Or “…Wonderful Folks, Elves, Sir! Wonderful!”*
Nowadays, elves seem to come in all sizes. They dwell amongst humans, and only reveal their ears and elven garb in large gatherings where they can pass unnoticed – or conspiciously admired as the case my be. And, I seem to end up in pictures with them, where I invariably feel rather like a tall and homely hobbit.
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All photos © the elves that are in them.
I have a great fondness for adults who dress up, and can never understand the reticence of so many to consider this an acceptable pastime. If serious and respected cognocenti can discourse endlessly on the “right” suit and the “appropriate” attire for every occasion, why frown on elves?
We live in curious times. With access at our fingertips to every aspect of our and others’ cultures, past and present – we generally dress generically, and live in sanitised and stereotyped apartments with mass-market furnishings – even to what we hang on the walls.
Not that I’m complaining and planning to chuck my ubiquitous Ikea furniture, you understand, but leaving the door open the slightest crack in case fantasy wanders by seems reasonable enough.
So next time you cross the path of an elf or an orc, don’t sneer. These people are happily and unselfconsciously reminding us that even the drab birds that we are can reveal the bright feathers under our mind’s wings from time to time.
The “elf” on the far right made me feel particularly scrawny and homely, but Sandro is not only a wonderful guy (his face WILL find it’s way into an illustration one day; admittedly a step down, or at least sideways, from his appearances in the Lord of the Rings) but he is also a very talented painter besides. And of course, he’s a New Zealander, which makes a combination pretty hard to beat. Good thing he can’t sing – but wait a minute, he CAN sing. Some people have all the talent.
And, Sandro is the author of:
Quote of the Week
“Being an artist seems to involve so incredibly much networking and upkeep and promotion and other crap, that getting down to actually creating something ends up feeling like a holiday, when that´s the part that people consider our “work”.”
Sandro Kopp
http://www.sandro-kopp.com
http://www.sandrokoppofficialfanclub.com
A Brisk Acceleration of Events
Going for a couple of days to a show opening is always like being strapped on a rocket – suddenly the event takes on a momentum of its own and you simply hang on.
Add to that the possibility of meeting someone you’ve always dreamed of meeting, and this for nearly three decades, and you definitely have liftoff.
I have wanted to meet Jean Giraud aka Gir aka Moebius aka the best comic artist, film designer, and just plain artist alive today in France if not all of Europe and the rest of the world… (Does it show that I admire his work?)
Meeting people of that stature is fraught with anxiety for me, and had not the taxi doors been locked, I might have leaped out at some stoplight and slinked back to the hotel. (That and the knowledge that if I pulled a like stunt, my wife WOULD have killed me…)
Jean is amazing.
It was a wonderful dinner.
(And no, I can’t recall what I ate.)
The opening of the show went well, I signed God-knows-how-many things of all kinds, and dredged the murky depths of my mind so as not to say the same thing to each and every journalist. The photos are in the scrapbook.
On the Big Screen
The Swiss premiere of There and Back Again is scheduled for June 4th and 5th:
FESTIVAL DU FILM ROMAND
MAISON DES ARTS DU GRÜTLI, RUE DU GENERAL DUFOUR 16, 1204 GENEVE
Saturday June 4 at 8:00 PM and Sunday June 5th at 2:00PM
http://WWW.FONCTION-CINEMA.CH
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Followed by a projection here in Neuchâtel at the NIFFF (June 28 to July 3rd – exact date and time to follow.)
http://WWW.NIFFF.CH
More information here.
Sign of the Times
Unbeknownst to me, I’ve actually had work on intermittent but regular display in Canada for the last thirty years… admittedly not as revolutionary as a Campbell’s Soup can, but it must be my only painting on exhibit in Canada. (“Fresh Asparagus” being of course one of an ambitious series of post-modern rural tableaux from my Farm Produce period, including “Peaches”, “Apples & Pears”, “Mexican Art”, “Fresh Strawberries” and many others.)
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A Box of Beowulf
Even if you know Beowulf, you’ve certainly yet to play the board game. “Beowulf” will be coming out this autumn.
I’m not a big board game player, and generally my first-hand experience of the board games I’ve illustrated comes from playing the prototype, but I really love this one. (Okay, I actually won the test game, so I’m biased.) The game is designed by none other than Reiner Knizia, who is a justly renowned board game genius. Beowulf is a fabulous game (I mean, I did win the test game, after all) that follows the original tale very faithfully. If you liked Reiner’s Lord of the Rings games, then don’t miss this one. (It’s got some nice pictures in it too.)
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This is the German version of the game box. The English version will come out at the same time.
FAQ
The Frequently Asked Questions section had been enhanced by French versions for half a dozen entries (currently indicated by an (F), which Dom will replace with a flag or some device).
This is an ongoing and expanding endeavor entirely relying on the goodwill and spare time of one of the multilingual forum members, so no complaints if there are not half a dozen languages available for every topic, please.
* Samwise Gamgee, The Fellowship of the Ring.
