Dramatic, seductive, and playfully erotic are just a few terms that come to mind when viewing Anderson’s new series of sprawling pulp inspired paintings, Angels and Outlaws. Coming off the spurs of his
earlier Pulp Western series, these new works are an extension of his vibrant style, combining images of the old
West with Hollywood cowboys, pin-ups and characters from pulp fiction novel covers of the 1940’s. In this series however, theme and technique have evolved to create an even more risqué and evocative collection of highly charged canvases.
Anderson roots his work squarely in the tradition of the great pulp covers and pin-up illustrations of the forties
and fifties. He creates swirling montages of memory and dreams where color and composition blend into an
erotic tapestry. He encourages us to be voyeurs, teasing us with his playfully sordid tales of incredibly gorgeous gals and tough square-jawed men. It is difficult to tell if the men are watching the girls, looking for trouble, or maybe a little of both.
Using the Pulp Western theme as his platform, Anderson’s latest series displays maturation of technique and composition, expressed through a more painterly style and a sharper sense of design. Cleverly juxtaposed images are often punctuated by text with tongue-in-cheek innuendo. Hard lines, soft and rich textures, saturated colors, and a more expansive palette, make his work literally leap off the canvas.
Anderson would be right at home with the great pulp illustrators of the past, telling the whole story, as the pulp covers often did, within a single frame. However, not willing to settle for nostalgia, he appropriates those classic images, filters them though a clever use of montage, and creates a series of vibrant, sexy stories of seduction, full of erotic tension. His work slyly captures the paradoxical nature of pulp art; good girls with bad thoughts, and bad men who, at the end of the day when they put down their holsters and turn out the lights, are only looking for the love of a good woman.
The unbridled spirit of pulp remains alive and well in Anderson’s Angels and Outlaws, where the bad guys are really good and the good girls are just so, so bad.
