There are many elements of popular culture that so ingrained in our society that they require no explanation. Mentioning Star Wars, The Beatles or the Muppets instantly conjure memories from our past where we first experienced or fell in love with these. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing Star Wars for the first time on the big screen, or curled up with a blanket and a bowl of cereal watching Sesame Street on a console television or getting all the kids in your neighborhood to search for treasure like Th**e Goonies. For many of us, these memories fade as we grow up. But for artist James Hance, tapping in to our shared cultural experiences is the basis for much of his work.
When I first saw James' work, I was struck by the duality of his imagery. On the one hand, there are pieces that seem to exist for pure comic value: Darth Vader releasing a white dove or a storm trooper blowing bubbles from a bubble wand. At the surface, they appear to be one-liners, but taken as a whole, they are reflections of ourselves as kids with a certain amount of innocence. Other pieces were less pop-art and more complicated, frequently quoting other art such as the above The Death of General Vader (quoting The Death of General Wolfe by 18th-century artist Benjamin West.) Here, these works take those same pop culture references and mash them up with other references and inevitably our own experiences as the viewer.
While Star Wars imagery comprises a large body of his work, it's far from all James does. Many of the paintings that struck me emotionally were those that caught me off-guard as various childhood memories came flooding in. In particular, his treatment of Super Grover with Super Man (The Man and Muppet of Steel) brought me back to a time 25 years ago that I had completely forgotten about.
To understand more about the work and James' process, I contacted him with a few questions. The interview appears after the break.
GeekDad: Your tagline - Relentlessly Cheerful Art - seems appropriate. On the one hand, it's easy to identify the pop-culture references and appreciate your work on a superficial level. However, the joy from your work, at least for me, stems from integrating my own childhood memories into the work. Seeing paintings of Grover with Superman or the Calvin & Hobbes pieces are particularly gratifying. What are you specifically trying to express with these works?
James Hance: That's exactly what I was going for - I only ever paint the things I'm passionate about. My childhood was amazing. I think we're all made of rubber for at least some of it. The only thing I'm really trying to do with those paintings is to re-ignite a little of the spark we felt for those things growing up. Even though I'm in my mid-30's and have a beard and matching shoes and everything I still can't help but do the little 'clap-clap' when I hear the Fraggle Rock theme. And that's quite often. I bloody love Fraggle Rock.
GD: A great portion of your body of work focus on Star Wars imagery. These also seem to be the most inspired and imaginative. What is the idea behind these?
JH: When the original trilogy was released, the only way to see the movies was to get your parents to take you to the cinema. You'd be there for 2 hours of solid bliss, come home completely buzzing and dive into your action figures and read-along storybooks and build this absolutely indestructable inner mythos in your mind. The droids would be shinier, Hoth was snowier, Slave Leia was gold bikini-er. I'm sure this is true for a lot of other kids my age, I found I'd formed my own magnified version of those characters and stories that was just that little bit more fantastic than what I'd seen on the screen. With the paintings I've sort of exaggerated and stretched and skewed the heroes and villains to the point where they're more pantomime than anything else. I won't paint Jar-Jar, though, obviously. Or the ships. Too many straight lines.
GD: One critical observation towards your film quotes such as The Professional, Silence of the Lambs, and even Where the Wild Things Are stem from the 'fan art' quality to them. Is this meant to be simply an homage or tribute to a film you love or is there a deeper cultural connection you're trying to make?
JH: Occasionally I like to work on something a little darker. I suppose it's the equivalent of listening to some 'Cradle of Filth' after a few hours of 'Belle & Sebastian'. I don't really go in that direction all that often but when I do it's kind of therapeutical. I'll turn them to face the wall when I'm done, though. Scary stuff.
GD: A lot of your work references/quotes other art as well. What decides how a particular mashup will play out?
JH: I'll come up with the idea of the image first, then more often than not the title will follow suit. In most cases, to me at least, the title is just as important as the painting itself. I decided right from the start that I wouldn't paint something you couldn't pick out in a line-up. Not that anything I painted would end up in a line-up. Not again.
GD: What are some of your favorite things people say or identify with about your work?
I love showing my art, the reactions I've witness to some of those paintings is priceless. I actually had a grown man weep over my take on 'Calvin & Hobbes'.
GD: Simon Pegg and Peter Serafinowicz appear to be fans. Is that just a Shaun of the Dead thing?
JH: I actually met Peter through Robert Popper, his good chum and writing partner. Robert saw my 'Mona Leia' portrait in a British newspaper and get in touch via email, then pointed Peter my way via Twitter and we became friends through there. We've done a little writing together and we have some exciting projects in the pipeline. Complete serendipity, I'm very thankful for the doors that have opened for me that way.
GD: Anything else you'd like to add?
JH: I emigrated from Buckinghamshire, England to Florida in 2008. Everything really took off for me last year and I'm fortunate enough to finally be able to paint on huge canvasses the same things I used to scribble on the backs of envelopes as a child and make a living out of it. It's ridiculous, I know. It's 2pm on a Monday and I'm answering these questions in my pajamas with a bowl of lucky charms in front of me. Good times :)
You can check out James Hance's work and buy prints from his website. A few choice pieces referenced in this article appear below.
