Jasper Goodall

Continuing the sci-fi/fantasy theme of my last post, allow me to introduce/reintroduce you to my favourite artist of our current times, Jasper Goodall.

There he is

Based in Brighton UK, Goodall’s work has one foot in reality and the rest in fantasy. His technique of mixing illustration with photography for The Face magazine in the late 90s revolutionized the image-making industry and his style continues to inspire and influence artists and designers everywhere.

Medusa, 2009

His work is mostly based on the female form, commenting on fetishism, hedonism, and male chauvinism, melded into pieces reminiscent of sixties poster art and incorporating fashion, sex and subculture.

Pink Polish, 2009

Sometimes I feel as a woman I should be somewhat offended by Jasper’s objectification of the female form, but I can’t help but be inspired by how his point of view comes across so confidently through the way he uses texture, colour, contrast, composition and symbolism. Reading the few interviews on record of Goodall, it seems even the artist himself struggles with the message his art carries:

“There are days when I just feel a bit disgusted with it all. I suppose I’ve become more conscious that – it sounds wanky – but that it’s almost like a form of self-therapy. And I think there may come a time when I don’t feel a need to do that any more. When I don’t want to put any girls in there at all. I just want to get away from it all. Sometimes I just think I’m adding to all the crap in the world.”

(Taken from a 2005 interview in Icon magazine)

I think a lot of people in the artistic industries (including myself) share the same inner conflict Jasper describes in that last sentence, agreed?

Even if you’ve never heard Goodall’s name, you’ve likely been exposed to works of his commissioned by companies such as Levis, Nike, BMW and Warner Brothers (shown below)

Jasper’s latest personal project entitled The Sunrise Series, consists of a surreal mix of erotica and symbolism, using digital airbrushing to render slick, oily latex and soft desert sands (my inner adobe geek just high-fived itself) >>

The Eye of Horus

Perpetual Dawn

Into the Void

All images and interviews quoted were found at Jasper Goodall’s official site. Click here to visit it and check out more images, interviews and the online store (my favourite piece is The Eye of Horus and my birthday’s in January, cheers).

***

“I just really like the fact that you can tell a huge story in one image by being able to combine lots and lots of symbols that mean all kinds of different things. 

 Once you understand why certain things are there, it becomes a whole different piece of artwork.”

(Taken from a video interview at Semi-Permanent, creative conference, Brisbane, Australia, June 2010)

That is all.

-Jess