AMERICAN MOVIE PLACES

The exhibition is entrance-free

29 March 2024

On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile (16-21 April) and the release of a film on the famous painter Edward Hopper, Soggettiva Gallery dedicates an in-depth analysis of two symbolic places of American and world cinema, New York and Los Angeles. To do this, it borrow two disciplines other than the Seventh Art: art and architecture.

On the one hand, in fact, “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper – “cinematic” painter par excellence (he influenced many directors including Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch) to whom the documentary “Hopper. An American love story” is dedicated – is reinterpreted by the Texan illustrator Casey Callender, who inserts in the painting the most iconic protagonists of cinema: from Batman to The Big Lebowski, from Blade Runner to The Godfather, from Terminator to Matrix, Ghostbusters to Beetlejuice.

On the other hand, the architecture of Los Angeles represents an essential source of inspiration for the English artist George Townley, whose encounter with L.A. gave rise to a series of works that portray ordinary places – often made extraordinary by “cinematic” events, above all The Viper Room, linked to the tragic fate of River Phoenix – as well as sets of cult films – from Pearl Harbor to The Simpsons, from La La Land to Don’t Worry Darling and Karate Kid, from Barbie to The Dark Knight Rises.

DISPLAYING CINEMA IN NEW YORK

New York, in particular a classic American diner on Greenwich Avenue, inspires one of the most important paintings of the entire 20th century, Nighthawks by Edward Hopper: a work that transcends time and space by a painter who, with his works , has staged both the architecture and the landscapes, both real and of the soul, which distinguish the infinite nuances of a multifaceted country like the United States. The iconic image generated by Hopper is inspired by the Texan illustrator Casey Callender, who, by reinterpreting it, transforms it into a film set capable of welcoming the protagonists of the films that have marked our imagination, like the scene of a film lit by the best of photographers and furnished by the most meticulous of set designers.

The “main performers” of this scene are sitting at the counter like ordinary customers; if only from the shop window you can glimpse the terrifying extra-terrestrial creature of Alien (Ridley Scott) in the street, one of the bizarre beings that populate the Burtonian world of Beetlejuice, the iconic Batmobile parked behind Batman as well as the lethal airplanes flown by Tom Cruise in Top Gun. In some cases the place painted by Hopper is transported by Callender entirely into another dimension: be it the paranormal reality of the Ghostbusters – following the explosion of Stay Puft, with the ghostbusters covered in the soft marshmellow paste of which the gigantic ectoplasm is made – or the simulated one of the Matrix – with Neo and Morpheus immersed in a flow of alpha-numeric codes that make up what we believe to be the real world -, the result is always incredibly fascinating and a source of infinite interpretative ideas for fans of Edwardo Hooper’s paintings and above all of great cinema.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Taking a trip to the other coast of the United States, to Los Angeles, the encounter with cinema is simply inevitable, as this city is permeated with that filmic imagery that the Hollywood industry has been able to export all over the world. In this sense, the London artist George Townley developed a real obsession with the warm, soft light and saturated colors that make the Californian atmosphere unique.

The places that inspired Townley range from the El Rey Theater – historic cinema and art deco landmark built in 1936 where Bob Dylan, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and many others played, among others – to the Fox Plaza – made famous as Nakatomi Tower by Die Hard with Bruce Willis – from the Lighthouse Cafe – a real jazz cafe where the scene from La La Land in which Ryan Gosling meets John Legend was filmed – up to the Griffith Observatory – icon of Los Angeles and set of countless films including Youth burned, Yes Man and Terminator – and to the set that reproduces Barbie’s house, made 20% smaller than a traditional building to give it the aura of a real doll’s house.

Among the locations portrayed by Townely, Mulholland Drive could not be missing, known throughout the world thanks to the brilliant film of the same name by David Lynch: if in fact Townley inserts a clear reference to the director of Twin Peaks in a diner he reinterpreted, another reference This symbolic place is located in the Chemosphere, an unprecedented spaceship-shaped home designed by Californian architect John Lautner and located a few meters from Mulholland Drive.

ENNIS HOUSE AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL MILESTONES

A focus is dedicated to the great architects who have left their mark on the Los Angeles skyline: from the spectacular Ennis House – for which the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was inspired by the buildings of the ancient Inca civilization – employed who set the futuristic city portrayed in Blade Runner, to the Kaufmann House designed by the Austrian designer Richard Neutra, whose geometric lines immersed in the lush nature of Palm Springs appear against the backdrop of the film Don’t Worry Darling.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN…HOLLYWOOD!

Finally, Townley’s works also refer to ordinary places: be it the Georgian Hotel, which over the years has hosted stars like Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable, or the Californian fast food chain In n’ Out portrayed while a plane departed from LAX airport flies over it, or The Viper Room, a local that involuntary witnessed to a tragic event such as the premature death of the actor River Phoenix, the charm of Hollywood is always present, as if a city like Los Angeles, even in its less glamorous corners, was able to awaken in those who observe the desire to relive those stories that have become the very substance of the dreams that cinema inspires us wiht.

