Apparently, the logical, or illogical, progression in thinking about women and mirrors is to, at some point, consider Lewis Carroll and "Alice in Wonderland"/"Through the Looking Glass."
Isn't it strange how these things progress?
I am hoping this will be my first and last post recalling, considering, discussing Lewis Carroll. While I am enjoying thoroughly following the progression of this line of thinking/this series of paintings, I don't think Alice and the Mad Hatter are necessarily about to land in the middle of one of my canvases.
That said, what is especially fascinating to me is the incredible amount that has been done with this man's visions. There is a new world out there in cyberspace inhabited by various parallel versions of Alice and her friends: Interesting, Thought-provoking, Nightmarish, Friendly, Sexy, Nightmarishly Sexy, etc.
The pictures above are as follows:
- "Through the looking glass," photo by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue magazine December 2004
http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/120103/popup/slideshow11.html - "Alice Through the Looking Glass (Creation Classic Portables, 3)" Creation Pub Group (2000) by Trevor Brown (http://hugo-sb.wetpaint.com/page/Trevor+Brown)
- Advertisement for "Cute Alice" costume from mydivascloset.com (http://www.mydivascloset.com/alandteapaco.html)
- Alice in Wonderland chess set from TheChessPiece.com
The last time I was in Las Vegas was on Halloween weekend with my friend Brian Campbell. Everyone was dressed up in costumes, and I must have seen at least 9 different "sexy" Alice in Wonderland costumes, in various levels of appropriateness (all of which, I found appropriate).
My favorite Alice-influenced artwork is probably the graphic novel "Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious On Serious Earth," by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. It is incredible in its painted pages and its strange text. While it doesn't create an entire new "Wonderland," it is an amazing piece of art set within the (strained to a stretching point) bounds of the Dark Knight.
Speaking of Wonderland, does John Mayer have to pay Lewis Carroll royalties for "Your Body is a Wonderland?"
Hey, anybody who has guest-spotted on the Dave Chappelle Show is OK by me.
But speaking of John Mayer... is Jessica Simpson Alice?
OK, enough shameless celebrity gossip within the bounds of art theorizing.
So, this idea of crawling through a mirror and finding a world on the other side is inspiring to all kinds of people. It is incredible to think that out of the world Lewis Carroll set to page, so many other people have created a universe with his ideas at the center. 5 or ten versions would have been astounding; but the hundreds and hundreds show that Alice and her world are rich with symbolism and meaning for a huge cross-section of different people.
Try it yourself, type in Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass in a Google image search and see what comes up.
One favorite of mine was: hugo-sb.wetpaint.com/page/Alice+Illustrations+other+than+Tenniel
which had an enormous amount of different treatments.
1 comment:
One thing that is interesting to me about Alice is that I believe most people (and especially the ladies dressed up in Vegas) know Alice only from the Disney film. I doubt many people read the book anymore, so everyone interprets the look through Walt Disney, not Carroll. Good thing Mr. D gave her an outfit that makes it easy for slutty interpretations.
Post a Comment