Velvet Painting Gallery

My friend Marty sent me this great link from Flicker on velvet paintings. Close friends know my taste for kitsch - myself a proud owner of a delicious tiger velvet painting among others (see below) - so I might as well share a few of these great gems with Little-Pumpkins readers. These here are to be found on display in the hallways of New Jersey's WFMU radio station and belong to the station's manager. The thing with "velvet art" is that it tries really hard to be good and probably it's painters actually believe they are good, but in the end the images speak for themselves. I do love the naive charm of their celebrity's homages, vaguely resembling famous icons but in reality simply turning them into disfigured monsters in the name of bad art. How can you not feel pity for poor Marilyn Monroe? She must be twisting in her grave with her depiction, looking more like a man in Marilyn drag than herself. Clint Eastwood, the rugged cowboy, seems like his face was used as a doormat at boot camp, not that Ronald Reagan looks much better either. The prize for most-tasteless-bad-joke is a tie between a zombie-looking Jon-Bennet, the murdered child-beauty-queen, and Monica Lewinsky with a stained dress. Gross. But I must confess that I would kill for the Jesus & Elvis combo...

Here we have the "Saddam Hussein Collection", as the ex-Iraq dictator was also a lover of the Erotic Fantasy Style, thought probably his were done in oil but nonetheless tacky. Images of Frank Frazzeta inspired work and a not-too-bad rendition of Vampirella are also part of this ode to the art of velvet painting.
This lovely tiger in the glossy white lacquer below is my own. I found it in Providence, RI, at a yard sale way back when, for a just couple of dollars. To have it framed I probably spent 3o times as much but I just couldn't resist it's camp charm! For more images click here.