australian artist

• Publisher in Poland - Kultura Gniewu

• most known works: “The Red Tree”; “The Lost Thing” (animated film); “Cicada”; “The Arrival”; “Rules of Summer”; “Dog” (bond between humans and dogs as ongoing cycle of death and rebirth through different spaces and times)

• many of his stories are wordless

• themes of surrealism, magical realism, melancholy, wonder and tenderness, often giant creatures

Raymond Briggs

• English artist

• most known works: “The Snowman” (teaching children about mortality), “Father Christmas goes on holiday”; “Ethel and Ernest” (the life and death of Briggs’ parents); “When the Wind Blows (apocalyptic graphic novel); “Fungus the Bogeyman”

• picture books, comic books, graphic novels, book covers, posters

• Briggs is unsure about being called a children’s writer

• innocent-looking drawings assumingly for children, but having a deeper, dark message

Tara Books Publishers (India)

• Based in Chennai (previously Madras)

• Gita Wolf - founder, collaborated with folk artists and communities

• V. Geetha - editorial director, feminist activist, writes on issues related to castes, gender, education, civil rights

• The Book Building 2012 - office space, gallery, bookstore, residential area for artists, writers and book designers

• “The Night Life of Trees - made by Gond artists, talks about trees in the aspect of Gond culture and mythology; “The Deep” - made by Mayur and Tushar Vayeda from the Warli community (water as the power that gives life and connects all the Earth’s people together); “Sita’s Ramayana” (women’s perspectives on war)