Into Wonderland

Since Lewis Carroll's original novel 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was published in 1865 his story has captivated generations of adults and children with it's use of fantasy and experiments with logic (and its absence). The story has been interpreted and reinterpreted a number of times and in many different media including manga, opera, music and in alternative versions by many different authors. For my research into wonderland I have looked into the many different versions of the story and the visual interpretations that accompany them.

The above are the original John Tenniel illustrations of the white rabbit and Alice playing croquet with a flamingo. These are prints from woodcuts, a style I've used on a number of occasions as inspiration for my illustrations. I think the style here is very reflective of the era in which the story is set and was of course published, however for my own work I feel colour should be an important feature as the story and even it's title is suggestive to me of vibrant colours and illustrations - however I would like to incorporate an element of the original illustrations as an allusion to the era.

Probably the most well known illustrations of Alice in Wonderland are provided by Disney who's  1951 animated version is an abridged version of the story for children, using bright colours and surreal imagery. This version perhaps shapes most peoples vision of Alice and it is this version that I think shows the use of vibrant colour and imagery that I want to incorporate, although with darker and possibly 'edgier' elements from later versions (see Tim Burton and American McGee).

Perhaps one of the more interesting illustrators to do work on Alice in Wonderland is Ralph Steadman - a popular British illustrator best known for his work with American author Hunter S Thompson. Steadman's illustrations are more stylized than many of the earlier versions, and the style is more reflective of the disjointed, surreal and sinister elements of Wonderland - moving away from the quite innocent childlike imagery of earlier versions to create a more seemingly adult interpretation of the characters.

Another notable artist to work on Alice in Wonderland, and perhaps the one most suited to the insane illogical world presented in the story is Salvador Dali. Dali's illustrations mostly focus on colour and feel, creating a feeling of confusion around the narrative - this interpretation best represents the spirit of the novel, without faithfully recreating the story. Of the illustrations I believe 'the pool of tears' to be the best as its use of colour and marks gives the feeling of fluid, whilst the composition is overwhelming and perhaps best shows how it would feel to be Alice in that moment.

Alice in Wonderland has often been adapted into other stories featuring familiar characters placed into a similar narrative - one notable version of this is in the 'Marvel Avengers' Fairytales - in which Cassie Lang of the Young Avengers, who's powers include growing and shrinking, is Alice and the remaining cast from the comic book assume the rolls of the other Wonderland characters. The style mixes sensibilities of the original comic book style illustration with elements (especially colouring) more reminiscent of the Victorian era, thus giving the comic book a feel more fitted to the subject matter.

A more modern interpretation of Alice is to be found in America McGee's 'Alice' video game, in which Alice is a metal patient and Wonderland part of her condtion. the presentation is duly more sinister, enhancing this element from the original story. The art direction  involves a similar use of colour as other versions but made claustrophobic and overpowering by its composition.This is an interesting version of the original, making it very much a horror story.

Frank Beddor's telling of the story takes the original story as a lie created by Lewis Carroll around the story told to him by a warrior princess Alyssa Heart - rightful queen of wonderland. This telling is much more action oriented with Alice presented as an older, stronger character than in the original. The artwork follows a similar style, transforming the original characters into the kind of images above. Although the art style is predominantly digital I am attracted here to the conceptual re-imagining of the characters and use of imagery, which I hope to implement in some way in my own work.

The most recent, and my favorite version of the Alice story is Tim Burton's 2010 take on it. The imagery used in this version combines the more sinister element with the playful, innocent use of color in the Disney version. Although it is mostly effects and manipulation I am, as with Frank Beddor's work inspired by the art direction and hope to incorporate much of this style into my own work.

Overall I have found many versions of the illustrations which accompany Alice in Wonderland, each different and capturing different elements of the story whilst maintaining a vibrant, disorienting and fantastical use of imagery, which I will be incorporating into my own work.

The Brain Wave

Wonderland is defined as a place real or imaginary full of wonder and marvels. Alice's wonderland was filled by such things, usually given to a dreamlike state of significance or meaning with the line between reality an imagination blurred. A world beyond the everyday, but intrinsically linked to it.

After investigating a number of possibilities and finding a number of dead ends coupled with a lack of enthusiasm I was struck by this concept, a world down a rabbit hole, through the looking glass - my own wonderland.

