Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Beardsley Tribute

The story behind this: As part of the graduation hoopla over at the Savannah College of Art and Design, someone got the bright idea to hand out hundreds of paper parasols, and have a contest to decorate them among the walking graduates. Well, this was a poorly thought out plan, since the umbrellas are not only made of the flimsiest paper, but are also glued and shellacked, making any media very hard to apply. And of course the umbrella can't be folded up after painting, or collaging, or whatever.
By happenstance, earlier that day, I was browsing a used bookstore, and came upon an Aubrey Beardsley illustrated copy of Oscar Wilde's Salome. Awesome, art Deco stuff. Well, not until earlier today did I connect "parasol" to "surreal art deco turn-of-the-century masquerade ball" which, when you think of it, is obvious. Not only would it fit well on an umbrella, I'm sure my acrylic ink will do the job of sticking to it. This is the final design, and I think I've got the competition well licked.

4 comments:

Siope L Kinikini said...

I would love to see the finished project. Be sure to post a pic.

P. Hos said...

I will, if I can hunt down a camera.

Isaac Klunk said...

I hope you do have it licked because I think this is great!

Jade said...

Paul we can take pics of this in the park w/ my camera if you want, I just did with mine and the lighting there is great!