Category Archives: Paintings

Paul Bonner’s Mutant Chronicles

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We’re on a road trip through Scandinavia. It is July. The sun is already high and hot as we breakfast in Copenhagen. Josi and Sari chat about what they will do and see today. I already have a plan. I am meeting an Englishman: and no ordinary Englishman! 

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Paul Bonner, the famous fantasy illustrator, has replied to my contact email and, to my surprise, has invited me to visit his home. “Why are you so excited to meet him?” asks my daughter who knows my passion for fantasy land (and who adores Littlest Pet Shop and My Little Pony.) “Well…” I explain “I feel I grew up with him. He shaped my interests, pastimes and imagination as he did for millions of people my age.”

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Paul greets me warmly. His handshake is firm. He is not the way-out character that I was expecting. Does this guy’s head really house such an incredible imagination? I register the privilege of entering his personal universe. I see his illustrations for real. He shows and then gives me a book of his work. Mind-blowing! Unsurprisingly, his studio is decked with Asian masks, animal skulls, anatomical posters and model dinosaurs.

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The painting Paul is working on is part of his Beowulf project. It is everything I would expect. A battle-hardened viking-dwarf with drawn sword enters an underground cavern with trepidation. Huge, slithery, spiney, wall-hanging monsters await him. Fantastic fantasy! This is why I wanted to meet Paul.

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A beautifully crafted, grotesque and mischievous goblin has pride of place in his studio. It stops me in my tracks. The attention to detail is just remarkable. It looks like it could spring to life at any moment!

Mutant Chronicles Rulebook

In the 1990s, a company called Target Games (now Paradox Interactive) was working on a series of games set in a dieselpunk, sci-fi universe called Mutant Chronicles. This was before the digital age; it involved a collectible card game (Doom Trooper), three board games (Siege of the Citadel, Fury of the Clansmen and Blood Berets), a tabletop miniature game (Warzone) and a role-playing game (Mutant Chronicles). The cards and booklets required illustrations. Paul, a trained illustrator, was offered the job.

Paul’s muscle-bound, weapon-wielding heroes brought the avatars of me and my friends to life. His imagination fed ours. He seeded and cultivated our fantasy worlds; we could envisage them, step into them and so play out our roles within them. We wanted to stay engaged. We had an insatiable appetite for new avatars. Did his visual depiction of these other worlds and the hundreds of unlikely protagonists ultimately influence the writers?

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Paul gives a modest shrug, but as an avid fan of Mutant Chronicles, I have no doubt of the two-way relationship between the writing and the illustration of the game. In fact, a reboot of the role-playing game is in the making, and British publisher Modiphius Entertainment has on Kickstarter promised that the 3rd edition of the “amazing techno-fantasy game” will “reveal never before seen parts of the Mutant Chronicles universe alongside the existing fantastic images by Paul Bonner.” I cannot wait to hear what my friends will say!

Paul’s remarkable career grew from a fascination for Tolkien and Scandinivian fables. No wonder then that he admits to his major influence: the paintings of John Bauer, Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Ivan Shishkin. But then after a holiday walking in Scandinavian forests (probably, I suspect, hoping to glimpse a troll for real) he simply decided to stay and make Copenhagen his base of operations. 

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Two hours slip by too quickly. I have made a new friend. In addition, I was able to offer something in return: I advise Paul on how to set up a Facebook page to share his work with fans and friends. Being the master illustrator he is, it is no surprise that his new page already has over eight thousand followers. I cannot help thinking that they would all love to step into Paul’s personal universe as well. I eventually leave and can see that Paul is keen to get back to work. But before you leave this post, take a look at some more of his incredible illustrations. Talk about skill and imagination!

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Jeff Schaller: from beeswax to bow-hunting

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Jeff Schaller 1

Thanks to Galerie ID, I know the work of James Rizzi and Michael Kalish. Once again, ID brings a major name in American pop art to Geneva. This is Jeff Schaller‘s sixth ID exhibition and, what’s more, these are his only six exhibitions outside the USA. I have the privilege of a rendez-vous with him just before the opening. In the gallery window is “Roses;” it catches my eye from afar. I meet Jeff. Broad smile. Nice guy. I can’t help noticing the shiny aligator-skin boots. Well, he is American!

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Désirée, Jeff and “Roses” (61cm x 61cm Encaustic on wood) at Galerie ID

Jeff introduces me to Désirée, his muse-spouse and mother of their three children. Nice eyes. Nice lady. The pieces fit together. Désirée is the model for “Roses.”

Jeff is 44 years old. He trained in London and Philadelphia. His initial interest was scientific illustration. It did not take him long to turn his talent to producing images of beautiful women. “I love the hair and the soft skin.” he tells me openly.

