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6.7.07
While you are anxiously awaiting the release of Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life edited by Todd Oldham there’s this much less expensive alternative. It’s a collection of three decades worth of his limited edition prints of animals. The captions under each illustration are the original captions that came with each print. Charley has a great sense of humor and the titles and captions are playful but also include interesting facts about the animal depicted. Wrented for example is a drawing of wrens living inside a skull. The caption tells the story of Kentucky doctor who hung a skull as decoration in his backyard and wrens took it over as their home. “It was still occupied in 1945 when his son moved the skull to his garage in Indiana, where it was promptly re-wrented. Home is where the heart is, even if it’s a transplant.” Charley’s illustrations are nothing less than beautifully simple, well-designed and funny. He calls his style of painting “minimal realism,” a term he said he coined. The book has an interview of Charley Harper by Charley Harper which is just great. I guess he knew the best questions to ask himself. Charley is eighty-four and lives in Cincinnati. He even has a real myspace page here. There are recent photos and some older photos of him on the page. I have fallen in love with him and his work. Other artists have too- Eleanor Grosch of Pushmepullyou Design calls him her hero. Her work seems very inspired by Charley’s work. I am so happy that this new book is coming out soon and that I can have even more images of his work close to me. Check out more of his work here and don’t forget to add him as your myspace friend! Four days after I wrote this post Charley died of pneumonia at 84. Needless to say, he is a legend and his work will inspire us for years to come. Thanks Anne for making me aware. You can read a memorium here.
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© Julia Rothman 2007 |
