Photos by WILLIAMS + HIRAKAWA

I’d gone to several supermarket bakeries looking for the right pillow-like cake to sleep on. I stood and stared and got down and looked at the cakes from the side, in the case, trying to imagine how they would photograph with my head on them.

One bakery woman with bad teeth said I could sample any of them. I said no I wouldn’t be eating it. She said, “Oh, for someone else?”

I said, “No. I’m going to be sleeping on it, like a pillow.”

She said, “Why don’t you just use a pillow.”

I said, “Because a pillow is not a cake.”

Here’s a painting by conceptual artist Dan Colen. And this is what the Saatchi Gallery in London who owns the piece says about it:

“In Untitled (going, going, go…) Dan Colen presents a traditional still-life. His composition apprises worldly indulgence and inevitable mortality, including all the accouterments of 17th century memento mori: wine cask, pen and ink, extinguished candle. Drawing comparison to Ed Ruscha’s semiotic pop paintings, Colen’s canvas is rendered with the cool precision of graphic illustration, rendering the romantic scene in contemporary language. The word ‘going’ is subliminally repeated in the lingering trails of smoke, underscoring the painting’s message with pop logotype.”

Or, you could say it’s a modified reproduction of a background from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio, because that’s what it is:

[Image scanned from Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life]

So it’s not entirely “his composition” as the gallery states. I have to wonder then, does Dan know the provenance of the image he so faithfully reproduced? I’m guessing yes, because when asked in this interview where he got the idea to “do art”, he answers, “I just, I always drew cartoons.” So then I wonder, did he tell the gallery where the image came from? And did they choose to ignore that information? Because either the image source is relevant to the content of his piece (and should be included in the description) or Dan appears to be passing off another artist’s composition as his own.

And as for “rendering the romantic scene in contemporary language,” well, this “traditional still-life” was originally painted in the late 1930’s, most likely by Claude Coats, a Disney background artist. And a comparison of any element of Dan’s painting to Ed Ruscha’s work, other than the floating words, is silly. If anything, it was the work of the Disney artists that influenced Ed, considering he was a toddler when this image of the candle from Pinocchio first appeared onscreen in 1940.

The gallery’s description didn’t mention the most interesting detail though: the scene is painted as if the candle were lit – notice the shadow and glow – and in the finished film the candle was (animated later as layers of celluloid). Without the flame, the invisible light source creates a hauntingly surreal image. It’s probably what attracted Dan to using the image in the first place. And yes, adding the words “going, going…” does strengthen the association to memento mori and the idea of inevitable death. But then how would the gallery explain Dan’s other versions where he painted smoke reading, “blow me,” and simply, “fuck” – phrases associated more with juvenile rebellion than contemplation of mortality. (And don’t even try to tell me that’s the whole point.)

If Dan wanted to draw attention to any perceived or projected content the Pinocchio background posses, he could have as an art critic, a writer, or curator and gathered a show of like material to say, “look at this stuff. If we remove these animation backgrounds from the context of their films, and see them for themselves, they have their own message, similar to what fellow conceptual artist Mungo Thomson did in his recent video piece “The American Desert (for Chuck Jones)” which is 30 minutes of Road Runner backgrounds with the characters removed. (Notice Mungo acknowledged the source material by mentioning Chuck Jones in the title.)

Now none of this is to say I don’t like Dan or his work. But why then have I gone on far too long about a gallery’s inaccurate description of a painting of a candle?

A: It’s a slow workweek.

B: I’ve worked with and known many artists from Disney including Marc Davis and John Hench who wanted deeply to be recognized as artists for their personal work. (How ironic that it’s their commercial work for Disney that penetrated the art world in the form of being appropriated by artists for decades.)

C: I got my BFA at the Disney founded California Institute of the Arts where a deep cultural divide separated the art program (which seemed to be in perpetual rebellion against Walt’s creation of their very school) and the character animation students (many hoping to be hired by Disney) whose work was seen as crassly commercial, populist, and devoid of meaning (an assessment I don’t totally disagree with.)

I spent half of my four years in each dept. When I told my mentor I wanted to transfer out of the art program, he said, “I understand. But whatever you do, don’t go to character animation.” I did. And then I began working for Disney. So now when I see someone getting press and the title “art star” for art made using imagery created by those artists who worked anonymously at the supposedly conceptually-vacuous Disney, I get, perhaps, too ruffled.

On a related note, here’s an article about James Harvey, an abstract expressionist painter you’ve never heard of but whose work you know. Harvey designed the iconic Brillo boxes of 1961. A design that a few years later helped launch Andy Warhol to fame after he signed his own name to reproductions of Harvey’s design then displayed them in a gallery.

