2012-02-20

ALICE: UNDERGROUND



Having been recently inspired by all things "Alice", I decided to take a trip down a familiar path to Wonderland. A childhood favorite, I decided to research Alice Liddell & draw influences from the past & present to create my own version of Alice & her Wonderland. Everything from the original story book illustrations, photos of Alice Liddell, modern interpretations (Tim Burton's works & films like "Coraline," & "Labyrinth"), goth/neoclassical music, & of course American McGee's "Alice" video game series (Madness Returns) served as a template for this project. I also imagine Alice in a darker version of Wonderland where she must fight to survive the beauty & atrocities of the Underground, where one's own imagination serves as the power behind it rather than being lost to our modern conveniences as a way to escape the real world. Her dress is made up of tattered pieces from resewing it from constant shrinking & growing, her Vorpal Sword has seen many battles & she is bit beshoveled, unwound, & mad from the whole affair thus far. Her colors are based on the original inspirations for the story (some of the earliest works, rather than the latter & Disney standards), & the dress is more form fitting like a waitress outfit (with a Cheshire Cat face incorporated into the design) & modernized to keep with my own stylistic choices. If popular this may serve as the first in a new small visual series of art cards titled "Alice: Underground."