Laurent Durieux's "Metropolis" Movie Poster

UPDATE (4/3): While it certainly wasn't Dark Hall Mansion's smoothest release, all of Durieux's Metropolis prints quickly sold out the moment they went live. But fear not my friends, because Laurent has a few APs he'll be selling through his Big Cartel store on Saturday (4/6) at 9AM PST, meaning you don't have to resort to the secondary market just yet. Yay! Head over to retropolis.bigcartel.com for more info.

Hey, folks. Apologies for the lack of updates recently. I made the mistake of purchasing the Mass Effect Trilogy, Dead Space 3, and Bioshock Infinite for the PS3 thinking I could somehow be consistent with my blogging while not getting completely addicted to these three absorbing franchises. I was sorely mistaken. But I'm here now with what's easily one of the prettiest pieces of artwork I've seen all year. Now I might get some flack for this, but I think Laurent Durieux's Metropolis print dwarfs anything he's done for Mondo -- yes, even his incredible King Kong and Universal Monster series -- so far. There, I said it.

Metropolis Movie Poster
Laurent Durieux
24" x 36" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$65 - Limited to 200

It's not often I stare at a poster and wonder whether any other artist alive today could do as good a job on a movie print as Laurent's done here, but that's exactly how I feel about Durieux's stunning ode to Fritz Lang's cinema classic. The artist's style could not be a better fit for the 1927 masterpiece as it recalls another place and time altogether. It seems Dark Hall Mansion didn't want to leave anything to chance when they decided to introduce their Seminal Films series with this incredible work of art, which you and I are lucky enough to have a chance to own.

Dark Hall Mansion on the Seminal Films poster series (taken from the DHM blog):

"The aim of Dark Hall Mansion’s Seminal Film Series is the very bridging of cinema as art and art as cinema. To create beautiful prints for some of the most resonant American and international films, distilling film and imagery while beholden to no specific screening or advertising obligations. Our aim right from the onset was to honor the tradition of vintage film posters while simultaneously releasing our artists from its commercial constraints. The single goal, to create stunning pieces that are intended, from their inception, to be true works of art that stand alone as just that. The very essence of each film to be distilled and rendered in such a fashion that anyone, even on the most cursory of viewings, will at once appreciate the prints for their visual beauty or in the historical context of what made these films so relevant in the first place.

Key to our approach with DHM’s Seminal Film Series is matching artist to film. Nowhere is this more clearly manifest than in our first pairing of Metropolis and Laurent Durieux. The film that almost bankrupt Germany’s UFA Studios, its futuristic vision and singularly intense direction by pioneering legend Fritz Lang took almost two years to complete and its monumental influence on artists mining all fields of creative endeavor continues to this very day. Be it Superman creators Siegel and Shuster’s naming of their hero’s city or the similarity of George Lucas’ C-3PO and the iconic Metropolis robot, the impact of Metropolis will be felt for generations to come."

I have the distinct feeling I'm going to be giving lots and lots of money to the folks at Dark Hall Mansion.

Should you be interested in owning one of theses beauties, they'll be going on sale Friday (3/29) at 9:30 AM PT through Dark Hall Mansion's store for $65. The poster measures 24" x 36" and is limited to an edition of 200. For more info on the artist, be sure to check out his Flickr account. And for the what's what on DHM, visit darkhallmansion.com, their Facebook page, and follow @darkhallmansion on Twitter.

Tom Whalen's "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!" Prints

Tom Whalen and Dark Hall Mansion have joined forces to create something that's sure to make you feel all warm and gooey inside. Hear me out: I know there's no empirical data to back this statement up, but I'm fairly certain that owning this poster and placing it on a wall in your home will make you a better, happier person. Again, I don't have any proof that substantiates my theory, but I just don't see how it's possible to be sad around something this full of joy. Also, Whalen absolutely nailed it...again.

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! Print (Regular Edition)
Tom Whalen
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
$65 - Limited to 300

Tom on his newfound respect for the Charlie Brown Easter special (taken from strongstuff.net):

"Confession time: I had never seen Easter Beagle until I was assigned this poster. *Ahem* With that bit of unpleasantness out of the way, I have to say that I love this special. Linus gets his long-overdue karmic payoff for his undying Great-Pumpkin-strength faith, the ongoing bit with Peppermint Patty and Marcie attempting to decorate eggs is pure gold and we get a glimpse into Woodstock’s swanky pad. This’ll be in heavy rotation every spring from now on."

It's seems Charlie Brown has claimed yet another victim. Well played, Schulz.

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! Print (Variant Edition)
Tom Whalen
18" x 24" (Screen Print) - Numbered
Sold Out - Limited to 50

While the variant It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! print has since sold out, the regular version is still very much available for $65. The print measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 300. To see more of the artist's work, check out strongstuff.net and follow @strongstufftom on Twitter. If you'd like to learn more about Dark Hall Mansion's wares, head to darkhallmansion.com, follow @darkhallmansion, and be sure to sign up for their mailing list.

Tom Whalen's "Yellow Submarine" Art Prints

You may remember Dark Hall Mansion as the company behind Laurent Durieux's insanely gorgeous Gigantor prints. Well, it seems the folks at Dark Hall are it again, this time teaming up with the incomparable Tom Whalen to tackle The Beatles' animated classic Yellow Submarine. I'm not entirely sure how they managed to work out a deal with Live Nation Merchandise (The Beatles’ North American Licensing Agent) and Apple Corps Ltd. (the conglomerate formed by The Beatles), because it certainly couldn't have been easy, but thank goodness they did. As you can see below, everything turned out wonderfully.

