From 20 June (until 25 August) Soggettiva Gallery presents Midsummer’s Cinema, centered on the world of Alternative Movie Posters, dedicates an in-depth analysis to the films that are approaching the summer season by setting, color or atmosphere.
The period when the light of day reaches its peak is celebrated, by contrast, by a series of Alternative Movie Posters inspired by the darkness typical of horror cinema, the most classic of the “genres” of cinema of the summer. Several works inspired by a cult like Midsommar, which plays its expressive forces right on the contrast light/ shadow: from the flaming poster of the Spanish illustrator and gamer Stella Ygris to the floral and bright colors of the multimedia designer Francesca Pusceddu, up to the geometric and almost mystical representation of the Scottish designer Scott Balmer.
Other works inspired by horror movies complete the section: among others, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reinterpreted in the context of the warm light of a wheat field at sunset by the Scotsman Rich Davies and Sharknado, revised in an ultra-lightpop artist and Californian advertising artist Anthony Petrie.
BARBIE GOES TO L.A
Another focus is on works with warm atmospheres typically more summer (and holiday). Not to be missed in this sense Barbie, a planetary success brought to the big screen by Greta Gerwig: on display the graphic representation of two essential “accessories” for Barbie lovers such as the Camper, at the center of the work of Mark Borgions, graphic designer based in Flanders and the House, redesigned by English George Townley in shades of pink.
Of the British illustrator there are also several works that, through a hyperrealistic style and changing colors, pay homage to places in the city where “it’s summer all year”, Los Angeles, real open-air movie set: from a diner that becomes the symbol of Lynch’s iconic Mulholland Drive to Fox Plaza, made famous as Nakatomi Tower by Bruce Willis in the film Die Hard.
ADVENTURE UNDER THE SUN
There will be adventure movies, especially those in which twists unfold under the scorching sun, often in semi-desert places, as in the case of Mad Max 2, from which Scott Balmer takes inspiration to create a two-dimensional illustration and bright metallic colors and Indiana Jones, which the Virginia designer Adam Juresko revisits representing the figure played by Harrison Ford with a “spiritual” aura which brings him to some sort of Lawrence of Arabia. In addition, two adrenalinic and “sunny” works inspired by the adventures of Thelma & Louise – the Milanese illustrator Matteo Costa in a reinterpretation of the film in a “cartoon” key – and Top Gun, a source of inspiration for the Texan Casey Callender in a mixture of cinema and the art of the American painter Edward Hopper.
Always the “summer” setting characterizes some of the films on display, taken from literary works of great success, for the series “great classics to re-read under the umbrella: from Dune – whose second chapter is for months in the lead box office – to which the Canadian designer Kris Miklos dedicates a sand-colored portrait of Zendaya in the shoes of Chani, to the “scorching” Lolita, revised by Polish Andrzej Krajewski with an illustration with bright colors and almost expressionist style, up to the blinding Death on the Nile and the initiatory Stand by Me, proposed by Murugiah – illustrator from Sri Lanka – and by House Bear Design – graphic studio located in Arkansas – thanks to works characterized respectively by psychedelic atmospheres.
THE MAESTROS
Also on display are films by two directors such as Hayao Miyazaki and Wes Anderson, who often chose to set their stories during the summer, the real protagonist of their stories. By Matteo Costa the brilliant alternative poster of The Boy and the Heron, a film that won the Japanese animation master his second Oscar; Some of Miyazaki’s classics such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle can be rediscovered thanks to the luminous works of Craig Drake, illustrator based in Tokyo and Costa Rica’s designer Fabiocs, respectively.
As for the American director, it shows the re-interpretations of several films through which Anderson built his unique style: from the alpine holidays at the Grand Budapest Hotel – here the painter from the Marche Veronica Chessa sets one of her boule de neige containing the unmistakable hotel – to The Life Acquatic Steve Zissou – in this case is the marine setting of the high-rate opera sentimental that the Los Angeles illustrator Josh Set Blake dedicates to the film -, until the exotic The Darjeeling Limited and the “summer camp” of Moonrise Kingdom, to which the English graphic artist Sam Gilbey dedicates two evocative portraits of the respective and formidable cast of actors and actresses.
100 YEARS OF MARLON BRANDO
Last but not least, the 20th anniversary of the death of the legendary Marlon Brando on July 1, 2004. To celebrate the American actor, creator of countless memorable performances, a “glowing” version of one of his most iconic films is on display, Apocalypse Now, with which the Swiss multidisciplinary artist Alberto Russo captures all the destructive power and moral ambiguity staged in Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece.
INFO
SOGGETTIVA GALLERY
Via Pasquale Sottocorno 5/A, 20122 Milano
3357722437 – 3458463222
Opening hours:
Monday 13-20.30
Tuesday and Wednesday 10.30-13.30 e 16-20.30
Thursday 10.30 – 20.30
Friday and Saturday 10.30-13.30 e 16-19.30
