Something wicked this way comes…

At-work inspiration.

We can’t wait for you to see what we’ve lined up for next month’s GRAND GUIGNOL show, HÄXAN.

Sooner than you think…
–j

The Air is Crisp with New Beginnings…

Hello old friends, has it really been that long? April seems so far away.

We haven’t forgotten about you, and we trust you won’t have forgotten us. Thomas unfortunately has been unable to tend to his duties as Minister of Art Nouveau & Symbolist Propaganda (I’d like to say he’s been working — which he has been — but I also think old episodes of “The Rifleman” might be to blame.)

So, I’m taking the reigns.

Summer is running out, and we’ve got some brilliant things in line to ring in the Fall season. Most notably:

Grand Guignol II:
HÄXAN – SATAN + THE WOMEN WHO LOVE HIM

22 OCTOBER 2011
RSVP: GALLERY@CENTURYGUILD.NET

Stay tuned for more information on the artists featured in this exhibition, as well as details about the catalog. If you aren’t already, visit our site and make sure to sign up for our mailing list!

–j

Keeping up with the Zullis, part two… or- countdown to San Diego Comic Con

A photographic essay (1).   Thank you for your patience.

Arriving in San Diego, Jack pounces on his beloved Sioux Sinner. I believe that is Michaelanne's bra on his head.

We immediately descended onto Gail's favorite: PINKBERRY. And the drunk A&R guy staying at the Hard Rock immediately descended on Michaelanne.

A chess set sized to match my massive intellect.

Boating in the harbor on choppy waters, Michaelanne was soaked and wounded. Gail was seasick. And I was in heaven!

Darling Jack can't take the sun in Balbo Park. Gail Potocki is made of tougher stuff.

Next: The convention…

Keeping up with the Zullis, part one of my summer…

Michael insists that I blog, and in heading over to his site, I see that he is putting his money well where his mouth is.  So here I am.

Things have been relentless since April.  Most recently, I’ve been really wrestling with my optimism, and maintenance thereof.  I’ve also learned some great things about diplomacy from Melissa Auf der Maur, and am trying to figure out how to balance those ideas with the brutal honesty I crave.  San Diego Comic Con was wonderful, all said, but not using drugs does not equal sobriety, and the ways in which people fight tooth and nail to perpetuate a view of the world that makes them feel justified to be- well, to put it bluntly, shitty human beings- has shocked me once again.  “I can’t control what people think of me” is a sentence that shouldn’t be used as a license to be a complete and utter asshole.  Because one sure way to at least help increase your chances of people saying nice things about you is putting love and art above money and paranoia.  But I digress, with MAdM tugging at my sleeve to get back on point.

The positives: well, there IS the Melissa Auf der Maur one, to begin- she really seems like one of the good ones.  I enjoyed getting to know her.  And for all the phone time I’ve had with Michael Zulli, this was the firs time we met face to face, and I have to say that I am deeply deeply in love with this man.  You couldn’t make him up!  Well, you could, but no one would believe it.  Dave McKean’s wife is amazing, and I keep seeing new facets to Dave each time I am around him- each one making me understand more that his success- both as an artist, and as a man- are no accident.

I’d like to thank ABC news for running that four minute piece on us, but then I’d have to show it here, and having the Anti-Defamation league call us Nazi Sympathizers for carrying a parody poster about “secret Nazi mating camps” is best left in the past.  But it was entertaining as hell.  The image in question is HERE, if you’re curious…

So thanks to everyone who came out to San Diego- Jeremy Bastian remains a genius to the nth degree, I’m even more of a Steve Diet Goedde fan than I was before, the lines for Thomas Jane caused massive disruptions for security, MZ’s lady Karen is like a goddamn superhero (I love her as much as I do Michael), Lee Moyer is an Angel with a capital “A”, and thanks to God’s Girls and Reverend Mitcz for keeping the Haute Campe corner fun.  Michaelanne, Jack, and Sioux came through in a big way, they are like marathon runners, and I continue to take Gail and Stuart for granted, thank God they know how much I need them, haha!

Enough with words, I never blogged about Artropolis, the movie deal, or what is coming next month, so I just need to let some pictures to the talking to try to recap five months of life and get back on schedule.  Love to you all, and yes- my optimism remains intact.  I am lucky to have had the parents I did, and the friends that I do.  Check it out…

Because no place is safe.

