(click image for more details)The Masterpiece/Evil Genius 6,
silk screen prints on paper
114cm x 84cm
Olivia Plender is an artist, writer and editor, so it is only appropriate that her work combines image and text in their fictional narratives inspired by her interest in popular culture from different periods and, particularly, its depiction of marginal, romantic or transgressive lifestyles.
First published in 2003, Plender's own comic book, 'The Masterpiece', shares its name with Emile Zola's 1886 novel of the same name. Just as the novel presents us with a literary portrait of an artist – with all the attendant romantic stereotypes – Plender's comic tells the tale of an unrecognised artistic genius trying to negotiate his way to success within an imaginary 1950/60s London avant-garde. As the story progresses from issue to issue, so does the
stylistic appropriations that Plender employs: from 1950s advertising illustrations and other popular sources, to pulp fiction book jackets, horror films and nineteenth-century spirit photography, all of which are combined to create a new form of fiction.
Plender uses the comic as a narrative form that offers a rich pictorial source to reflect contemporary mythologies, debunking the cliché of the artist as 'hero/genius' and challenging notions of storytelling and art-production through content, style, and format in the process.
Paul Stone, 2008
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find out more about Paul Stone
