I've always been the sort of guy that's attracted to retro design.
A boomerang ashtray, a magazine cover by Alvin Lustig, a thrift store shirt from the '50's, "Googie" architecture, and vintage motel signs: These and other pop culture artifacts are among the things that I enjoy and that inspire the work I do as an illustrator and graphic designer.
My first year in Manhattan I worked at a restaurant while I was getting my art career up and running. My fascination with "Paper Dolls" started one night when I was making my way home (at the time 105 and Broadway) after a long shift of waiting tables. There, in front of a gutted store front on the city's tony upper East Side I spotted a dumpster full of debris, a fairly routine sight in the city, but something in this one stopped me dead in my tracks. A smirking technicolor vixen beckoned from an old paperback cover. As I approached, I saw more paperbacks scattered within the trash. I had to go in and rescue them! The dynamic cover art of these vintage books ( a battered copy of 'Murder- Queen High' and 'Anna Becker' were 2 of them) seduced me and inspired me to collect others. While I never pulled any more out of the trash, my bookcases and storage boxes are now overflowing with paperbacks- I guess I'm hooked.
About Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls will be an art book that celebrates those beautiful, alluring, sexy, ruthless, and sometimes dangerous cover gals of the paperback book known to collectors as "good girl art." All publishing genres, including, science fiction, westerns, juvenile delinquent, sleaze, swamp and mysteries featured these vixens on their covers.
PaperDolls in PermaColor, music by The Raveonettes
Pure Sweet Hell, Glad to be Bad, The Ranch Cat, Kitten with a Whip, Hootenanny Nurse, The Tigress, Coffin for a Cutie, Worlds Within, The Lewd Angel, Swamp Bred, Loves of a Girl Wrestler, The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, Dr Passion, Sinful Sisters, Dames are no Dice, The Cheat, Perfect 36, and A Dame Called Murder are just a small sample of these, and the covers are as provocative as the titles.
Books
Sensacional, Close Cover Before Striking, Motel Fetish, Cuban Style, All American Ads-50's, In the Groove, Hot Countries, Cine Mexicano, Vixens of Vinyl, and Over My Dead Body
Favorite Flicks
The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, Run Lola Run, Touch of Evil, Blow-Up, Playtime, The Third Man, L.A. Confidential, Pulp Fiction, Rear Window, The Life Aquatic, Badlands, Lolita, Psycho, most Coen brother movies, Withnail and I, Chinatown, Dr Strangelove, Bottlerocket
Music
The Clash, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Raveonettes, Sparklehorse, The Dresden Dolls, Pavement, Pixies, Iggy Pop, Elliott Smith, Gun Club, NIN, The Breeders, M.I.A., Radiohead, Iron and Wine, Steve Wynn, Urge Overkill, Beirut, Lucinda Williams, New Order, White Stripes ...
Groups include: Imaginary Museum, All Things Retro, Episodes from Ground Zero, The Retro Lounge
Feel free to add your favorite "good girl art" to the Comments section!!