Jack and Michaelanne dress up for Artropolis

Thomas Negovan and Stuart Tomc at Chicago Art Salon opening at Primitive Annex

Before the mad preparations for San Diego Comic Con, one last trip to the farm and the beach.

Seeing this in my alley made me think of Jack for some reason. A sign of the week to come?

Lastly, the night before we left for San Diego, I had a candlelit concert with The Leather Push...

To be continued…

San Francisco and Wondercon 2010: recap

I’m not a good blogger.  I haven’t even finished two sentences, and I want to get off of the computer.  I like living outside of the Tron world!  For example, taking trips to… San Francisco!

Thursday night we kicked off the weekend by taking Jeremy somewhere unmentionable.  Well, not unMENTIONABLE, but unprintable.  Suffice to say the high edge of my tolerance threshold for debaucherous peculiarity was finally- and FIRMLY!!!- delineated.

Sioux Sinner and a disapproving Jack Absinthe.

 

Friday, Sioux Sinner kicked off the show by dressing as Sally Bowles. Needless to say, she ran into trouble with the authorities within the first hour.

Something about this is funny to you, young... and I use the next term loosely... 'lady'?

 

By the end of the first day, Sioux wishes that Sally Bowles had sported more sensible footwear.

 

Can you spot the Freak in this picture? Jeremy Bastian with our FREAKS magazine!

 

Day two brought with it sunshine, a lovely early morning, and a riding crop.  Sioux dressed as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and the results were… ummm… let’s just say we’re digging a moat to separate Haute Campe and Century Guild for all future shows.  The number of people constantly surrounding the booth, snapping photos (including a large group of Japanese businessmen clamoring to get photos of each other- and their kids- being whipped-)  was… a lot.  Like, almost got nothing done quantities.  Fun, but CHAOTIC…

Sioux Sinner is a harsh taskmaster.

 

An SS Officer's only weakness???????? P-U-P-P-I-E-S.

 

 
Sioux is currently losing sleep over a particular bunny:

Linda 'Vampy' Le... and Sioux 'Campy' Sinner

 

This was meant to be a blackmail photo, but this girl is beautiful even when she sleeps with her mouth open. (No inappropriate jokes, please.)

 

We met a ton of great people this trip: ex Go-Go Jane Wiedlin was a favorite, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon was a true gentleman, and of course it is always a joy to see dear friends like dinosaur maven William Stout and the event organizers Justin, Rod, and Sam.  (Not to mention Robots and Donuts artist Eric Joyner as the best neighbor you could ask for…)  Also, this guy made us laugh out loud:

Chris Gore and Sioux Sinner

 

Sioux and Jack ended the show by getting onstage to demonstrate the Nintendo Wii’s new dance game Just Dance by performing New Kids on the Block’s epic masterpiece of rock and roll glory, the powerful “Step By Step”.  It was only a moment into the song when things took a turn for the strange, as the event inappropriately transformed into a 1939 Political Rally:

Jack Absinthe, proudly (and foolishly) wearing the Haute Campe armband outside of the booth...

 

Finally, some personal photos:

Thomas Negovan in San Francisco, Apr 2010

 

Sioux Sinner in San Francisco, April 2010

 

Jack Absinthe in San Francisco (Haight-Ashbury), April 2010

CENTURY GUILD Featured On Newest Doctor Who DVD!!!

All right, not really, but I finally watched “The End of Time” last night, and was thrilled that our booth of 19th Century and Symbolist Art showed up in the bonus features on the Complete Specials DVD!

You can clearly see the Dave McKean and Gail Potocki paintings, and Stuart for a few seconds (easily recognized as the only man to attend San Diego Comic Con every year since 1979 in a Gordon Gekko costume- he’s quite excited about Wall Street 2!) and as shown in my highly pixellated screencaps (sorry, best I could do), a couple of choice seconds of Jeremy Bastian (1st), and Jack and Sioux Sinner (2nd):

We meet the most talented people in the world at San Diego Comic Con- last year’s highlights were, for Gail Potocki, Billy Mumy (she always wanted to be a member of his family on Lost in Space!), for Sioux, Colin Baker (“He was MY Doctor!”), and- for me- John Barrowman, who might just be the most charming man I’ve ever met.  (And I’ve met a lot…)  Check out the photos where he and Gail Potocki talk about their mutual appreciation of mesocephalic sideshow Freaks here.  This is clearly shaping into a full-on Doctor Who fan post.  

