December 28, 2004

{ Tara McPherson - Fine Art and Poster Prints }

It is hard to find words to describe how enamored I am of the work of Tara McPherson. It is absolutely dreamy.... There's something so ethereal and yet substantial about her vision, whether when considering her soft-focus paintings or the sharper lines of her poster-prints. That rather dreamlike quality extends even to the characters that populate her work, cartoonish creatures and well-drawn guys and gals situated in bizarre or abstracted surroundings. What ends up grounding the work and giving it impact is the implied narrative context- heartbreak, relationship woes, personal turmoil. As whimsical as her work may first appear, each piece seems to hold its own dark corner or bit of dramatic reality: Sad robots, wanton nyads, and glum young women stare out from her paintings and prints, imploringly. It is hard not to commiserate. TaraMcPherson.com offers up a rather large serving of the artist's collected works; from gig posters and fine art to sketches and commissioned illustration work. (including material gathered from covers for DC's Vertigo comic line) And once you've perused her drool-inducing pieces, you'll likely be ready to own one of your own. Thankfully, her online store is well-stocked with a variety of posters, fine art prints and other assorted goodies, all very well-priced. I know I'm gushing a bit here, but her gig posters are some of the finest I've ever owned. The lustrous metallic inks were a breath-taking surprise, as the online pics can only hint at how radiant these pieces are. The inky matte-black background of her Blues Explosion poster contrasts so starkly with the silken smoothness of the image overlay that you almost feel as though you're witnessing some kind of black velvet hallucination, and the metallic gold ink pops off the page like a skyrocket. Also impressive are the icy tones of her Death Cab for Cutie piece- the wintry landscape is further realized through metallic silver embellishment, and the coldness the piece exudes takes it's theme of distance and heartbreak to another level entirely. The prints are expertly shipped, wrapped in protective butcher-paper before being tightly rolled into a sturdy packing tube. I recieved mine with no damage, bending or crinkling having occured during shipping, despite the rather notorious bunglings of my local parcel delivery-persons. The ink transfer is amazingly well-done with no bleeding, despite even the heavier applications. Her prints are handled by Diesel Fuel Prints, whom I will hold in great esteem henceforth, having seen how wonderfully they have managed these pieces. You can reach the online store through the link below, by clicking on "Information" and then "Prints & Posters for sale".

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» TaraMcPherson.com

By Adam in Art, Reviews | Comments:

Comments

Man, I am utterly envious of people who happen to have such lovely posters as those of this Tara McPherson you speak of. Any chance there might be a poster or two given out to some lucky Crown Dozen readers? (hint, hint; wink, wink)

Posted by: Katie Laish. at December 30, 2004 1:05 AM

Tara McPherson inspires me, to draw, and to keep trying to make art.

Posted by: Michaela at December 18, 2006 3:05 AM