'Art Books': Pages from 'Esquire's Look into Hell' Pt. 2

Page 13: The Cereberus (Canto 6)

 

Through Dante's depiction of Hell, there is some notable division between the monsters that reside within it and the actual demons and devils that may deal punishment unto the damned souls. The monsters serve as some extended metaphor to a specific quality to one's sin. More precisely, they could be regarded as embodiments to the failure of restraint on the souls' instinctive notions that brought them to Hell. 'True' demons (or 'Daemons') on the other hand, are represented as a corruption of human intellect, embodiments of human malice.

 

Here are just a few examples of depictions of 'Daemons' within Esquire's Look into Hell.

 

Page 30: Geryon (Canto 17)

 

 

Page 45: Punishing the Barrators (Canto 21)





 

Page 48: Belzcue, Chief Daemon (Canto 21)

 

'Art Books': Pages from 'Esquire's Look into Hell' Pt. 1

This is the first collection of noted pages from the Esquire's... book. All descriptions and notes for following pages were taken from the sketchbook. Some of the writing was altered from the original text.

Page 1: Entrance to Hell (Canto 3)

"This was the first page I worked on where I decided to use Dante's text as a reference to the images throughout this book. It was also the first page I used a quote from the poem itself. All quotations in the Esquire's book are from the translation by Dorothy L. Sayers."

Pages 4-5: Esquire's Look into Hell

"These two pages were actually the first pages I began any work on for this particular project. It was also where I first considered producing images throughout the book by working over pre-existing illustrations found within the book."

Page 8: Winds of the Lustful (Canto 5)

"This was my first page from which I 1) primarily produced the image using paint and 2) based more explicitly around a scene described in Dante's Divine Comedy. This page also shows more influence from the depiction produced by William Blake, compared to other pages through Esquires..."



Page 13: The Cerberus (Canto 6)

"I think I can safely say that the Cerberus is a commonly recognised figure of ancient mythology. For my adaptation, I intended to make my own interpretation of the creature while still making it visually recognisable as the Cerberus. I wanted to accomplish this changing minor visual elements to the monster.
In the 'Upper Hell' of Inferno, people are punished for their failure to control their appetites (a specialised circle is arranged for the appropriate "indulgent sin"). Therefore, any creatures within these circles, Cerberus a particular example, are emodied perversions of these indulgences. The Cerberus itself is that of gluttony, thrashing at the swollen bodies of the gluttonous as they lay helpless in the mud. Because of Dante's connection of Cerberus to a human element, I decided to partially depict Cerberus with somewhat human, albeit grotesque, facial features."



Page 20: The Furies Guard the Gate of Dis, Withdrawing Medusa...

Tombs of the Heretics in View (Canto 9)

"You could question why I chose to specifically depict the Furies out of all the other hellish entities through the modern cliches of Hell and its 'associates'. The gates to the City of Dis mark the regions based around sins that Dante would refer to as being carried out of genuine moral disregard. In all circles prior to Dis, souls were punished for what were considered indulgent (or incontinent) sins, which are considered more a failure to withdraw appetites."

Therefore, the visual elements incorporated for the Furies are a reference to Dante's progress into Hell, and how the following circles will be designated to more profane acts, and therefore revel in more severe punishments. As 'monsters' are embodiments of more instinctive notions, 'daemons' (demons) exist around less ambiguously human modes of misconduct. The nature of 'daemons' will be elaborated at another time.

Page 29: Waterfall: the Great Barrier (Canto 16)



"This is perhaps one of the pages with most potential for intrigue. In comparison to many of the other pages, this one is more abstract and even expressive, in a similar nature to my previous paintings from the 'Colour & Harmony' project.
I have at times wondered any possible benefit there could be if I were to attempt a reproduction of this piece as a landscape."

Page 34: The Flatterers, Steeped in Filth (Canto 18)

"I can't help but see some dark humour behind this particular imagery. Here, the "flatterers" are left to dwell in festering marsh-like pools, covered in indescribible filth. This is in response to their exploitation of others 'by playing upon their desires and fears; their especial weapon is that abuse and corruption of language that destorys communication between mind and mind'.
These souls are essentially being punished for being 'full of shit'."

