Archive for the ‘imaginary books’ Category

My father is going through a rough patch. He was moved to the intensive care unit this morning, but seems to be stable now. Mother is waking, with her brother.

Preparing for the Pecha Kucha night in Amsterdam, I decided to elaborate on one of my pet subjects: imaginary books. I tried to push the medium to the max and … suffered the consequences. Unfortunately the powerpoint slides I prepared didn’t like being converted to Apple Keynote and somewhere halfway the presentation got stuck. Twice. Apart from that, it was exhillerating, to say the least.

Femke Hiemstra‘s website features mixed media art on bookcovers from around 2006. Left to right: Lucky the Cat, Bonne Bouche, Heartbroken and Cheery Cooky.

The prop from Beetlejuice.

While miles of books wither away in bargain-limbo or mercilesly end up in the paper mill, the interest in fictional books seems to be quite a constant factor.

One of the episodes of the original Disneyland television programs has Walt Disney explain the origins, principles and workings of the noble art of animation from Chapter V (the Plausible Impossible) of an impressive tome titled “The Art of Animation”. Actually, according to Leonard Maltin, the book was by then little more than a stage prop. We did see the master at work, suspending disbelief with incredible flair.

Just discovered that the prices for the works of Stanley end Elisabeth Burns have been rising steadily. My interest in post mortem photography was raised by the Amenabar classic “Los Otros”, featuring a “Book of the Dead” prop that actually featured a picture of the director himself. The real source of the director’s inspiration is probably the work of the Burns’.

Above: a portrait from Claudia’s family. Second from the left is her great-grandfather at the deathbed of his aunt, somewhere in Sinaloa, late 19th century. Below left to right: a snippet from the poster, the picture of Amenabar, two images from Sleeping Beauty I (now between $ 500 and $ 1.200) and the cover of Sleeping Beauty II (somewhere in the $ 150 range).