When John said that Gail should paint his portrait, she joked that she should portray him with two heads- a personification of his high energy- for her Circus Freaks series.

 

A funny story about Sioux’s Dalek tattoo… when she took her coat off at Dave McKean‘s signing at Soap Plant in Los Angeles, Dave leaned forward, grabbed her arm and asked incredulously, “Please tell me that washes off…?” The next day, I offered to pay for all of us get Doctor Who tattoos as we drove past a parlor (to needle Dave’s comment the night before), and Dave commented, “I shudder to think what I would have chosen as a permanent artwork when I was in MY twenties… I think I’d have a giant YES logo across my chest today.” (But Jack and I aren’t sure that that’s a bad thing…)

Sioux Sinner and her Dalek tattoo, back when she was still sporting short hair; and her pet Jack-a-lope

 

 

Tractator

 

Then, last weekend, I was interviewed by androzani.net about my unhealthy addiction to clutter. Well, that’s not exactly how THEY phrased it, but that’s how Gail Potocki is going to describe it when she reads this: http://androzani.net/archives/732. (I really wanted to wait until she showed up in Chicago and saw that drippy snail guy hanging out next to my bed, but the news must go on. BOB- don’t tell her!!! There is still a chance for surprise!)

“I bought one of the Tractators from the Peter Davison episode Frontios, and a Plasmaton costume. God knows what I’m going to do with THAT.”

Plasmaton, or Thomas answering the door to collect the post.

 

The only thing I’ll add is that I obviously DO know what I’ll do with a Plasmatron costume… (my mail lady doesn’t know what she’s in for).  Plus, I think it’s funny that the way that I said it was as though the Tractator costume was not ridiculous at all- in my sentence there is a very clear delineation between that and the of-course-it’s-useful-to-have Tractator, haha!  I did think about using the costumes to scare the neighborhood children, but I’d probably get beaten unconscious, what with kids today and their rap music and video games.  My generation?  We knew how to be scared by a snail-man and a rock-guy!

"My" Tractator in its previous home in the travelling museum exhibition, "Doctor Who Up Close"

 

Peter Davison and a Tractator

 

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February recap: Nitrate and Kinogeists in Los Angeles, with DAVE MCKEAN

Thanks so much to Billy Shire for hosting us at his massive Billy Shire Fine Arts location in Culver City!  The show was amazing, and we all had a fantastic time.  Followers of Century Guild on Twitter got real-time updates, and here is the recap!  (It’s all photos, so please be patient…)

The view from my stairs as I left for the airport!!!

And- the view from our car hours later, in Los Angeles!

Among the many meth addicts we saw, he was the most peaceful.

The night before the show: Jack was severely disappointed by the tameness of above-promised goods.

Jack gets propositioned by friendly and ambitious prostitute (aka Sioux Sinner) in the hotel parking lot.

Preparing for the show: Dave McKean examines The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Preparing to hang the show (photo by Dave McKean)

Before the show, with Kent Williams

The crowds begin to gather...

Silent film reel; and Barron Storey

Brendan McCarthy

Dave McKean and the über-talented Stephanie Leonidas (MirrorMask, BBC's Dracula)

Two of my favorite writers: Jason Louv and Grant Morrison, and the hypersexy Kristan Morrison (plus a ghostly Ryan Graff in the distance)

Kent Williams and Godfather #1: Allen Spiegel

Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

David Anderle and The Godfather #2: Billy Shire

At the end of the night, a show well done.

Gail Potocki, Jack Absinthe, Dave McKean, Thomas Negovan, Kristan Morrison, Grant Morrison, Adam Egypt Mortimer

The best part about travel is catching up with friends, and making new ones.  It was really great to meet Kitty Mihos and Drew Johnston, Brendan McCarthy, Barron’s better half Petra (!), and my all-time favorite people on Earth for the next millenium or two, Stephanie and HER better half, Robert Boulter…

But more about Stephanie and Robert in the NEXT post…

TECHNORGANICA

I have successfully entered the 21st century, and I am now wired in to post on Twitter and Facebook remotely!    Look for Century Guild on Facebook, and at twitter.com/centuryguild as I’ll be posting updates from the Dave McKean signing and the Nitrate and Kinogeists exhibition in Los Angeles this weekend…!

xO

T

In the Footsteps of Thomas Edison: the Nature of Electricity, and a Technological Seance.

