The teen idol level crowds for the November 11 opening of "Never Abandon Imagination: The Fantastical Art of Tony DiTerlizzi" at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts illustrates the immense appeal (and talent) of the titular tween (and fanboy) idol.
On the broadest level, this exhibit notably is the first (but hopefully not the last) to feature art from Dungeons and Dragons (D&D); the reason for that prior omission is that that work has not previously been considered art.
Lovers of fairies, goblins, and dragons (oh my) have until May 28, 2018 to view this labor of love by DiTerlizzi and Rockwell world-class exhibitionist/tour guide Jesse Kowalski. Early influences of this exhibit include inspiring Kowalski to play marathon Dungeons and Dragons games and your not-so-humble reviewer getting into The Spiderwick Chronicles. The latter is equally thrilled to have scored some of the copious signed books and prints of DiTerlizzi while exiting through the gift shop after visiting the exhibit with Kowalski.
The favorite story about DiTerlizzi among the many that Kowalski shared related to the below illustration. The only stipulation regarding a commission for a cover for Dragon magazine being that the illustration include a dragon inspired DiTerlizzi to have the dragon engage in the non-dragon like activity of chess.
The visit began with visiting the original of the print that adorns both the exhibition catalog and the top of this article. Kowalski explained that DiTerlizzi painted this image with characters from all his books for the show. Kowalski also shared that the next project of DiTerlizzi was a book titled The Broken Ornament, which is coming out for Christmas 2018.
Kowalski next stated that the following three reasons were why a museum that centered around an artist known for mid-20th century depictions of Americana was hosting an exhibit of the work of an artist who was best known for fantasy-oriented work.
1. Rockwell is an inspiration for the art of DiTerlizzi, who is carrying on the tradition of illustrators. A cited aspect of that influence is Rockwell being a traditionalist and DiTerlizzi being very devoted to using old media. Another example of this is a young DiTerlizzi studying a volume of Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers.
The following YouTube clip of DiTerlizzi discussing both the exhibit and his virtually life-long love for Rockwell further speaks volumes about thus match made in Heaven.
The exhibit including numerous drawings (including the one below) from the DiTerlizzi book Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-this-World Moon-Pie Adventure provides a great chance to see the influence of Rockwell (and Melies?). Kowalski notes that this tale of the titular '30s-era everykid travelling to the moon before venturing further into the Milky Way has a very Rockwellian style.
Kowalski goes on to share that the style of DiTerlizzi changes with each book, noting that such shifts are unusual for artists.
Another inspiration is clear in a sketch of the D&D character Nermal. This low-level wizard both shares the name of the adorable kitten from the Garfield comic and looks like human Jon Arbuckle from that world.
2. The exhibit title "never abandon imagination" reflects that the work of DiTerlizzi inspires adults and children; Kowalski notes that a key aspect of that is "believing in fairies and goodness in the world."
3. The parents of DiTerlizzi encouraged him throughout his life and his teachers inspired him; a cool aspect of this is that the exhibit includes drawings (which include a map of the fantasy world of Gondwanaland) from these early years. Visitors can also see his D&D dice from his high school days.
A fascinating aspect of the wonder years of DiTerlizzi was that he he drew because he often was bored; Kowalski shared as well that that boredom additionally prompted DiTerlizzi to explore the wilderness near his childhood Florida home. A hilarious element of this was learning that that experience prompted DiTerlizzi to advocate that children be bored.
The next tale of DiTerlizzi was a variation of the '60s sitcom "Green Acres" and somewhat paralleled the history of Rockwell. DiTerlizzi was working for Dungeons and Dragons after persistently applying to that company following several rejections of submitted sketches when he moved to rural Amherst Mass., which is roughly one hour from the Rockwell Museum.
Kowalski noted that DiTerlizzi never would have created The Spiderwick Chronicles if he had not moved; the rationale was that those books required experiencing nature. The exhibit reflected this including nature sketches by DiTerlizzi, whose influences included nature artist John J. Audobon. Audubon additionally inspired Owlbear (who is in the show) that is a DiTerlizzi D&D creation.
This portion of the exhibit devoted to the hugely successful (and equally awesome) Spiderwick period led to Kowalski sharing that that popular work led to DiTerlizzi literally having his choice of classic tales to re-imagine. This master of fantasy passed on well-known works that included Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz to create a new vision of The Reluctant Dragon in the form of Kenny & the Dragon. The image below is of the titular characters.
This immersive journey into the world of DiTerlizzi ended with his latest (and most adorable) work, The Story of Flea and Diva. The black-and-white image below is of our heroes, who are in living color in their book.
The big picture (pun intended) regarding both this the DiTerlizzi exhibit and this article is that this artist and his artful curator made all this possible for a trifecta of reasons; they want to inspire kids to read, to be creative, and to get them in the door to see the classic work of Rockwell. Your not-so-humble reviewer becoming a larger Rockwell fan and reading The Spidert and the Fly by DiTerlizzi shows that he and Kowalski should not be sad because two out of three ain't bad.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding Rockwell or DiTerlizzi are better off reaching out to Kowalski but are welcome to try emailing me or connecting on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
No comments:
Post a Comment