White Block Quadrupeds

255.00

1942 (date of original work)
2010 (Print Date)
Giclee digital print
Edition of 25 copies
28 x 43.2 cm

Only 1 left in stock

Description

Se trata de una edición limitada impresa con calidad giclée de un dibujo original de comienzos de los años 40 y no titulado de Jim Flora,  témpera sobre un grueso bloque de madera al que previamente se le había aplicado una imprimación en blanco. Las figuras representadas recuerdan a algunas del artista de la misma época, entre 1942 y 1944, justo después de que empezase a trabajar en el departamento de arte de Columbia Records. La imagen original se escaneo a alta resolución conservándose todos los detalles de la obra, realizándose también un proceso para eliminar daños e imperfecciones provocados por el paso del tiempo. Como la obra original no estaba firmada se ha añadido una firma de Flora compatible con el año 1943, fecha en la que se cree se realizó. El título, para diferenciarla de otras formas sin título de Flora, es White Block Quadrupeds.

La imagen mide aproximadamente 17 x 29 cm, impresa en una lámina de 28 x 43 cm de papel William Turner 100% algodón de 310 gramos con textura, fabricado por Hahnemühle (empresa alemana conocida por sus papeles premium desde 1584). Las tintas empleadas para este print giclée son Epson UltraChrome K3, que proporcionan extraordinaria longevidad resolución y viveza a la impresión. La edición consiste únicamente de 25  copias, más las necesarias pruebas. Todas ellas van tituladas y numeradas a mano, y autentificadas por detrás con el sello de Jim Flora Art (la empresa familiar que gestiona el legado de Flora). El precio del print va aumentando según se van vendiendo copias.

Jim Flora, United States Of America, (1914 Bellefontaine, Ohio – 1998 Rowayton, Connecticut)

James (Jim) Flora is best-known for his wild jazz and classical album covers for Columbia Records and RCA Victor (late 1940s to late 1950s), but he authored and illustrated 17 popular children’s books and flourished for decades as a magazine illustrator. At the time, few knew that Flora was also a prolific fine artist with a devilish sense of humor and a flair for juxtaposing playfulness, absurdity and violence. Cute — and deadly. 

Flora’s album covers pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Yet this childlike exuberance was subverted by a tinge of the diabolic. Flora wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring flying musicians, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives. Taking liberties with human anatomy, he drew bonded bodies and misshapen heads, while inking ghoulish skin tints and grafting mutant appendages. On some Flora figures, three legs and five arms were standard equipment, with spare eyeballs optional. His fine art works reflect the same comic yet disturbing qualities. 

Born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1914, James Flora was trained at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (1936-39). After struggling as a commercial freelancer, in 1942 he moved to Connecticut after accepting a job in the Columbia Records art department. One year later the label appointed him art director. Flora revolutionized the look of Columbia’s ads and retail circulars with his wild cartoonish illustrations. He was promoted several times, and though no longer art director, he began illustrating jazz album covers for the label in 1947. However, his executive chores with the company meant less opportunity to create art. In 1950, Flora resigned and moved to Mexico with his family. After 15 months of exotic life south of the border, during which he and his wife created a mountain of art, Flora returned to Connecticut in 1951. He embarked on a lengthy and prosperous career as a freelance commercial artist, children’s book author/illustrator, and album cover designer for RCA Victor. Despite the demanding deadlines, Flora found time to indulge his fine art impulses. He painted, sketched, created woodcuts, and made relief prints at home and during travels. Even in retirement, and particularly during the decade before his death in July 1998, he created an enormous body of work. 

Jim Flora artworks in La Fiambrera Art gallery

La Fiambrera Art Gallery is proud to present James Flora’s mischievous art to public thru his fine art prints, serigraph prints, and woodcuts, by special arrangement with the Jim Flora Estate and co-archivists Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon.

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