The Hollywood hills have been synonymous with American cinema and the film industry as a whole for years, ever since they were built in the 20s. The huge white letters have featured in countless films and artworks and have become an iconic image in their own right. The Hollywood sign was originally created as an advertisement for local real estate development in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after the sign was left up and is now kept as an instantly recognisable symbol of the film industry.
Indeed Hollywood is the title of Peter Blake’s print “The Butterfly Man in Hollywoodland”, part of the “Homage to Damien Hirst” series. Blake once again makes use of retro postcard images as the backdrop to his collage, capturing the golden age of Hollywood glamour with its vista of the Hollywood hills and kitsch mini-mansions. Frolicking in the foreground along with the butterfly man are numerous Hollywood legends including Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, Laurel & Hardy, Errol Flynn, Elvis, Marilyn and Judy Garland.
Conversely, Stanley Donwood’s paints a more ominous picture of the hills with his apocalyptic visions of Hollywood being overwhelmed by natural disaster. In a series of prints including "Hollywood Limousine" the artist depicts various well known American buildings and landmarks as they are threatened by nature itself hurling balls of fire, flood and rain, Donwood comments on the precarious nature of Hollywood, the banking Industry and consumerism as a whole. Celestial fireballs rain down upon Hollywood as the Chateau Marmont hotel and Graumann's Chinese Theatre fall beneath the waves. Screenprinted in black over a reflective silver hot-foiled layer, this is disaster in glitz. “Apocalypse 101” even features the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood which is where the first Oscars ceremony took place in 1929.
Brad Faine has created a perfect Oscars print “I’d Like to Thank” that tracks all the winners of best film from 1929 When the Oscars first began to 2012 when silent film “The Artist” won the trophy. A grid comprising every film that has won Best Picture at the Oscars since the Oscars began in 1928 up to “The Artist” which won this year is created using a still from the winning movie, numbered with the year it won, beautifully glazed so that together they looks like strips of film. Over the whole grid is a gold silhouette of the Oscar statue itself. The print includes some real classics such as “Gone with the Wind”, “Midnight Cowboy” and “The Godfather” and interestingly the first and the most recent were silent films that won. He has also recently released “Hollywood Rollercoaster”, a comment on the rise and fall of fame likened to a game of snakes and ladders.
No consideration of Hollywood would be complete without the actors. Images of acting celebrities have always helped propel them to fame and recognition and at artrepublic we have a great selection. Prints of actors include Russell Marshall’s mug shots "Just Steve" (McQueen), "Just Elvis" and "Just Dennis" (Hopper) and some stunning prints of legends such as James Dean, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino by Russell Young who is fascinated with the idea of the American dream.
And finally we couldn’t mention Hollywood without looking at Marilyn Monroe, as famous as the hills themselves, the iconic actress is the subject of many prints in the gallery from Andy Warhol who repeated her in multiple, Peter Blake’s Diamond Dust "Marilyn 2010" to Richard Duardo’s sympathetic portrayal of her in a more natural state and Pure Evil’s stencil of "Arthur Miller’s Nightmare". Artists are still drawn to her beauty and charm as an actress and a woman.
If you would like further information on available prints or to enquire about other works and artists we have in the gallery please call +44 (0)1273 724829 or email brighton@artrepublic.com