INFO

SOGGETTIVA GALLERY

Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano

3357722437 – 3458463222

info@soggettivagallery.com 

www.soggettivagallery.com 

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday 10 – 20.30
Saturday and Sunday 10-13.30 e 16-19.30

Foto alternative movie poster del film Gioventù bruciata di Nicholas Ray | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Batman (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Tim Burton | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Matrix | Casey Callender | Andy e Larry Wachowski | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Ghostbusters (Marshmallow) | Casey Callender | Ivan Reitman | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Alien (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Ridley Scott | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Il grande Lebowski (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Joel Coen | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster de El Rey Theatre (La La Land) | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster del film Mulholland Drive di David Lynch | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster de ENNIS HOUSE | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster de The Viper Room | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
Foto alternative movie poster de The Georgian Hotel | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile (16-21 April) and the release of a film on the famous painter Edward Hopper, Soggettiva Gallery dedicates an in-depth analysis of two symbolic places of American and world cinema, New York and Los Angeles. To do this, it borrow two disciplines other than the Seventh Art: art and architecture.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Gioventù bruciata di Nicholas Ray | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

On the one hand, in fact, “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper – “cinematic” painter par excellence (he influenced many directors including Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch) to whom the documentary “Hopper. An American love story” is dedicated – is reinterpreted by the Texan illustrator Casey Callender, who inserts in the painting the most iconic protagonists of cinema: from Batman to The Big Lebowski, from Blade Runner to The Godfather, from Terminator to Matrix, Ghostbusters to Beetlejuice.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Batman (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Tim Burton | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

On the other hand, the architecture of Los Angeles represents an essential source of inspiration for the English artist George Townley, whose encounter with L.A. gave rise to a series of works that portray ordinary places – often made extraordinary by “cinematic” events, above all The Viper Room, linked to the tragic fate of River Phoenix – as well as sets of cult films – from Pearl Harbor to The Simpsons, from La La Land to Don’t Worry Darling and Karate Kid, from Barbie to The Dark Knight Rises.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Matrix | Casey Callender | Andy e Larry Wachowski | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

DISPLAYING CINEMA IN NEW YORK

New York, in particular a classic American diner on Greenwich Avenue, inspires one of the most important paintings of the entire 20th century, Nighthawks by Edward Hopper: a work that transcends time and space by a painter who, with his works , has staged both the architecture and the landscapes, both real and of the soul, which distinguish the infinite nuances of a multifaceted country like the United States.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Ghostbusters (Marshmallow) | Casey Callender | Ivan Reitman | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

The iconic image generated by Hopper is inspired by the Texan illustrator Casey Callender, who, by reinterpreting it, transforms it into a film set capable of welcoming the protagonists of the films that have marked our imagination, like the scene of a film lit by the best of photographers and furnished by the most meticulous of set designers.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Alien (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Ridley Scott | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

The “main performers” of this scene are sitting at the counter like ordinary customers; if only from the shop window you can glimpse the terrifying extra-terrestrial creature of Alien (Ridley Scott) in the street, one of the bizarre beings that populate the Burtonian world of Beetlejuice, the iconic Batmobile parked behind Batman as well as the lethal airplanes flown by Tom Cruise in Top Gun. In some cases the place painted by Hopper is transported by Callender entirely into another dimension: be it the paranormal reality of the Ghostbusters or the simulated one of the Matrixthe result is always incredibly fascinating.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Il grande Lebowski (Hopper) | Casey Callender | Joel Coen | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Taking a trip to the other coast of the United States, to Los Angeles, the encounter with cinema is simply inevitable, as this city is permeated with that filmic imagery that the Hollywood industry has been able to export all over the world. In this sense, the London artist George Townley developed a real obsession with the warm, soft light and saturated colors that make the Californian atmosphere unique.

Foto alternative movie poster de El Rey Theatre (La La Land) | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

The places that inspired Townley range from the El Rey Theater – historic cinema and art deco landmark built in 1936 where Bob Dylan, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and many others played, among others – to the Fox Plaza – made famous as Nakatomi Tower by Die Hard with Bruce Willis – from the Lighthouse Cafe – a real jazz cafe where the scene from La La Land in which Ryan Gosling meets John Legend was filmed – up to the Griffith Observatory – icon of Los Angeles and set of countless films including Youth burned, Yes Man and Terminator – and to the set that reproduces Barbie’s house, made 20% smaller than a traditional building to give it the aura of a real doll’s house.

Foto alternative movie poster del film Mulholland Drive di David Lynch | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

Among the locations portrayed by Townely, Mulholland Drive could not be missing, known throughout the world thanks to the brilliant film by David Lynch: if in fact Townley inserts a clear reference to the director of Twin Peaks in a diner he reinterpreted, another reference This symbolic place is located in the Chemosphere, an unprecedented spaceship-shaped home designed by Californian architect John Lautner and located a few meters from Mulholland Drive.

Foto alternative movie poster de ENNIS HOUSE | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

ENNIS HOUSE AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL MILESTONES

A focus is dedicated to the great architects who have left their mark on the Los Angeles skyline: from the spectacular Ennis House – for which the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was inspired by the buildings of the ancient Inca civilization – employed who set the futuristic city portrayed in Blade Runner, to the Kaufmann House designed by the Austrian designer Richard Neutra, whose geometric lines immersed in the lush nature of Palm Springs appear against the backdrop of the film Don’t Worry Darling.

