Tomorrow we hit day three of our week-long celebration of Paul Thomas Anderson's filmography with prints for his third and fourth films, MAGNOLIA and PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. BOOGIE NIGHTS and THERE WILL BE BLOOD get most of the love, but there's a special place in my heart for MAGNOLIA and PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE.
One is a drama about cancer, child abuse and loneliness at a little under three hours long. The other is a breezy, romantic and often very funny (albeit tense) film. Joao and Jordan did a terrific job of capturing those energies and I love the stark difference of these two prints side by side. Aaron Horkey, who curated the series, had this to say about the artists and his choice to assign them to these particular films:
MAGNOLIA by Joao Ruas
"I'd been watching Joao's incredible progression from the moment he was tapped to follow cover artist James Jean on DC's Fables series - I don't know if anyone expected shoes that massive to be filled so effortlessly but here he was, voracious in his experimentation and so consistent in his victories as to thoroughly belie his years. Ruas has grown over the years into an absolute favorite of mine and I was thrilled that he was willing to take part in this series. His Magnolia poster (which is, I believe, his first screen print) is in my eyes a perfectly balanced illustration - hauntingly stark yet deceptively detailed and a palette over which to salivate. That he was able to distill such a dense narrative into these simple forms is truly something to wonder over - I feel absolutely cro-magnon in it's presence, more so than usual. And that title lettering - total perfection."
Magnolia by Joao Ruas
24" x 36" Edition of 285
Photo credit: Billy Garrett
PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE by Jordan Crane
"Just hearing the title of this movie made me think of Jordan - taken out of context it fits right in with his staggering output of comics, anthologies and children's book. I've stood awe-struck in front of a wall plastered with his amazing screen prints, have been reading his work since his groundbreaking Non anthology and, like a good portion of the population, still don't understand how the Hell he made the Maps and Legends dust jacket, so it was not a huge leap to think this could be a winner. Knowing he's more than capable with a squeegee as well as with a forlorn narrative it was a relief to hear he was on board and the final poster is a fantastic addition to the series."
Note: We did not have Jordan Crane's PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE in time to take detailed photography in time for this post. We will post photos when they arrive.
All of these have been approved by P.T. Anderson himself. The series concludes Friday with THERE WILL BE BLOOD by Aaron Horkey.
These posters will be available Thursday, May 16th, at a randome time at www.mondotees.com Please follow us on Twitter for the on sale announcement.
