Oil painter plans epic Star Wars exhibit
Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 12:07PM
Vancouver-area artist Chris Woods (@ChrisWoodsArt) has been invited to mount a solo show in the summer of 2013 at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, BC (just outside Vancouver). The show will feature fourteen epic-scale oil-paintings on canvas looking at the original Star Wars trilogy through the eyes of Darth Vader:
The series I plan to show at The Reach will take an unusual look at a phenomenon that rests at the very foundation of modern popular culture: the original Star Wars Trilogy. By reexamining films that played a major role in the formative years of my generation I hope to examine what our childhood eyes may have missed.
The central idea of this new series, to be titled SANDSTORM, will be to look at the events of Star Wars from the perspective of the trilogy’s primary antagonist, Darth Vader. Even though we see Vader as a two-dimensional monster, his mask actually disguises a highly nuanced, and very human character. By flipping the narrative of the Star Wars Trilogy I intend to look beyond Hollywood’s ‘good-guy/bad-guy’ adventure-movie clichés.
Darth Vader’s journey to the dark side serves as a meditation on the nature of evil in the modern age. It also serves as entry point into understanding the mysterious forces that can slowly erode and distort the better human qualities we all share as individuals. Vader’s life followed a tragic arc that has many parallels in history and the history of painting.
These themes will be tackled in SANDSTORM through fourteen epic-scale oil-paintings on canvas inspired by 19th century French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix. Delacroix was obsessed with painting scenes from epics by Dante, Virgil and Shakespeare. I see the Star Wars Trilogy as the most popular myth of our time, just as Delacroix saw The Divine Comedy, The Aeneid and Hamletas the popular myths of his time.
Woods is looking to raise $14,000 through Indiegogo to mount his exhibit. In return for support, he is offering a large number of interesting perks, from prints and drawings to actual paintings. Learn more about the project by watching Woods' Indiegogo video:
This looks like a very interesting project. The themes Woods is tackling are reminiscent of those I address in A Long Time Ago, although tackled from a totally different perspective and in a visual medium. The exhibit's near home for me, so I'll definitely be going next year.
Follow the link to Indiegogo to support Woods' project, or visit his Facebook page to learn more.
Indiegogo: Star Wars Inspired Museum Exhibition 'Sandstorm' by Chris Woods
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