Video: Drawings on books by Mike Stilka
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Artist Mike Stilkey has always been drawn to books, but not in the traditional sense. The author prefers drawing to reading, and for a long time he used pages of old books as canvases for his paintings. Until one day I decided that it was more convenient to draw on the covers.
Using ink, crayons, paints and varnish, the artist depicts melancholic and at times whimsical characters living in his fantasy world. Mike often draws animals, because, according to the author, he finds in them those emotions and qualities that he does not see in people.
Mike Stilkey started drawing on the covers of books, in general, by accident. As mentioned above, he painted on the pages of old books and decided to try to portray something on the cover. The artist did not think that something would come of this venture, but nevertheless brought his first work to the BLK / MRKT gallery. The painting was shown to the public at one of the exhibitions and was unexpectedly a huge success. After that, Mike completely turned his attention from the pages of the books to their covers.
Many are interested in whether the artist reads the books on which he paints. “Of course not,” Mike tells us. because it is simply physically impossible. For example, about 5 thousand books were used for his last installation. Nevertheless, he always looks through each edition, paying attention to individual quotes, as well as looking for items forgotten by the previous owners - notes, postcards, tickets, and so on. The author chooses books according to several parameters: the color of the cover, its material and the title (Mike tries to match the idea of the picture).
The second question that haunts many: where does Mike get the books. The answer is logical enough: in the library. The artist says that he was initially denied help when he asked to give him unnecessary books. But having learned for what purpose he was asking them, the librarians gave him access to thousands of books that were no longer available to readers and would sooner or later go to the landfill. Therefore, you should not blame Mike for spoiling books by drawing on them. If we recall the fact that they were all intended to be thrown away, then, perhaps, in the person of the artist, on the contrary, they found their salvation?
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