Foto alternative movie poster de The Viper Room | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano

ONCE UPON A TIME IN…HOLLYWOOD!

Finally, Townley’s works also refer to ordinary places: be it the Georgian Hotel, which over the years has hosted stars like Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable, or the Californian fast food chain In n’ Out portrayed while a plane departed from LAX airport flies over it, or The Viper Room, a local that involuntary witnessed to a tragic event such as the premature death of the actor River Phoenix, the charm of Hollywood is always present, as if a city like Los Angeles, even in its less glamorous corners, was able to awaken in those who observe the desire to relive those stories that have become the very substance of the dreams that cinema inspires us wiht.

INFO

SOGGETTIVA GALLERY

Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano

3357722437 – 3458463222

info@soggettivagallery.com 

www.soggettivagallery.com 

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday 10 – 20.30
Saturday and Sunday 10-13.30 e 16-19.30

Foto alternative movie poster de The Georgian Hotel | George Townley | Soggettiva Gallery Milano
CHRIS BRAKE

Prima di passare al cinema, Chris ha lavorato come illustratore, esponendo spesso nelle rinomate gallerie d’arte della cultura pop di Los Angeles “Hero Complex Gallery” e “Gallery 1988”, producendo opere d’arte ufficiali per 20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Joe Dante e Roger Corman. Successivamente ha lavorato come assistente del dipartimento artistico per clienti come Virgin Media, Now TV, Little Mix e Jamie T. Il suo primo cortometraggio “Nest” è stato semifinalista al “Berlin Student Film Festival”, dove è stato nominato per il Premio della Giuria. 

Before moving on to film, Chris worked as an illustrator, often exhibiting in the renowned Los Angeles pop culture art galleries “Hero Complex Gallery” and “Gallery 1988”, producing official artwork for 20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Joe Dante and Roger Corman. He later worked as an assistant in the art department for clients such as Virgin Media, Now TV, Little Mix and Jamie T. His first short film “Nest” was a semifinalist at the “Berlin Student Film Festival”, where he was nominated for the Jury Prize.

STEPHEN LUROS HOLLIDAY

Da ragazzo Steven era un fan dei fumetti. Ha iniziato prendendo lezioni di illustrazione del fumetto presso la Heron Art School di Indianapolis. Fu solo al college presso la School Of The Art Institute di Chicago che scoprì il suo amore per la serigrafia. Ha disegnato di tutto, dalla fan art, alle stampe dei film con licenza ufficiale, ai poster per i concerti.  Il suo lavoro è stato esposto in diverse mostre collettive dedicate a vari temi cinematografici.

As a boy Steven was a fan of comics. He started by taking comic illustration classes at the Heron Art School in Indianapolis. It was only in college at the School Of The Art Institute in Chicago that he discovered his love for screen printing. He’s drawn everything from fan art, to prints of officially licensed films, to concert posters. His work has been exhibited in several collective exhibitions dedicated to various film topics. 

MAX DALTON

Max Dalton, illustratore, pittore e musicista e scrittore occasionale. Crea spesso illustrazioni per poster, libri, riviste, giornali, pubblicità e prodotti.Ha partecipato a molte mostre collettive e personali a New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Arizona, Parigi, Seoul e altro ancora. Il suo lavoro è apparso in molte riviste come The New Yorker, Monocle e O, The Oprah Magazine.

Max Dalton is an illustrator, painter, musician and writer. He often designs for posters, books, magazines, newspapers, advertisements and products. He has participated in many group and solo shows in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Seoul and elsewhere. His work has appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker, Monocle and O, The Oprah Magazine.

OLIVIER COURBET

Olivier Courbet è un creativo multidisciplinare francese con sede a Los Angeles, California. Lavora con marchi, agenzie, studi cinematografici e startup di tutto il mondo tra cui Dreamworks, Paramount, Disney, Mattel, Will.I.AM e NBA. Ha vinto numerosi premi e il suo lavoro è stato descritto in vari libri e pubblicazioni di design tra cui Computer Arts, Logology, SXSW.

Olivier Courbet is a multidisciplinary French creative artist based in Los Angeles, California. He works with brands, agencies, film studios and start-ups around the world including Dreamworks, Paramount, Disney, Mattel, Will.I.AM and NBA. He has won numerous awards and his work has been featured in various books and design publications including Computer Arts, Logology, SXSW.

LAN LAWSON

Nan Lawson è un’artista e illustratrice con sede a Los Angeles. Si è laureata in regia cinematografica alla Syracuse University, ma dopo la laurea ha perseguito la sua passione per l’illustrazione. Ora ha unito il suo amore per il cinema e l’arte per dedicarsi alla cultura pop e alla locandina. Lavora nell’editoria e nell’industria dell’intrattenimento; crea libri illustrati e copertine di libri, oltre a opere d’arte e manifesti per film e televisione.

Ha lavorato con clienti tra cui Harper Collins, Audible, Random House, Hachette, Amblin Entertainment e Warner Bros.