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“Wise” 61cm x 61cm Encaustic on wood

It comes as no surprise when Jeff tells me – with justifiable pride – that Désirée is the model for most of his work. However, the success of his portfolio is not solely due to the beatiful and evocative subject matter. His name is known for his mastery of “encaustic.”  This is a two-thousand year-old technique that works best on wood. It involves the painter making his or her own paint by melting beeswax and adding the pigments. Application is time-critical. The first shot has to be the right shot.There is a fifteen second window of opportunity before the paint dries. In describing the warming of the beeswax, Jeff warms to the subject. It is clearly a technique that matches his temperament. After careful planning and preparation he launches himself into total, intense concentration and commitment. Désirée and the kids know this is not the time to ask him to take a telephone call. Jeff uses words like “viscosity,” “instantaneous” and “confidence.” He tells me the best part of his work and what really gives him a buzz is the moment that he knows he has executed the final lavish stroke. As if to re-run the thrill, he touches his work and invites me to do the same. I already know him well enough to call him “Mister Enthusiasm!” I ask him what one word describes his chosen technique. He thinks for bit and says “Yummy!” and laughs. The result cannot be appreciated on a photo…. so go to the exhibition!

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“Decadence” 92cm x 92cm Encaustic on wood

I am drawn into Jeff’s paintings. Each is like one frame of a sumptuous cartoon strip. Each is a puzzle of nostalgia, celebration, sensuality, relationship and the written word. But the puzzle just is. It doesn’t need to be solved. I ask Jeff about his influences. Roy Lichtenstein? Ed Ruscha? Top of his list is Jasper Johns. A major reason is that Johns also used encaustic to great effect; another is that he is reputed to have said “Take something and add to it.” I guess it sums up pop art.

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Authentication and dating by silkscreen print on reverse side of “Wise”

There is another unique feature to Jeff’s works. None are signed. None are dated. Désirée turns one of the paintings. On the back is a hand printed silk-screen of a recent photo of their three children. Each work is thus authenticated and dated.

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“Head over heels” 30cm x 30cm Encaustic on wood

One painting reminds of the love of my life. I inspect it closely. I am slightly breathless. I explore the hair and the eys with trembling finger tips and… I buy it!

We chat. People arrive. Jeff clearly feels he should mingle. I have a thousand questions. I permit myself one more. “So what do you do when you’re not painting?”  There is a heart beat of hesitation in his smile. “I’m a bit of red-neck!” he replies noting my surprise. “I bow-hunt.” I ask what he hunts. His eyes flick down to his boots. “Aligators!” he says.

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“Evicted” by Blandford Fletcher

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"Evicted" by Blandford Fletcher, Oil on canvas. Photo taken thanks to Brisbane Art Gallery, South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland.

“Evicted” by Blandford Fletcher, 1887 Oil on canvas. Photo taken thanks to Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland.

Each visit to the Queensland Art Gallery sees me inexorably drawn to “Evicted” by Blandford Fletcher (1858 -1936). I question why this should be. Is it that this painting from 1887 reminds me of my past life living in English villages, thus stirring emotive memories? Is it that it brings me closer to my ancestors who lived in Britain and would have dressed like this and known the world that it portrays?

Detail of "Evicted"

Detail of “Evicted”

What I have no need to question is that it attracts me because it is Beautiful Stuff, masterfully executed by a man who could draw, who understood composition, use of colour and whose immense skill with his chosen medium is undeniable. The subject matter does not attract me as it shows a sad widow and her daughter being evicted from their home in Steventon in Berkshire by the Bailiff with villagers looking on. I wondered why I should like the painting so much when the subject was so tragic. I also wondered why every face had such blandness of expression under the circumstances but concluded that this must be a reflection of the times when to portray high emotion may have appeared almost “cartoony”. Perhaps the artist wished to give the victims dignity and also to not point the finger of blame at the others. In a cruel system all are ultimately victims I suppose. But that is conjecture. On my last visit to the painting I was unconvinced by the above conclusions as I felt that the full reason for its fascination  still eluded me. I read the information plaque again and I then understood. ‘….Fletcher’s interests lay less in landscapes than in the human stories associated with English village life. His paintings typified late Victorian works that appealed to the social conscience in an age of rapid industrialisation, reform and economic hardship.’

Detail of "Evicted"

Detail of “Evicted”

The words ‘appealed to the social conscience’ were the key. This was the missing layer, the hidden extra, the further dimension that this painting offered. It was painted for a reason above and beyond the artist’s need to recreate that which appealed to his aesthetic senses. It was a statement designed to initiate change and I saw parallels with the songs of John Lennon, the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe and all the works of ‘artists’ throughout the ages who have highlighted the suffering and injustices in society and on occasions offered solutions. This made me further think about the ‘artist’s’ role in initiating social change. I feel that simply because of what artists do their views in this arena are seen and heard most readily, stridently and often in extraordinarily attractive and powerful ways. This, I think, has resulted in society giving an unjustified importance to artists’ opinions and therefore granting them a licence, bordering on a monopoly, over the regulation of the social conscience. If this is true then it is a complete fallacy. We all must be and can be guardians of the social conscience and initiate social change by using whatever medium we are skilled at using.