Page 58-59: Dis (Canto 34)

"This is perhaps the most quintessential scene to reproduce: Dante and his guide Virgil reach the very centre of Hell. Here Dante beholds a titanic figure emerged from the frozen lake Cocytus from the waist up. Although Virgil address this figure as 'Dis, king of the underworld', Dante nevertheless idenifies this being to be the Devil itself. Dante's depiction of the Devil as a prisoner of Hell rather than its overseeing ruler is a highly understandable notion. While God is generally described to be omnipresent, omniscient, and benevolent, Dante shows the Devil to be confined, incapable of even moving its mighty wings as it sits idlely within the ice, dribbling and droning imbecilically."

Regarding Pages for 'Esquire's Look into Hell'

Initially for my sketchbook, I attempted to scan the images I produced for the Esquire's book but their quality was significantly reduced in comparison to the original pieces. In the near future, I will set to produce higher quality photos of notable pages from the art book, additional pages may be referenced through my notes and images regarding the sketchbook.

I also am considering some attempts to re-explore mixed-media painting by reproducing some of the images depicted in my book and applying them to alternative materials. For example, I've consdiered re-working one page that I think is particularly interesting onto scrap metal and wood.

'Art Books': Design #2: 'Esquire's Look into Hell'

This one actually developed into the project it became intentionally so. After some deliberate scribbling beside and through the margins of a book entitled Esquire's Book of Gambling, I found myself regularly producing images inside it that, in a somewhat comical sense, were similar to the so-called 'doom paintings' often produced in the European middle-ages. I have had an interest in these sometimes dream-like apocalyptic images for a significant part of my life so far and it certainly hasn't waned. As I continued to work into such images, I began considering the gambling book to become a full-fledged project along with Book of Matches.

In terms of the book's construction, I set to use the pages primarily as a canvas of sorts to whatever visions I incorporate into the book. Binding feels fairly straight forward, I intend to remove the pages from their original covers entirely and give it new binding and cover that feel more appropriate to the theme consistent to the whole book.

I have considered using a leather cover, or at least a material much like leather. As for the actual binding, I thought of having the pages held together by metal bolts. Since I didn't want to directly bore holes into the original pages themselves, I sought a material to stick onto the page edges, which would have the holes for bolts to go through when arranging it all for a cover.

The black strap on the page was the chosen material

Regarding the actual content I was introducing to the book, I chose to purely focus on images relating to Hell and Purgatory, while occasionally blending the theme with a visually humorous element. For this effect, I looked a little into Insult to Injury by Jake and Dinos Chapman (generally referred to as the Chapman Brothers). Additionally, I decided I needed to refine my visual interpretation of Hell, to present a slightly more narrative style rather than arbitrarily address the mere concept of Hell itself. As an immediate reference, I looked into the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, more specifically the first book, Inferno. To an extent, I would set out to recreate scenes as described by Dante and his ficticious journey into and through Hell, often using the woodcut prints by Gustave Dore and watercolours by William Blake as additonal inspiration.

'Art Books': Constructing 'Book of Matches'

In order to ensure I was prepared with how to construct my piece, Book of Matches, I first settled with working on prototypes towards the final model. I already knew that my 'matches' would be made from cutting pages into columns but I also needed to consider other elements such as arrangement of the matches, building their 'phosphorus' tips, colour and finally how they would be bound as if a book.

As an additional note, we were also required to make note of any concerns for

 health & safety while designing and building the book projects.

Since I had a number of second-hand books in possession, there was relative conveniance with materials for prototypes before having to make the final outcome. I took full advantage by using one of the books to start my first test on deciding how the phosphorus tips of the 'matches'.

Both matches on the far left had mod-roc put on the ends and then

painted in acrylic but in different types of paint.

This prototype also showed me a need to have some distance between each match, especially if they were going to be tipped with mod-roc. Regarding the colour, I decided to settle for brighter, solid colours as I felt it would help the piece appropriate from its Pop Art inspired design.

For my second model, I took out a bound collection of pages from another bookset together a limited number of the total pages available. In other words, there would still be pages left unaltered behind the matchstick pages. I also took this time to work on a method for binding the pages entirely.