Antique Medical Equipment electrical therapy: The Polysine Generator.

Roaming the wilds of the Midwest, where the economy flourished in the days of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, I came across the remains of a lovely woman who lived to the ripe old age of 92 years.  “My success in the arena of longevity,” she insisted, “is due to my attention to health, regardless of public conception as I subscribe to only the most modern of medical advances.”

Well, that’s what she said in 1910.  Shortly thereafter she changed her motto to “If you find something that works, stick with it.”

One prong of her two-pointed attack at warding away the Grim Reaper was a sophisticated Hydrotherapy machine.  The other, a Polysine Generator.

Arrow Indicates Positive Pole...

Complete with Asbestos pads and metal hand-bars which connected to the terminals and delivered a gentle electric shock, this is the equivalent of a home Electroshock Therapy Machine were one to turn that beautiful voltage controller uppppppppppp someplace a little more… aggressive.

Red jewelled power light; modality selector; voltage controller...

Steampunk?  Perhaps.  Revolutionary?  Certainly.

This will be disassembled here at some point in the near future, as its brilliantly designed modality selector and polysine generator combination appears to be perfectly suited to electrically exploring specific frequencies aligning with the aetheric plane, which according to the notes I acquired- in the hand of Thomas Edison, no less- could facilitate audio communication with what he referred to as “the dearly departed”.

We shall see.

The finer points of publishing keepsake books; or, not.

I had a sad moment yesterday.

I’ll start at the beginning; we published a beautiful hardcover book- one of a proposed two volume set- a few years back that was not only fine art, but sequential as well, or for the peanut gallery, “comic art”.

We want every book that comes out under the Olympian Publishing heading to be more than just a pile of papers- we focus on the hand of the paper, the weight, the surface, the translucence, and compare these factors to the material soon-to-be impressed onto their surface.  We try to find print houses that will do things that they might not have been asked to do in a hundred years or so, and pay whatever it costs to retool their setups to make something old new again.

For this book, a halloween themed graphic novel, we wanted it to feel like an old leather bound book.  So we found a top quality “leatherette” (wholly animal friendly, of course), had heavy metal die stamps made to deboss the cover for gold foil in a way that wouldn’t rub off in our lifetime, even had special endpapers made that had raised cobwebs, to ensure that from those very first pages the reader felt as though they were stepping into a musty library.  We used paper that had a textured high gloss, so that it gave the appearance of high gloss but with the utmost readability.  The interior material we had to work with was Master Level, and we applied the most sophisticated and respectful of design around it to give it a full cinematic presentation.

These were very very costly to produce, but we wanted to make sure that fans of this artist received something really, really special.  And we were able to do so for a retail price of only $29.95.

Nine out of ten people, I feared after watching the crowds for a year or so, couldn’t tell the difference between what we had made and a paper sack.  But every now and then, someone in the book or art industry who I respected would glow profusely and articulately on how much they appreciated the attention to detail that we had applied, and this made the shrugs from the other 90 percent worth it.

When we parted ways with the artist of this book, a very successful publisher was happy to complete the two volume set, and the artist stated publicly that this publisher would be applying the same level of quality to the second volume.  This made me happy- I am a fan of these books first, and was very excited to hear that they would be following our lead.

But I had the opportunity yesterday to finally see this Volume 2, new in stores this month.

No special endpapers, just flat black paper; the extensive sections previously published in black and white that we wanted to see properly colored to make this a special edition stand out as boringly stark in their original black and white format on such glossy paper.  They echoed our design of the first volume just enough that it looks more like the same book than something completely different, but I was heartbroken that the sensitivity of the book design, the materials from the cover to the interior paper, even the interior layout all are what can only be called mediocre.  Even the beautiful logo, debossed and foil stamped on our cover, appears on this one as if it began rubbing away the moment it left the printer.  And to top this aesthetic insult-of-packaging off?  The retail price for this affront to taste was HIGHER than the first volume.

Should I be happy that this makes our edition look SO much finer?  No.  Because, like Oscar Wilde (and perhaps Hugh Hefner), I want to live in a world of Beauty.

Should you still buy the second volume, if you’re a fan?  Absolutely.

But I just had to post a rant:

“Kannst du nicht allen gefallen durch deine That und dein Kunstwerk—mach es wenigen recht. Vielen gefallen ist schlimm.”