Zak Smith’s Illustrations for Gravity’s Rainbow
With  760 illustrations, artist Zak Smith takes on the pirate wonders and opiomaniacs of Thomas Pynchon’s sprawling novel Gravity’s Rainbow. Through drawings, paintings, and some experimental photography, Smith attempts a literal take on the novel. (He explains: “If the book says there was a green Spitfire, I drew a green Spitfire.”) Exhibited in the Whitney Biennial in 2004 and currently hanging in the Walker Art Center, this ambitious work is now available online. So stroll among the “dames, tomatoes, sweater girls,” the “unhealthy-colored stuff,” and the “Weird Letter Assignments.” Take in the “kind of sunset you hardly see anymore,” but beware. This is Pynchon, after all — it’s feverish, paranoid stuff marked by backwards gunshots, lost girls, and much more. (in Arts & Humanities > Literature) |