UPDATE December 5 2007:

Here’s recent video from Vice of Dan Colen talking about the Disney candle paintings. Clearly he knows where the image came from, so why then does the gallery seem to not know?

RELATED, SEE MY:
Patty Wickman Paints Women Wrestling and I’m All Hey that’s from Epcot

UPDATE January 15 2008:

Omg I just got back from the gym and reread this post. Had I taken a bitch pill that day or what?

I bought it at prisonart.org where it was described at “Hand crafted Folsom prison cell made with popsicle sticks, craft sticks, felt, glue, etc. and with tools like tweezers, toe nail clippers, and razor blades.” SOLD! It was $46 with shipping, and signed on the back by George Bubier (currently serving at Folsom) as “Made by a Lifer 12/26/06.”

The version pictured on the site had a sliding cell door that could open, I liked that detail, I planned to leave the door open. But my version is sealed, which makes it way creepier (suggesting a new pessimism by the prisoner? He is serving life.). I expected something cute to put on my desk but immediately realized I don’t want to stare at prison walls (real or miniature) all day. And then I wondered if it wasn’t the artist’s way of sharing his sentence with others, “They can stare at the same cramped space I have to.” Or maybe having people like me pay to have a recreation of his space makes living in the original a little less undesirable. Or maybe it’s simply the only thing he could think to make. I’ll see how it goes. Someone may be receiving this as a gift very soon. I’d rather stare at those rainbow roses.

UPDATE: It’s been over a week and I’ve gotten used to it. I guess it stays.

Someone over at Dior thought Victoire de Castellane’s new flower and insect-heavy jewelry collection needed it’s own island inside Second Life. I made a visit, filmed it, and set it to Philip Glass, resulting in overly dramatic virtual home movie.

The Boo Boo Walker shirt is from GoApe.com and I wear mine all the time.
Upper Playground and Brian Flynn join to give you the boom box AT-AT at WeSoldOut.com.

The New VW Beetle AT-AT is from my Star Wars Designer Edition. (One of the oldest features of my site; it needs some fixing up, I know.)
And Bill McMullen merged a shell-toe Adidas with a walker and “ding” - it’s the AD-AT.

The super cute one is from Medicom.

The rabid Runaway Brain figure from Span of Sunset comes in a few colorways.
…Also a couple different colorways for Andy Mouse, a figure based on a Keith haring collaboration with Andy Warhol.

Span of Sunset also has a Cheshire cat series. Here’s the punk, Haunted Mansion, and Pirate versions.

Shag has a Pirates of the Caribbean Boy vinyl, and Medicom has a great Pirate Mickey to be released this spring.

Freshnessmag revealed Roen’s Mickey figure inspired by the iconic Clash cover art.

And lastly, My favorite, Mickey Mao by Frank Kozik.

From the Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice website:

“2007 operation surge to crack down on insurgent activity in Iraq has failed. The Pentagon tries one last tactic. 400,000 leaflets are dropped into the suburbs of Baghdad; the message reads ‘Believe The Magic. Children and parents maimed or injured by US forces will be given Disney vouchers worth $120.00. (Conditions apply).’
The U.S. led ‘Operation Magic Kingdom’ moves into Baghdad adopting the UK’s ‘Winning Hearts And Minds’ tactic by wearing masks portraying loveable and friendly Disney characters in a bid to gain the confidence of the Iraqi people. The rules of engagement have been changed to include ‘try and be more fun before firing’.â€?

In other words, British artist/musician Jimmy Cauty, has created a series of billboards and spoof stamps commenting on the Iraq war. Produced under the organization name Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice (CNPD), past stamps included the queen in a gas mask, a sleeping pope with the phrase “GOD IS BORING,� and my favorite, the “AMERICA SHUT UP� series. Prints are sold out but a sheet of stamps is 21 $US.

Americans are probably more familiar with Jimmy’s earlier, more musical work, as one half of the “justified and ancient� duo, the KLF.

See my Disney Subversion tag for more of the same.

Via PingMag, I found Junko Terashima’s blog where she posts photos of the lunch boxes she creates for her kids. I’ve gone through her entire archive and pulled these collections together. There’s other great bento creations in my Crazy Happy Lunch.

Yes the Leibovitz pics are nice, but here’s a couple other photog’s takes on the parks. Diane Arbus and her 1962 “A Castle in Disneyland,� and David LaChapelle does Florida and Disneyland Paris. Anyone know of other examples?

