2020: Hard Times in The Anarchist Jurisdiction. A Collection of the Greatest Movie Posters for Films That Do Not Exist, In A Tribute to A Year That Tried to Kill Everyone! David F. Walker (Writer, creator), Jason Lamb (Synopses). (2020)

 

A wildly enjoyable and engaging response to the social and political turmoil that arose in 2020. Davis F. Walker responded to the breakdowns and breakthroughs of 2020 by creating posters for films that do not exist.

These posters are for a very particular type of film that anyone who can remember browsing in video hire shops will have encountered. The covers of the video boxes had fantastic posters that promised in the loudest way that the film was a feast of violence and sex. They never were, the films were terrible, not just bad but actively terrible. None of the promise of the poster made it to the screen. The posters were and are magnificent, armed with the limitless budget of paper and print, the film producers could finally create the images they had no hope of ever capturing on screen.

David F. Walker has taken these posters and reinvented them in a glorious colours and exclamations.  The posters in the book, like the film names, Barefoot Vegan in the Anarchist Jurisdiction is one of my favourite examples, are little masterpieces. They capture the rage, frustration and anxiety that boiled up across the year. They have the astonishing action shots, the lurid set ups, the wild promises of the films with a twist.

The twist is not subtle, it is loud and assertive, and it works on both levels, as posters for films that I would almost like to see and as a shout of defiance.

The book goes the extra mile by providing synopses of the films and trivia about the films written by Jason Lamb. They are little masterpieces of straight-faced write ups. They could be placed into a lot of straight books about exploitation films and they would blend in perfectly. My flat-out favourite is Robo-Camel Riders of the Rebellion in the Anarchist Jurisdiction which is listed as “…may be the worst movie ever made”. The gap between the poster and the product is beautifully explained in an utterly plausible way.

David F. Walker has taken great posters for, mostly, terrible films and re-imagined them in an extraordinary way that captures the shockwaves of 2020 with intensity, wit and anger. This is a joy of a book; I love the promise of film posters, I enjoy reading about films that I will never see to share in the writer’s enjoyment. 2020: Hard Times in The Anarchist Jurisdiction delivers on both with style.

Spanish Still Life from Valazquez to Goya. William B. Jordan & Peter Cherry. National Gallery Publications Ltd. (1995)

This well written, very informative and lavishly illustrated book was produced to coincide with an exhibition of the same same at the National Gallery, London. While Velazquez did have still life elements in the paintings, it is the jaw dropping work by Juan Sanchez Cotan that are the first really unambiguous still life paintings. The paintings of various fruit and vegetables resting on or hanging in a window with a black background have a startlingly contemporary feel. They are so concentrated and minimalist, the detail of the fruit and vegetables, the careful placing of the items in the window frame so that they are harmoniously balanced creates an extraordinary force and intimacy.
The subject matter for still life paintings that followed followed from Juan Sanchez Cotan in frequently having food or flowers as the principal items. Another trend was to have subjects such as skulls or clocks, subjects that would remind the viewer of the vanity of possessions, the brief span of life and the depth of eternity. One of the most beautiful of these Vanitas themed pictures is by an unknown artist, Still Life with Books and an Hour Glass. The books are old and have had a great deal of wear, they have been handled a lot. The subtle and expressive way that the irresistible passage of time is proposed by the pages of the manuscripts, the pervasive sense of the long gone hands that held them is haunting.
What that picture does abundantly share with other still life paintings of fruit, flowers and game is an acute detail that carefully guides the eye. The lush flowers artfully arranged in beautiful vases have a lushness verging on the overripe, they are vibrantly sensual. The portraits of game, fruit and cheese are done with a heightened realism that gives them power and force.
The Spanish still life paintings explored in this book are extraordinary works of art, they use balance and detail to restrain a surging passion, this gives these paintings a clarity and directness that is shocking and inspiring. The writing is informative and thoughtful, the heat of the book is in the paintings, still life and still passionate.

M.C.Escher. The Graphic Work. Benedikt Taschen (1992)

This volume contains a selection of M.C.Escher's graphic work with an introduction and commentary on each piece by Escher. In his introduction Escher notes that for a long period he was concerned with exploring and mastering the craft of creating prints from wood cuts. The images were a means of expressing and exposing the craft, later this charged so that the craft became the means by which the idea could be expressed.
The first set of images in this book are more restrained and more realistic than his later work. There is a very beautiful landscape, "Castrovalva", which is full of detail and texture. It is very much a picture of a actual place, a response to a location and an attempt to capture that reaction in a clear and vivid fashion. The sharp perspectives, the variety of tones and the division of the space in image speak to the depth of technical mastery he had achieved. There is a warm and luminous portrait of his father which is an extraordinary example of the subtlety that he was able to achieve.
The later images are, for the most part, much more clearly the expression of an abstract idea, the craft is the second impression that you get when you look at them. The picture "Day and Night" where a flock of white geese fly to the right into a night sky and a flock of black geese fly left into a daylight sky, with the patterned fields of the landscape in the centre rising up to become the two flocks is stunning. The whole is hard to take in as the movement in the picture seems to both be obvious and completely absurd at the same time. The sheer density of the information overshadows, initially, the wonderful balance and detail of the image which emerges more slowly.
Later work, such as the one pictured on the cover, "Band" with the two heads peeled like orange rinds yet clearly recognisable, somehow intertwined and floating in space have a more subtle balance between craft and content. The lure the viewer in more easily and draw the eye with a lighter touch. There is more room to enjoy the impossibility of the image, to take up the challenge the artist is presenting.
The images in this book are wonderful puzzles and teases that explore the limits and possibilities of the printed page. They are a true delight.