Famed Cartoonist Ralph Steadman Does ‘Breaking Bad’
Genius cartoonist Ralph Steadman has turned his pen to some amazing cartoon portraits of the characters from the popular TV series Breaking Bad. Working with the creator of the show, Vince Gilligan, Steadman put together a series of Blu-ray steelbooks. Each one of these has a different cover featuring the main characters, including Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and of course Gus, Hank, Mike, and Saul.
Steadman is well known for his famous collections, including a series from Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, where he brought the characters to life in what he dubs on his website as being “the surreal drug-fuelled road trip which leads the good doctor and his companion to Las Vegas.” Seems it was natural for him to also get involved in Breaking Bad.
Starting Friday, the creations have been on show at the 71a gallery in East London in an exhibition dubbed “Breaking Bad Character Portraits by Ralph Steadman.” The exhibition in London ends today.
The exhibition also displayed other UK artists’ Breaking Bad-inspired work, specially selected by Steadman.
Prints from Ralph Steadman’s Breaking Bad exhibition. From @mashable http://t.co/y0M0Cp6Wpk pic.twitter.com/cWEQplxXxU
— Screen Wolf Podcast (@screen_wolf) February 15, 2015
According to Mashable, Gilligan thought that the hope of actually enlisting Steadman to do the work was merely a “pipe dream,” and he is thrilled that he did come on board.
“I can barely describe the combination of disbelief and giddy joy I felt when I heard he was on board to do it.
“Ralph is the Walter White of artists: He’s a dark genius whose output is disturbing, yet habit-forming.”
Artist Ralph Steadman has a new series of #BreakingBad illustrations. Yes, please: http://t.co/V0wgYfsqML #ARTNews pic.twitter.com/IJYpnnoC6I
— WAAVE+DADA (@waavedada) February 14, 2015
As for Steadman himself, he apparently didn’t watch Breaking Bad at first, but when he did, he watched the entire series in just two weeks. He hopes that his creations show the complex feelings generated by the show.
“At first, I thought this series is going to be all about death and desecration, but instead it became a more complex landscape of human relationships.
“I hope I put something of these feelings into the portraits that I made of the characters, which were landscapes in themselves. An irony in the subject of crystal meth is how beautifully it resembles the desert sky.”
While the London exhibition of the Breaking Bad portraits ends on Sunday, it is to be hoped that other exhibitions will be held elsewhere in the world. Judging by Steadman’s website, possibly art prints will be on sale.
On the subject of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the Inquisitr reports that, Better Call Saul, the spin-off from Breaking Bad, might have a few surprising appearances.
[Image:CC BY 2.0 The Conmunity – Pop Culture Geek]
