High school art projects don’t often become the entire pass in the professional practice of artists, but for illustrator and printmaker Michael Ezzell, this is exactly the series he is working on, he is doing. Junior high school classic born. He tear off the pages from old-fashioned books, experimented with various media, compositional elements and narratives, and then inspired further paintings and prints.
“When I start, I just paint on the text of the page and create something brand new from some mundane books I have,” Ezzell told Colossal. “Eventually, it evolved to use illustrations of the page or ornate chapter titles as the starting point for what I created on the page.”
Among many others, Ezer specially gave illustrations Alice in Wonderland The series was originally drawn by Sir John Tenniel and in the subsequent decades reimagined six other artists such as Mabel Lucie Attwell, Gwynedd M. Hudson, Maria L. Kirk, and even Salvador Dalí.
“I have now raised a book of science,” the artist said. “I look for weird and obscure manuals or children’s books with lots of pictures or trendy text formats. What I’m attracted to is anything that might have weird meanings.” He approaches the inherent quality of each page (a printed phrase or small drawing), such as a prompt or call response, which is more than working on a large blank canvas, which mines a refreshing solution.
Ezzell is particularly interested in world-building and immersive stories, with his themes and characters taking clues from tarot, surrealism, playing cards and early 20th century fashion. The title of the series is to a group of titles ” Beginner classic, First published in 1912, it is aimed at young readers Harvard Classics series.
Junior high school classic Made of over 400 pieces (and growing up), Ezzell is currently making his own tarot deck, which in turn inspires more narrative possibilities. See more information on the artist’s website and on Instagram.
