Art Influenced by Film

Having recently looked at how artwork has been an influence on motion picture design I thought it would be fun to turn it around and take a look at some artists whose work has been influenced by the movies.

Cindy Sherman comes to mind and her series Untitled Film Stills, a series of photographs, with herself as the subject acting out postwar cliches. The results look like movie stills or publicity pictures.

Another example is Alain Fleischer's Time Exposures. Fleischer explores the themes of time and movement in cinema and photography and the intersection of the two disciplines.

Another artist whose work pulls from motion pictures is Josie McCoy. McCoy's iconic portraits of perfect celebrities are painted with many layers, achieving a luminous effect not unlike what one gets from a screen image. The results are ethereal, highly objectified, and to me have a frailty, or fleeting quality.

Hitchcock seems to have had a profound influence on contemporary artists. This article about the touring exhibition NOTORIOUS MOMA (originated by the Museum of Modern Art Oxford) goes into this influence in detail.

Here is an article about a group exhibition commemorating the 10th anniversary of Kubrick's death: Taming Light. The exhibition includes painting, photography and illustration paying tribute to one of the pre-eminent filmmakers of the 20th Century, Stanley Kubrick.

Anime art comes from Japanese animation as well as the influence of animated Disney films. For the purpose of this post I'm applying the term anime as an influence for a wide range of contemporary art styles.

And apparently coming out in the fall is a George Lucas book, Star Wars: Visions which is a collection of artworks that pay tribute "to the worldwide inspiration that Star Wars has fostered for over three decades." Artists whose work is included are said to be: Amano, Allan R. Banks, Harley Brown, Gary Carter, James Christensen, Michael Coleman, Kinuko Craft, Jim Dietz, Phillipe Druillet, Donato Giancola, Ann Hanson, H. R. Giger, Daniel Greene, Ron Kleeman, Arantza Martinez, Syd Mead, Moebius, Paul Oxborough, Alex Ross, Anthony J. Ryder, Dolfi Stoki, William Stout, Dan Thompson, Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo, Scott Waddell, Yuqi Wang, and Jamie Wyeth.