Retro Modern Illustrator: Tim Biskup by way of Jim Flora

After not getting much feedback on the Shag post, I was thinking of scraping this theme of the week, but I still think these artists are amazing and I really want to share them with you. But in order to bring it around to the vintage theme of the blog, I will start with the modern illustrator and then discuss one of their influences from the 50's and 60's. That way you can see what the original art looked like and how the modern artist has interpreted this genre and created a new style of art called the 'lowbrow' or 'pop surrealist' movement.



Tim Biskup is a another West Coast artist who's canvases are filled with a cacophony of color and movement. Tim dropped out of art school and floated around for a while, joining bands and partying- the usual cavorting of a 20 something. He soon realized he enjoyed creating the cover art for albums more then the music itself and got back into illustration. At first Biskup was very influenced by the cartoon 'Ren and Stimpy' (a personal favorite) but as he was perusing old albums in a record store one day he noticed some cover art by the artist Jim Flora and his designs instantly changed. He said, "'This is changing me right now - I can feel it. It's changing the way that I paint.' The shapes, the kind of movement going on. It's something I've been looking for for a long time. I've seen a little bit of it in Miro, I've seen a little of it in Ren and Stimpy, I've seen a little of it in Mary Blair, but... it was just mind-blowing."
(here)








Which brings us to Jim Flora- prolific album cover artist, children's book illustrator, and fine artist. Flora's compositions can be instantly recognized by his use of space, color, and wicked sense of humor. His albums are whimsical and quirky, with a dark undertone that betrays his vibrant use of color. Two of his retrospective books have brilliant titles that really sum up Flora's style: Sweetly Diabolic and Curiously Sinister. Here are a few of his works:






Once you see the original artwork of Jim Flora you can instantly see the influence. Even though Tim was molded by Flora, Biskup is still an original. I would consider an artist like Biskup to be sort of like a rapper. A rap artist will take the riff from one song and add different beats, other samples, and create an entirely new song. In the same way, Biskup takes his inspirations such as Flora and vintage cartoons, and manipulates them to create his own signature look.