ART2SDAYS - JIM FLORA

Ol’ Pal Irwin Chusid was guest poster on Leif Peng’s blog (http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/), which is dedicated to illustration from the ‘40’s & ‘50’s.


James (Jim) Flora was one of the defining stylists of 1940s and '50s American commercial art. He concocted dozens of diabolic and hallucinatory record album covers for Columbia and RCA Victor jazz artists. His designs pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins, who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Any vacant real estate was temporary, as Flora cluttered available space with geometric doo-dads floating willy-nilly like a kindergarten toy room gone anti-gravitational. He wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring up fragmented torsos, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives. His musician portraits were raucous and undignified, featuring piss-takes on such legends as Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Gene Krupa. Flora once said he "could not do likenesses"--so he conjured outlandish caricatures. Oh--and he was color-blind, which might explain why his subjects' faces were purple, green, or bedspread-patterned.

From 1960 on, Flora made a solid living illustrating for dozens of popular magazines and newspapers. He also authored and illustrated 17 children's books, earning a devoted young following. By that point his work had softened, losing its monstrous flair, which made him even more in demand (i.e., safer, more mainstream) as a commercial artist. It is Flora's edgy, early work that led Barbara Economon and me to undertake a series of books chronicling his first 20 years as a working artist. Vintage Flora album covers fetch beaucoup bucks on eBay. (The original art no longer exists.) His Pete Jolly Duo EP cover is one of the rarest of such artifacts. In fact, it has NEVER turned up on eBay. It was featured in our first book, The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora.



















info on Irwin's book:

Title: The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora Author: Irwin Chusid Published by Fantagraphics Books Designed by Laura Lindgren Image Restoration by Barbara Economon Format: 11" x 10" soft cover with flaps 180 pages, full-color ISBN: 1-56097-600-4 List Price: $28.95 Publication: Fall 2004 E-mail: info@jimflora.com


NP: Tris McCall/"I'm Assuming You're All In Bands"...writing the review today.

PEEVE DE JOUR: what part of ''you were dumped six months ago'' do you not understand??

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

HALF CLEVELAND

FRIDAY, JUNE 30th at Musica/Mocha Maiden...Only $5

As part of Nantucket Nights the summer charity music festival series held in the Akron Historic District

HALF CLEVELAND from 9-11P

Chris Butler (Tin Huey, The Waitresses)
Harvey Gold (Tin Huey)
Debbie Smith (Chi-Pig)
'Bongo' Bob Ethington (Tin Huey, Unit 5)
... and as always... the threat of a guest sit-in!

HOUSEGUEST from 8-9
Playing material from their NEW CD!

THE KRISTOFFER CARTER SHOW! from 7-8
All the way from Chicago!

Directions to Musica
http://www.1akron.com/musica

From the North: Rt. 8
Exit at OH 59/Perkins Ave. Turn right on Perkins. Turn left on N. High. Turn right on E. Market Street. You'll find the Musica and Mocha Maiden immediately on your right on Maiden lane between Crave and Jacob Good.

From the West: I-76
Take I-76 W. turns into 77 North. Take the Main St. Downtown Exit 22A. Turn left on E. Market St. You'll find the Musica and Mocha Maiden immediately on your right on Maiden lane between Crave and Jacob Good.

From the South: I-77
Take 59 East, Exit 21C. Turn right on N. High St. Turn right on E. Market Street. You'll find Musica and The Mocha Maiden immediately on your right on Maiden lane between Crave and Jacob Good.

Convenient paid public parking is located directly across the street at the Parking Deck on the corner of High St. and E. Market. Valet parking is available from 10am - 11pm.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY: Ice Cream "Sandwich"

cb...where are you?






OHIO