Yellow Submarine Art Print Folio (Standard Edition)
Tom Whalen
Five 18" x 24" Prints - Numbered
$300 - Limited to 797
Inspired By: Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine Art Print Folio (Variant Edition)
Tom Whalen
Five 18" x 24" Prints - Numbered
$450 - Limited to 135
Inspired By: Yellow Submarine

Tom's meticulously designed posters perfectly capture the kooky and deliriously twisted tone of the film. I'm not sure why Whalen's art works so well with animated content, but there's no doubt that it does. Maybe it's his illustration style, which seems to favor perfectly round edges, a sometimes unnatural symmetry, and a preference for solid shapes over textured halftones. Then again, maybe the memory of all the Disney posters he did for Mondo has somehow found its way into my brain and is now inextricably linked to his name. Whatever the case may be, this is definitely a win for Whalen and a victory for anyone who appreciates great art and psychedelic animation. I should also mention the wonderful color palettes employed by all three versions of the Yellow Submarine print folios. I often find that variants, while usually more collectible than their standard version counterpart, are almost always without fail the uglier choice of the bunch because of their jarring and often limited range of color. These posters, on the other hand, all seem appropriately eye-popping in the color department and appear to be in line with the film. All in all, Tom Whalen has created another beautiful body of work, though I am looking forward to seeing more live-action inspired stuff from him in the near future. Seriously, I'd love to see Tom tackle some horror movie stuff for Mondo. I think his style set against a really disturbing story / cast of characters would be brilliant! I can already picture his version of Pennywise from It!

Yellow Submarine Art Print Folio (Elite '68 Edition)
Tom Whalen
Five 18" x 24" Prints - Signed and Numbered
$675 - Limited to 68
Inspired By: Yellow Submarine

Tom Whalen's Yellow Submarine print folios are currently (yes, right now people) on sale through the Dark Hall Mansion store. While the Elite '68 edition is already sold out, the standard and variant editions are available for $300 and $450 respectively. Every set comes with five 18" x 24" prints and is numbered. To learn more about Mr. Whalen, be sure to visit strongstuff.net and follow Tom on Twitter @strongstufftom. And if you like what you see today, I'd strongly recommend you head over to darkhallmansion.com and follow them @darkhallmansion.

Laurent Durieux's "Gigantor" Art Prints

Is there anything more Japanese than giant robots? Sure, there's sushi, Godzilla, MiniDisc players, but after that, I have to assume it's pretty much all just giant robots. As a quick disclaimer to this review, I've never read any of the Gigantor manga, but I have seen a few episodes of the Gigantor cartoon, or as it's known in Japan, Tetsujin 28-go, mostly because I was inspired to seek out the series after hearing about these prints, and what I saw was pretty cool. There's no doubt the show looks dated (mind you, it originally aired in 1963), but I love watching older animation and it's surprisingly violent. I shit you not, there's plenty of scenes where Gigantor, a massive robot who could have easily disabled an enemy's vehicle in a safe manner, instead opts to fly right through it, or smash it with his massive metal gauntlets, thereby condemning the boat's / jet's / tank's operator to a slow and fiery death. In other words: it's kind of awesome. What's even more amazing is Laurent Durieux's killer prints based on the series, don't you think?

"Gigantor: The Lab" Art Print
Laurent Durieux
18" x 24" - Numbered
$65 (Standard Edition) - Limited to 150
$250 (T-28 Metal Edition) - Limited to 10

I was never really into Transformers as a kid. I'm not sure why, it just didn't interest me. In fact, I don't think the whole giant robot thing really clicked with me until I read Geoff Darrow's amazing Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, and was later reaffirmed by the wonderful Iron Giant. Laurent's prints perfectly capture the mind-blowing enormity that a towering metallic defender of justice should possess and somehow makes it look easy in the process. From a distance these posters appear to be fairly straight forward (beautiful, yes, but simplistic), though that couldn't be further from the truth. Take a closer look at the two images included in this post, and you'll immediately notice just how involved all of the hatching and cross-hatching is - the print looks clean, while also mesmerizing on a granular level. I'm honestly at a loss to tell you which one looks better, but I have no doubt these will be a big success come Thursday morning!

"Gigantor: Tokyo Night" Art Print
Laurent Durieux
18" x 24" - Numbered
$100 (Standard Edition) - Limited to 75
$250 (T-28 Metal Edition) - Limited to 10

Laurent Durieux's Gigantor inspired prints will be available on Thursday (3/22) at 9:30 AM PDT through Dark Hall Mansion's online storefront. The regular (non-metal) version of "Gigantor: The Lab" will measure 18" x 24", cost $65, and will be limited to an edition of 150. The regular (non-metal) version of "Gigantor: Tokyo Night" will cost $100 and will be limited to an edition of 75. For the big spenders, the appropriately awesome metal versions of both prints will be limited to an edition of 10 and cost $250 each. If you'd like to learn more about Dark Hall Mansion releases, I highly recommend you visit darkhallmansion.com and follow them on Twitter @DarkHallMansion. To see more of Laurent's work, head over to his incredibly impressive Flickr page.