Here in LA, Universal Studios has launched a new ad campaign seemingly inspired by hitchhiking, panhandling, and homelessness. The billboard on the corner of their property at Barham shows a family holding a sign reading “A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES” – a bit unclear if that’s what the family was looking for, or had already achieved (and felt the need to tell you by scrawling it on cardboard?). When I saw it I thought it had to be the all-time worst ad I’d ever seen for a theme park. But after scanning their site for a photo of the billboard (because I HAD to blog about it) I discovered they’d shot a whole commercial with the “people holding cardboard signs” concept – only, the people in the commercial look gloomy and we never see a vehicle or magic Universal Studios bus come to pick them up, the camera simply drives past as if they were just another Mexican selling oranges in the median.

So I shlepped down the hill in the rain to photograph the billboard when – oh heaven – there was an actual homeless person standing on the corner holding his own cardboard sign in front of the fake family holding their cardboard sign. His name was Ruben and he hadn’t noticed the ironic nature of the composition he was part of. (I took his pic then gave him five bucks.)

Which brings me to the moment when I offer Universal Studios my own free bad PR idea: Go guerrilla marketing with this and pay the panhandlers of LA to hold your cardboard signs. They’re already standing at the busiest intersections, only now, instead of spare change, they’ll be begging to be taken to the “Jurassic Park River Plunge” – and just like the people in the commercial, everyone will ignore them.

In other theme park advertising news, Disney, wisely deciding to take their campaign in a more upscale direction, hired Annie Leibovitz to shoot celebrities playing dress up in designer versions of Disney character costumes. (A $325,000 Harry Winston tiara and Steuben glass slippers for Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella.)

It’s a smart idea and the execution is brilliant. Mostly so because they’re a tad dark in tone but also because the celeb’s expressions are more complex than the beaming smile one would’ve expected in such an ad. Look at Beyonce in the spinning teacup, she’s not squealing like a little girl, she reclining in a VIP lounge, teasing you with that hand on her lap. Granted, I don’t see a conceptual reason it had to be celebrities, but it does ensure more press and one can hardly fault a company for trying to get that.

The print versions will run in Conde Nast publications including Vanity Fair, GQ, and Vogue, with the aim of attracting an older more sophisticated audience.

The decision to represent the Disney parks as high-end adult amusements is not a new idea though.
John Hench, Herbert Ryman, and other designers of the original Disney parks consistently saw a day at Disneyland as such. In a 1960’s Hench rendering of the Circlevision 360 theater in Tomorrowland, women clutch their furs as if it were a night at the opera. And a late 1970’s Ryman concept painting suggests a visit to Epcot was worthy of nothing less than your Sunday best, then in 1988, he painted formal evening attire on those watching the fireworks over Euro Disneyland.

But my favorite example of promoting Disney parks as more adult fare is a 1970’s Walt Disney World shopping bag (it hangs framed on my wall) with a spectacular graphic design featuring Mickey (the walk-around version, not the cartoon) and the castle, but not a single child. There’s a couple clinking wine glasses over lobster, a chef, jazz musician, hula dancer, and nightclub singer, a man golfing, a couple in a canoe,  a woman on horseback, another playing tennis - and everyone riding Dumbo and Space Mountain, they’re all adults.

Interesting aside: When Walt was planning the Florida parks, which he didn’t live to see, he’d imagined they’d be visited primarily by a sophisticated east coast clientele which would require a more elegant theme park experience than the casual west coast atmosphere of Disneyland. Boy was he wrong about that one.

But that’s a whole other tangent, so I’ll just say, I hope the Leibovitz promos do change any perception that the Disney parks are all cotton candy and culturally empty calories because there is an elegance, maturity, and complexity built into those parks (maybe not always maintained, but there nevertheless) and it’s refreshing to see it acknowledged again.

This is Last Stand at Big Thunder Mountain, a large-scale model of Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction, on display through February 3 at Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica.

It’s hardly a faithful representation, it lacks the exposed dinosaur bones and western town, but the inclusion of plasma balls in a tinfoil-lined cave is a vast improvement. And frankly, I think the world could use a few more models of Big Thunder Mountain.
Here’s past work I found on his site - also low-end materials - also fabulous.

After the 1979 partial meltdown at Three-mile Island in Pennsylvania, Disney theme park designer Art Riley jokingly proposed repurposing the site as an amusement park - seen here in this concept art found recently on Ebay. Good news: meltdown was contained. Bad news: fun park wasn’t built. But…

Years later, for reasons I’m too lazy to research, a German power company abandoned their nuclear plant before its completion – and someone over there thought giant cooling towers could make a cool fun park too – and this time they build it. Kernie’s Familienpark, is what it’s called, but they painted the tower with a mountain scene instead of a big smiley face with a bow-tie – and inside is just a rock climbing wall. Not a single attraction celebrating the atom.

(Thanks to Jordan for the Ebay tip)