TOP 4 BOOKS THAT INFLUENCED ME AS AN ARTIST
Is it more important to start at the beginning chronologically or with the most impactful overall? That I don’t know so I’ll go with the book the later. I’ll be truthful before we dive in to the list, I’m not a reader. If there was time for reading that means there’s time for painting and I will always choose painting. So my experience with all 5 of these books is visual inspiration not necessarily story telling…although each is it a story in itself but now I’m getting deep and your getting bored so let’s get to it.
THE DIARY OF FRIDA KAHLO
I have been enthralled with Frida Kahlo’s work for as long as I can remember and she has had impacted my work more than any other artist I’ve studied. I remember purchasing The Diary of Frida Kahlo while in a bookstore with my boyfriend (who is now my husband) when I was in my early 20’s. I was obessesed with it like I was obsessed with Michael Jackson at the age of 6…that’s a freaking lot. I’m not someone who draws in a sketchbook…never have been but this diary was a place for Kahlo to dump her thoughts and emotions and ideas that would became paintings. Seemed like an amazing idea at the time to try but it never panned out…I abandoned it after a few weeks. It was until my forties that I began to do this brain dump of emotion and ideas and it works for me now in the way I had hoped it would 20 years ago. I think this book as a fantastically bright and beautiful peek into her brain and heart…and if you speak Spanish you’ll be one step ahead of those of that I have to use our phones to translate her writing.
ALEXANDER McQUEEN: SAVAGE BEAUTY
I was gifted this book for my birthday from one of my closest friends, Megan after McQueen’s death. This book is equally important to me for the content and the sentimental value….the gift of the book was amazing but the gift of someone knowing you so well is even better.
This book brings together all of the beauty and the darkness and over the top fashion that I just die for and puts it all in one place. I thumb through this when I’m looking for inspiration and even a palette cleanser…my work very often looks bright and lively on the surface but there’s a lot dark hidden it (sometimes not subtly hidden)
ELOISE AT THE PLAZA
I was first introduced to Eloise around the age of 7 or 8 by beloved Aunt Pat who is responsible for fostering much of my creative whims as a child. I was immediately drawn to the black and white pen drawings of The Plaza Hotel, a rambuctious but loveable little girl and of course the iconic take on New York City. All adorned with sparse splashes of 2 shades of pink. It was like the girl version of Shel Silverstein’s weird illustrations I feel in love with as an even younger child. This is easily where I got my earliest inspiration for my sketching style but also where a girl who played a lot of army with her brothers was able to just be a girl. It is 1000% responsible for my obsession with pink.
ANTONIO’S GIRLS
Oh my god…if you aren’t a fashion person then you probably haven’t heard of Antonio Lopez but everyone should. Antonio was a fashion illustrator in 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, he discovered Grace Jones, Jessica Lange, Jerry Hall and countless other icons for god’s sake. He worked with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris and was published in every fashion magazine you can think of. I was introduced to his work in a college by my favorite fashion illsutration professor Rose Fabricant. She was friends with Antonio before he passed away and when she showed us copies of his books it was like someone showing you the Hope Diamond. the reverence she had for his work and those books was transferred via osmosis or something. The books were out of print and this was the late 1990’s, ebay was in it’s early days so I gave it a shot. I found an old beat up copy of Antonio’s Girls and bid immediately, I don’t remember what I paid for it but I do know I only was able to afford peanut butter and jelly for the enxt tw months for every meal afterwards. I studied his figures, their movement, his lines. I still look at his work in awe…the way he drew shoes easily is was inspiration for the Alexander McQueen heeless shoes.
It’s a strange mix no doubt but then again so I am. There’s some fashion, there’s a little bit of girliness, there’s a little bit of a darkness, there’s a little bit of pain. But most of all there’s a LOT of beauty in all of these books. Thanks for walking down memory lane a bit with me.