{"product_id":"jul221498-francis-rothbart-hc-c-0-1-3","title":"Francis Rothbart HC","description":"A stunning, head-turning, \"graphic opera\" masterpiece\u003cbr\u003e from an acclaimed painter and illustrator.\u003cbr\u003e Francis Rothbart follows a feral child who is raised by magpies and\u003cbr\u003e other creatures and is repeatedly struck by lightning. Because of\u003cbr\u003e these phenomena, the child develops eccentric talents, which he\u003cbr\u003e then abuses, leading to his ultimate destruction by the same natural\u003cbr\u003e world that once nurtured him.\u003cbr\u003e Written mostly in rhymed verse, Francis's picaresque saga\u003cbr\u003e unfolds in an allegorical environment, much like the topographical\u003cbr\u003e constructions behind renaissance religious paintings. Referencing\u003cbr\u003e both the Venetian landscapes of Bellini, Pierro di Cosimo, and Carpaccio,\u003cbr\u003e mixed with the unlikely animated backdrops of Jay Ward\u003cbr\u003e and Chuck Jones, Woodruff's images recall the fictive gardens of a\u003cbr\u003e paradise lost that lingers somewhere deep in all our souls, moist and dark like the\u003cbr\u003e caves of the pious saints.\u003cbr\u003e Combining both paintings and drawings, each scene is a visual and verbal feast\u003cbr\u003e that transports us to a place in which trees anthropomorphize into figures bending\u003cbr\u003e from the weight of stalactite crowns, an iris becomes the gown for an oneiric sprite,\u003cbr\u003e and the sky rains down tears, as if mimicking the melancholy of a weeping willow.\u003cbr\u003e In a muted palette, Woodruff's carbon and white charcoal pencil drawings bring\u003cbr\u003e us ever closer to this mythical ecology. The artist lovingly focuses on every detail:\u003cbr\u003e ethereal, fragile blossoms, petals, roots, and leaves; impressively observed wildlife\u003cbr\u003e creatures; and each curve of the hand lettered text is rendered by the delicate hand\u003cbr\u003e of an illustrative obsessionist with a penchant for the poignant. Woodruff's images\u003cbr\u003e are multi-sourced amalgamations that echo with familiarity, portraying a world\u003cbr\u003e that is not only our own but also exists in the place of our half-remembered dreams.\u003cbr\u003e Thomas Woodruff's works have been included in numerous exhibitions nationally\u003cbr\u003e and internationally including the Whitney Museum of Art (NY), The Norman Rockwell\u003cbr\u003e Museum (MA), the Kohler Arts Center (WI), and the National Gallery of Australia. He\u003cbr\u003e lives in upstate New York\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Fantagraphics Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57965576290687,"sku":"JUL221498","price":26.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1010\/2797\/1455\/files\/fantagraphics-books-graphic-novel-francis-rothbart-hc-jul221498-38082397503740.jpg?v=1784000559","url":"https:\/\/echowavevinyl.com\/es\/products\/jul221498-francis-rothbart-hc-c-0-1-3","provider":"ECHOWAVE VINYL","version":"1.0","type":"link"}