my super gay book of saints and holy days: an interview with jim smith

Below is my interview with the amazing artist Jim Smith who is raising funds on Kickstarter to publish a book of his work entitled My Super Gay Book of Saints and Holy Days.


jdb: I stumbled upon your artwork on instagram and instantly fell in love. Do you remember the subject of your very first portrait?


JS: Thank you so much. My first illustration was a portrait of Sigourney Weaver in 2007. I had started a blog that’s now archived at jiminysnap.com. The blog started out exclusively as illustrations of my dreams, but only when I dreamt about a celebrity.

I had planned to just use photos from the internet of whoever was in my dream, but my boyfriend at the time was an animator and he kind of encouraged (insisted, really) that I create the images myself. I protested that I didn’t know anything about illustrating but he said that didn’t really matter, that I should just start doing it. Eventually I expanded the blog with essays and salutes to some of my favorite performers on their birthdays.

jdb: What kind of materials do you use primarily?

JS: I used to use art markers and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper. I love the pencils over regular watercolor because I felt I had a little more control and I could use them dry or wet or some combination of both.

I still use the pencils from time to time, but over the last year or so I’ve drifted to creating my art digitally on my iPad using an Apple pencil and a program called Paper 53. It’s a fairly simple program, but it has a “brush” that simulates watercolor where you can add layer upon layer of color. When I print my images I tend to use water color paper, and then sometimes I will add actual water color on top so they’re really like embellished prints that feel very much like paintings. This method allows me to work more quickly, but also I feel like I have more control (there’s that word again!) than I do working exclusively on paper.

I also sometimes love using a plain red accountant’s pencil—just the one color. I feel like sometimes with shading you can get as much or more feeling out of an image with this single color than you can with a whole palette full of hues.






jdb: Where do you make your paintings? Do you have a studio? Where do you store your work?

JS:  I have a drafting table that I inherited from my old boyfriend when he moved to Canada. It has both sentimental and practical value for me. When I’m working on paper I absolutely use it, and when I’m working on the ipad I sometimes still sit at the drafting table, but more often I am sitting on my bed with my dog trying to distract me by dropping balls, bones, squeaky toys, and the occasional sock into my lap right on top of the iPad.

My work is stored in my iPad, of course, and the prints and paper originals are stored in a couple of large bins in my apartment, and I also have several hanging on my walls. I felt funny about that at first, like it was kind of arrogant or showing off to display my own work. But I wouldn’t have painted these subjects if I wasn’t interested in them, so I’ve mostly made peace with that. I think of a quote I once read from Carol Channing when asked what was her favorite role. She answered “whichever one I’m doing at the time because if I don’t feel that way, why should the audience?” Well, if I don’t like my work enough to display it, why would anyone else?




jdb: Tell us about your kickstarter project. What is it for?

JS: I’m running a Kickstarter project to help me self publish a book of portraits and short biographies I’ve been working on called My Super Gay Book of Saints and Holy Days.  The book is not exactly a parody but it’s done in the style of the books of the saints lives that a lot of Catholic children grow up reading. They are usually illustrated with bright and kind of tacky portraits on one page and on the opposite page it will tell you things like the saint’s birthday, what they are the patron saint of, what miracles they performed (ie, how they got their sainthood) and often times the gory details of how they met their demise.

I’d been trying to figure out a theme for a book for some of portraits. I tried putting one together with my dream illustrations and some longer essays, but it was like an overstuffed burrito. It was too hard to get your hands around it and ultimately it was a mess.

As I mentioned before, I often do portraits when I know someone I admire has a birthday coming up. Well, during the last week or so of April, there are no less than 10 people I like to draw with birthdays—Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Burnett and several more. Last year I was hard at work creating all the portraits for the week and I joking told my sister I was super busy because it was Holy Week. And that’s when it sort of hit me, that pop culture had been kind of a religion to me in terms of its ability to sooth my soul and inspire me. And then I remembered the religious books of my Catholic childhood and the theme for my book revealed itself.

I’m editing the book now and hopefully with the help of Kickstarter I’ll be publishing it in the next 3 to 4 months and you’ll see full color portraits of roughly 50 “saints” ranging from Eleanor Roosevelt to Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, and Broadway divas like Jennifer Holliday and Bernadette Peters.