Shown words from top to bottom: Hotel, Candle, Burning, Kindle

At this point, the reason itself is now lost from any recollection, I also considered marking out certain letters to create words that have some relation to the chosen subject of the book. In this case, all the words made somehow related to a book of matches, matches themselves and often fire. The binding method used for this prototype also seemed effective enough, requiring the very same materials for the construction of the matches.

Step 1 = Right

Step 2 = Left

Step 1:
"One of the selected books would be split in half, from the binding, after being removed from its covers.

This was done because:

1. More copies could be made from each book.

2. Each book of matches will be at a more appropriate thickness."



Step 2:

"Outline for the matches are drawn on for cutting. The matches are then tipped with mod-roc to represent the phosphorus heads.

Painting:

MATCHES: - Flat colours, as if 'Pop Art' pieces. A vibrant red for phosphorus, the rest in yellow.

BOOK COVERS: - More complex blend of colours to appear like an aged book cover..."

 

One of the volumes of Book of Matches

'Art Books': Design #1 'Book of Matches'

Although I bought a number of second-hand books, with the intention that ideas would incidently occur looking through available materials, one idea already developed through a simple thought regarding the wordplay shown in this post's title. It was only from this idea I even asked for and received clarification that the term 'book of matches' was referring to the type of packaging that was originally used for matches in hotels and/or bars.

via Photobucket: source



 

The overall idea for the design also became straightforward. Using pages from a book, I could cut them into columns to be stuck together as if matches inside the 'packaging' which will double as the binding for the book.

 

 

 

A major influence on how the aesthetic elements took shape were based on the works of Claes Oldenburg. Possibly best described as a Pop Art sculptor, Oldenburg most notably took basic everyday objects and took them out of their original practical contexts. Two recognisable series to his works are the minimal but large-scaled sculptures as well as his 'soft' sculptures, collapsable objects constructed from canvas and foam.

 

One of the foremost proponents of Pop art, Claes Oldenburg is credited as the creator of soft sculpture. Throughout the 1960s, he made oversized hamburgers and pieces of cake in vinyl stuffed with kapok, and miniature, collapsible canvas objects such as drum sets, which offer wry commentary on the dominance of fast food and mass culture. Oldenburg’s work marries the Surrealists’ absurdist disregard for scale and functionality with a Pop art fixation on the crassness of consumerism. His objects and sculptures are often issued in editions, thus echoing the mass production of the original items.

- Soft Sculpture, article from National Gallery of Australia (2009)

 

Interestingly enough, Oldenburg had too produced a sculptural piece (Mistos, Match Cover) not too dissimilar to the book of mathes concept I decided to work on. Also, not unlike some of Oldenburg's works, I plan to produce Book of Matches as a voluminal piece. This all too prefectly models itself after his focus on Pop Art and its relationship with items of mass production and consumerism.

 





Fifth Project Brief: 'Art Books'

In addition to the other briefs and prior to our Final Major Project (FMP) in Foundation Art & Design, this 'art book' project was set as part of an additional certificate. Admittedly, I don't remember the details on this certificate and hence its relevance to the rest of the Foundation course. As for the actual aims however, we were to produce a minimum of two art books. Both had to focus on a different theme, be 'hand-made' and hand-bound and at least one of them had to be 'free-standing'. The actual definition as to what constituted as a free-standing book was most deliberately left vague. Fortunately, this did mean that the requirements were not too restrictive on possible outcomes and also meant I could aim to make my free-standing book project with an almost sculptural quality.

Even before beginning the project, I knew this would involve at least one of the most explorative pieces I produced for the whole course. I most certainly decided to go all out with using books as a base media to my art to the extent of using a second-hand encyclopedia as my sketchbook, specifically for the project.
To be specific, it was The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals.

This way, I figured I could use the sketchbook as a continual medium for experimentation. I also wanted to take away the elements of producing a sketchbook that can more or less feel like a chore rather than a fulfilling recording of artistic development. Or perhaps a better way to word this would be to say I did it take make the project more fun.

With this in mind, I most certainly plan to make the most out of presenting what I developed through my sketchbook as much as what I've actually built as the final outcome. In a sense, my process/es allowed the sketchbook to become an art piece in its own right, albeit a highly experimental and non-refined one.