The Gorey Trip

I don't know what you say to someone who does not know the artist Edward Gorey. He was an artist/illustrator and writer who's work can only be described as distinct, somewhat twisted and odd. His medium of choice was pen and ink which makes him one of my heroes. What he can accomplish with those simple tools is remarkable. It is certainly something I aspire to every time I pick up a pen.

Google some of his work and you are sure to recognize it from the animated opening of PBS "Mystery" or from the many books he wrote. He was very Gothic and Victorian in his illustrations. He illustrated women in evening gowns and men in white tie tails and long Edwardian coats. He was the perfect art director (sets and costumes) for the stage production of "Dracula" which opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway in 1977 for which he won the Tony. I saw that show and although Frank Langella, at the time, was a very hunky Dracula, the costars of the show were the black and white sets and unique costumes of Edward Gorey.

So it was no small discovery for me to find out that Edward Gorey lived and spent his last years in Yarmouth Port, about thirty minutes from the Cape Playhouse. He was a subscriber and at one time board member of the theatre and he attended often. He died in 2000 and his house now holds memorabilia and his art in a celebration of his unique gift. I couldn't stay long enough. One like myself starts to obsess over small details, to the exclusion of all else and it cries for another trip to obsess on other things in the house.

As I looked around it became obvious to me that he drew the things around him. For example the skull that sits on his breakfast table in the picture. (the skull has glasses but you can't really see that in the picture.) The Victorian architecture and well dressed Edwardian people in his work could actually be the houses and folks of Cape Cod. He put himself into lots of his drawings, I'll bet there are a lot of other Cape Codders there as well.

So naturally the muse of the ink pen came back to me after that visit, just as I was starting on my hellish trip to LA. It sort of seemed Goreyesque at times, but even that fantasy was not enough to make up for twelve hours sitting and waiting to arrive in Los Angeles. I have included one of the drawings I did during that trip. I think it speaks for itself, no complicated subtext need be given.

I bought a couple of his drawings while I was there and I have been studying them with a magnifying glass. The truth is probably in there some where and I plan to find the secret.

Here is to the artists who inspire us. May they always have a place to be seen and admired, observed and devoured.
As you were,
Jay