Art Column: Allison Lefcort
By Erin
Ah, movies. Many could argue—and be right in my opinion—that making movies, especially of the animated variety, is a work of art in itself.
Well that is all well and good, but that doesn’t exactly give me a topic for this wonderful issue. Then I thought of the artwork hanging in my own home and knew exactly the topic to write about. This artist’s works were inspired by the works of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. In her own words “Boldness and simplicity are the keys to the success of my portraits. The vibrant color of the background accents the shapes and shadows and enhances the three-dimensional appearance. I have always been a star-gazer. These paintings are my homage to the celebrities depicted.”
I am talking of the artist Allison Lefcort. She has created works of rock stars, singers, and political figures. Allison Lefcort was born in May 1975 and her works is considered as part of the Pop Art movement. Her earliest portrait was of Dan Marino, which she created when she was just a little girl. In High School, she created a painting of the band The Doors, which is considered her start of her Pop Art style.
You must be wondering, why then did this artist immediately pop into my head? Because those aren’t the only types of works that she has created.
One of the biggest companies in the animated movie business is likely Disney. Well Allison Lefcort was commissioned by Disney Fine Art in 2003 to create paintings of many characters from Disney films. Some of these works include:
Pooh and Tigger
Lady and the Tramp
Goofy
And last but certainly not least, everyone’s favorite mouse: Mickey!
These are just a few of her many, many Disney Characters that she has created. Her work is most noticeable for the colorful backgrounds and black, grey and white foreground, thus creating her style.
Her works are some of my favorite depictions of Disney characters because of the vibrant backgrounds and “dull” foreground. It provides, what I think, is a very unique depiction of Disney characters because other art is typically Sericels with vibrantly colored characters with either a white background or colored scene background or when something is painted it all tends to be in black and white or color. This mix I feel provides one of the better contrasts to make one of the most unique depictions of well-loved characters. And that is why I chose Allison Lefcort as the topic for this issue of SOUP.
I hope you enjoyed her art as much as I do!