I’m trying not to include people just because they may be popular with the LGBT community, but rather performers, writers, politicians and even athletes whose work particularly affected me. I’ve also been lucky to meet many of the people featured, usually just briefly, but I’ve included some fun personal encounters with a few of the saints.

jdb: Who are some of your favorite icons? Is there anyone in present day pop culture you find inspiring?

JS: I think I would answer that in two ways. As far as inspiration goes, I would put Barbra Streisand at the very top because of her sheer talent and because of how deeply her work has touched me and continues to color my outlook on life. Also Gloria Steinem, whom I worked for several years ago, inspires me every single day, as does original Dreamgirl Jennifer Holliday who has this incredibly positive attitude while she lives with MS and makes her way in a business that’s not always kind. As far as my favorites to draw or paint, I never get tired of Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf. I like doing simple sketches of them and also slightly more detailed  fully colored pieces. Also Judy Davis, the wonderful, intense Australian actress. She has this beautiful alabaster skin, massive lips, and piercing eyes. I once did an illustration of her as Medusa because I almost think I would turn to stone if I were to meet her gaze.




When you say present day pop culture, it makes me realize that every person I named is over 50 at least, though I like to think of them as current. Certainly there are wonderful performers that are younger but I’m hard pressed to think of anyone that I feel compelled to draw. Lily Rabe, a wonderful young actress and the daughter of Jill Clayburgh, comes to mind. She is someone whose work I enjoy immensely, particularly seeing her perform "Shakespeare in The Park", and I have painted her in a scene from Much Ado About Nothing.

jdb: Do you make a list of those you want to paint or does it come about organically?

JS: I have a pretty extraordinary memory for Birthdays, so I generally know when one is coming up for someone I want paint. I’ve missed a few this year because of working on the book. Sometimes it’s more organic. I may have just been thinking about someone or heard a song on the radio. Or the news may influence me at times.  I had never done Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds before, for instance, but when Carried passed away I did a quick portrait of her and then worked on one of Debbie. I was finishing it up when I heard the news that she too had passed.   Sometimes late at night if I can’t sleep and I don’t have a particular subject in mind, I have two fall back subjects: Edith Piaf and nuns. Not together, of course. I don’t know why exactly, but there is something extremely satisfying about absentmindedly drawing nuns.

fire

Justice drops their slick video "Fire" which features Susan Sarandon (who is not my favorite right now) in Thelma & Louise homage.

justin lockwood reviews 'tammy'

The new comedy Tammy has two huge draws: Melissa McCarthy, the energetic star of Bridesmaids and The Heat, and Susan Sarandon, who needs no introduction at this point.  The duo star as a luckless woman—in the first scene she wrecks her car by colliding with a deer, then gets fired and finds out her husband is having an affair with the neighbor—and her ribald, sassy grandma, embodied by Sarandon in a wig and prosthetics. Their chemistry and charisma, aided by a fine supporting cast, keeps the movie engaging even if it’s not quite as gut busting as you might hope.  The script, co-written by McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone (who also directs) further supports the film with some emotional heft.

Following her day from hell, Tammy wants to leave town, but when mom Allison Janney (pretty underused) refuses the use of her car, grandma Pearl offers hers—if she can come along.  The film then becomes a series of episodes, with bits like Tammy’s totaling of a jet ski (both she and Pearl swiftly dress down the irate rental clerk).  It’s meandering without a lot of structure at first, but it’s an amiable enough entertainment thanks to witty one-liners and the leads’ ability to go for it.  The scene in which Tammy amateurishly robs a fast food joint, touted in the trailers, is a highlight that justifies the episodic plot.  Eventually subplots like Tammy’s romance with a likable everyman (an endearing Mark Duplass) and Pearl’s health troubles and alcoholism converge into a character arc for Tammy and a grand reckoning for her relationship with her grandmother. Kathy Bates, effortlessly great as a lesbian relative, supports the more mature elements in her heart to heart with Tammy—while also getting to light a car on fire and blow up the aforementioned jet ski (!).