Artist Research Part 1.

Having considered the direction of my project I decided to choose the option which most intrigued me and was also my initial and strongest reaction to the project title - investigating life with perspective removed or altered, the ordinary made extraordinary by the way or even the angle from which it is viewed. From this starting point I started to search for images which inspired a stronger visual, as apposed to conceptual, direction within in the framework of the project.

There were two artists who naturally occurred to me when considering the idea of manipulation of perspective - MC Escher and Salvador Dali.

Escher occurred to me largely due to the famous lithograph 'Relativity' which depicts staircases within the same space but with 3 distinct different gravities, inhabited by different characters. Clearly this work demonstrates the relative perspective or position of these characters as different, but occurring simultaneously, an interesting concept inherently linked into my own perspective theme as each perspective is of course correct to the individual, but only one in reality could be possible.

Salvador Dali is mostly known for his work with surrealism. His paintings distort not only perspective but the shape and form of reality to create scenes that though reminiscent of the real are in fact completely impossible and part of their own separate reality. Although his work is fantastic example of perspective manipulation and abnormal reality it moves too far from my initial idea of a more simple manipulation of perspective within the real world (a similar problem occurs with Escher's impossible work). These initial areas of research exhausted I chose to explore more modern examples.

The first artist I looked at that I felt fitted in with this concept was a British street artist referred to as Slinkachu. Slinkachu's work involves using miniature people and items, replicas of ordinary things, but placing them in interesting location to add a secondary, miniature world into familiar settings (a miniature human pyramid to climb a curb, a tiny person crushed by  giant human foot etc) often for the purpose of social commentary or satire. This ties in to my initial thought about the way size is relative to how it is viewed, the small people see our world as enormous and full of obstacles, whilst we would view it as normal because it is designed for us and we fit within it.

I found through looking at Slinkachu there are actually two very similar areas of art - one involving the creation of miniature environments or scenes which are subsequently photographed in such a way as to make them appear normal or large scale. Another take on this is the use of perspective and photo manipulation to make normal scenes appear like the photographed miniatures. Both of these areas play with the distortion of reality and our perception of size, and are perhaps most interesting when they exist along side each other as this creates a further level of enigma - whether the images is a true miniature or not.

In a not dissimilar line I was able to locate a similar distortion of size created by French artist Francois Abalnet. His creation is a garden, able to be walked through and around, it can be viewed from many angles simply as a large space, made up of hills, grass and trees, however it is only when viewed correctly that the full intention becomes clear and the garden becomes an enormous green globe representing the Earth. This is interesting as a form of interactive art, but also due to the mystery created by enabling only one view point to truly reveal the scale of the piece.

In a similar line I was able to find another street artist who's work has recently become well known largely due to a growing online following. The artist, Julian Beever creates paintings on sidewalks and walls, which perfectly use the manipulation of perspective to create images which, when viewed from the correct angle appear three dimensional, but from the wrong angle show the way in which size must be distorted to transform a 2D image into 3D. His work has a sense of wonder and fun common to much street art, and also shows a great deal of complexity and planning in its execution.

The final artist, or artists, I looked at were photographers working in the field of forced perspective. These artists use the distance of the camera from their subject to make one area appear larger than it actually is, or may alter the camera angle so that the image itself appears to defy physics (for example, the word is turned on its side so men run on walls). Illustration has been used within this are before as a compliment to photography, with the alteration in the perspective coming from a drawing inserted somewhere within the photograph, at a location and size which adds a new, cartoon layer to it.

Project timetable

29.07.13 - 05.08.13: Read, think about and choose a direction based on the project brief, respond to   this through artist and if necessary conceptual research, write up this research and complete stage one personalized project brief.

05.08.13 - 12.08.13: Begin artistic responses based on forced perspective and other perspective alteration art, illustrate photographs, and begin to work into real life forced perspective.

12.08.13 - 19.08.13: Complete initial responses, further research into chosen avenue of study and write up brief for development stage.

19.08.13 - 26.08.13: Develop ideas into more complete pieces, move from initial sketches into either design or art based avenue that presents itself in initial ideas stage.

26.08.13 - 02.09.13: Complete development. Review development stage and come to conclusion about final piece.

02.09.13 - 09.09.13: Final piece and evaluation. Details to follow.

09.09.10 - 16.09.13: Loose ends