Tammy fails to make use of all of its terrific cast members—while McCarthy and Duplass are fun to watch as they move towards connection, and Sarandon is typically great (and clearly having a ball), stalwarts like Gary Cole and Toni Collette aren’t given enough to do.  But the movie falls into a subcategory of comedy I’ve come to enjoy, movies in which, even if they’re not always hysterical, really satisfy on an emotional level.

a review of 'ping pong summer' by justin lockwood

There’ve been a number of films set in the 1980s recently, with mixed results: the unfunny Take Me Home Tonight is the first to spring to mind.  With its opening shot of a two tape player boom box, writer/director Michael Tully’s Ping Pong Summer joins this dubious club.  Does it hit that sweet spot of totally awesome 80s nostalgia?

Yes and no.  This modest coming-of-age story does a decent job of exploiting the period without being obvious or over-the-top.  The seriousness with which Radford (“Rad”) and his friend Teddy regard ping pong, breakdancing, and “fun punch” addiction is endearingly old school.  The vintage music cuts keep coming, mostly hip hop tracks with a sprinkling of pop hits like “Voices Carry” and “Broken Wings.”

While Susan Sarandon, Judah Friedlander, and Amy Sedaris (she of the immortal "Strangers with Candy") receive top billing, their appearances amount to glorified cameos; it’s up to young leads Marcello Conte (Rad) and Myles Massey (Teddy) to carry the film.  Both performers are talented, with Conte the standout: he recalls a young Emile Hirsch in another adolescent film, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.

It’s the uneven writing that lets them, and the movie, down.  The tone is a mishmash of campy comedy and heartfelt sentimentality.  Rad and Teddy’s friendship in particular plays like a live action Peanuts special, with lines like “I wish this summer didn’t have to end; it was the best summer ever!”  At least some of that corniness is deliberate, but sometimes it’s hard to tell between knowing cheese and shoddy scripting.  Tully fares better with his baddies, two merciless rich kid bullies played by Joseph McCaughtry and Andy Riddle. The duo come off like every loathsome brat who ever stalked an 80s flick, and the audience is actively engaged in anticipating their comeuppance.  (In the tradition of most teen dramas, “uncool” Conte is actually better-looking and more appealing than supposed stud McCaughtry.)  Susan Sarandon is equally trope-y as the creepy-seeming stranger with a heart of gold, but it’s the kind of part she can sleepwalk through at this point; one wonders why she even bothered with such an unremarkable role.

Much of Ping Pong boils down to Conte, and his adorable looks and naturalistic instincts prevent Rad from becoming a mere cipher in the movie’s somewhat labored quirkiness.  Most of the story beats are familiar from dozens of similar movies: the escalating encounters with the bullies, a romance with a generic cutie (Emmi Shockley), and the lead-up to the big showdown with McCaughtry.  Ping Pong Summer might have benefited by giving us more insight into Teddy’s background and focusing fully on his friendship with Rad, which is truly the heart of the film.  (It also would've been nice to see more of Rad’s family, who remain underdeveloped.)  As it stands, the movie coasts along on the appeal of its young cast and the universality of the situations.  Coming of age stories will have their place as long as people continue to experience-- and look back on-- them.  Ping Pong Summer is a trifle, but it’s an entertaining, winning, and relatable one.

Ping Pong Summer opens in New York today.


-Justin Lockwood

photographs by deborah feingold

Some iconic and rare photographs by Deborah Feingold.




Ricki

Barack

Hillary

Joni

Madge

LL

 

Eartha

 

Cindy

 

Mr. Rogers

 

Spike

Susan

 Lisa

Pat

Mary

Julia

Jasmine

SJP

Yoko

Jennifer

via Deborah Feingold

all images are © deborah feingold photography

the lovely bones - trailer

The trailer is out for The Lovely Bones. And I'm not really feeling it. Alice Sebold's novel started out riveting and suspenseful but half-way through became too sentimental. I was hoping Jackson would get back to his Heavenly Creatures roots and create something as unsettling, but after directing three Lord of the Rings epics and King Kong, it seems that he has gone CGI-happy. The period detail looks amazing, but do we really need CGI--abliet CGI effects of heavy-handed metaphors: roses and giant breaking glass bottles--in The Lovely Bones?

first look at the lovely bones

Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones has been buzzed about for years now. Images from the film have been coming out that are quite striking. Here are a few. And an article about the film.