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printedinblood · 5 years ago

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“Visions from the Upside Down”-Stranger Things:Artbook Artists List

As we inch close to the release date of our latest and most amazing Artbook release to date, We wanted to post a list of all of the included artists in the project. I am including their Social media @nametags for Instagram (if they have an account there) so you can follow up on their amazing works outside of our new book.

Remember you can pre-order the book here:

Charles Adi @blackoutbrother

Brian Aldridge @aerosoulpro

Nick Allsop @nick_alsopp_art

Rafael Alvarez @alvarez_studio

Kwasi Amankwah @kwasi81

Stephen Andrade @stephen.andrade.7 (Facebook)

Orlando Arocena @mexifunk

Edgar Ascensao @edgar_asc

Dane Ault @monkeyminionpress

Noah Bailey @boyishdeathtribe

Giuseppe Balestra @artbygb

Mark Bell @markbellillustration

Angelina Benedetti @angelinabenedetti

Freya Betts @freyabettsart

Rick "dienzo" Blanco @dienzoart

Alejandro Blasi @alejandroblasi.art (Facebook)

Aaron Bolduc @alphaazieru

Alex Boniwell @erodingdesigns

Mark Borgions @handmade_monster

Bonnie Bozell @bbozellart

Michael Vincent Bramley @mvbramleyart

Matthew Brazier @matthew_brazier

Rio Burton @rioburton

Lin-Zy Busch @withlovelinzy

Matt Busch @matt_busch_instagram

Butcher Billy @thebutcherbilly

Sheila C @studiosheila

Carlos Cabaleiro @cabaleiroart

Chris Callahan @rgb_alpha

Josh Campbell @paybackpenguin

Daniel Campos @stalk_danielcampos

Kate Carleton @keelhaulkate

Simon Carpenter @simcarpe

Ryan Caskey @ryancaskeyillustration

Christa Cassano @christacassano

Justin Castaneda @whenuwerelittle

Victor Castro @victoroil

Lon Chan @lonchanillustrates

Alexander Cherepanov @cherepanov_inkart

Chogrin @chogrin

GMB Chomichuk @gmbchomichuk

Chris Chuckry @chrischuckry

Darren Coburn-James @asylumartz

Adam Cockerton @adamcockertonart

Joe Corroney @joecorroney

Carolyn Craggs @carriejc1983

Paul Cremin @paul_cremin_art

Ryan Crosby @rcillustration

Ronnie Crowther @ronniecrowtherart

Justin Currie @chasingartwork

Bob Dahlstrom @bobdahlstrom

Ted Dastick @teddastickjr (Twitter)

Jason Davies @jasondaviesart_

Neil Davies @neildaviesillustration1

Rich Davies @turksworks

Simon Delart @s2lart

Mike Diaz

Garrett Dix @garrett_dix_artist

Rodney Dollah @rodneydollah

Dug Nation @sketchymonsters

Matt Dunn @matthewdunnart

Roberto Duque @rad_pencils

Damian Edwardson @damianedwardsonart

Sarah Elkins @NeilaK20 (Twitter)

Don England @donaldengland_art

Nicole Falk @legendsofthefalk

Bastian Faulk @bastianfaulk

Jaimie Filer @jaimie_filer

Malcolm Fisher @mal_made

Francisco Flores @artofmetalhand

Jared Flores (Circusbear) @jaredcircusbear

Julie Fordham @juliefordham

Luke Francis @twistedabnormality

Devin Francisco @devin_francisco_art

Bryan Fyffe @bryanfyffe

Anthony Galatis @anthonygalatis

Paul Gates @pickle.vision

Bruce Gerlach @bruce_gerlach (Twitter)

Sam Gilbey @samgilbey

Donny Gillies @dirtydonnyart

Dustin Goebel @dgoebel00

Jason Goungor @jasongoungor

Art Grafunkel @artgrafunkel

Joshua Green @lvciferx

Justin Harder @clausstudioss

Paul Harrison-Davies @paulmhd

Matthew Harrower @hpmatt1984

Jordan Hart @jordyjordith

Simon Heard @sinagedesign

Tomas Hijo @tomashijo

John J Hill @johnjhill

Michelle Hiraishi @_mhiraishi

Matthew Hirons @saintworksart

Chris Hitchman @chris_hitchman

James Hobson @jamesjamesjamescreative

Tony Hodgkinson @epictonedogg

Josh Howard @josh_howard

Rian Hughes @rianhughes

Faryn Hughes @farynh

Jon Hunt @huntillustration

Ian Jepson @ian_jepson

Bernard Jezowski @berniedave

Robert Jimenez @zerostreet

JoeJr @joejrberrelleza

Adem Kaan @ademkaanillustration

Ana Kahana @kahanita

Sandra Kamenz @sandrakamenz

Chris Kay @chris_kay_art

Michael Kelleher @michaelkelleherillustrator (Facebook)

Josh Kelly @jmonsterart

Tom Kelly @tomkellyart

Jemma Klein @jemmaklein

Heather Landry @sandpaperdaisy

Doug Larocca @douglaslaroccaart

Mark Levy @marklevyart

Alice Meichi Li @alicemeichi

Matthew Lineham @mlinehamart

Chelsea Lowe @cmloweart

Jerry Ma @epicprops

Ian MacDougall @ianmacart

Mike Mahle @mikemahleart

Tomasz Majewski @tomasz.majewski

Chris Malbon @melbs74

Matthew Manlove @mattmanlove

Christopher Maul @christopher_maul

Sam Mayle @sammaylearts

Kristopher McClanahan @deeplydapper

Bill McConkey @bill_mcconkey

John McCrea (w/ Dee Cunniffe) @mccreaman1 w/ @deezoid

Scott McKay @thescottmckay

Axel Medellin @axelmedellinmachain

Kelly Migliori @heyghoulhey

Jason Miller @jasonmillerart

Peach Momoko @peachmomoko60

Akane Morinishi @akaneschibiart

Micah Mowbray @curiousartglass

Murugiah @_murugiah

Christian Nannipieri @christian.nannipieri

Matt Needle @needledesign

William O'Neill @william.oneill.792

NOS4A2 Design @nos4a2lives

Angel Onofre @angelonofre

Rey Paez @reypaezart

Luke Parker @artofparker

John Pearson @johnjpearson

Xurxo Penalta @xurxopenalta

Jerry Pesce @pesceffects

Pestmeester @thepestmeester

Lucas Peverill @lucas_peverill_art

Michelle Prebich @batinyourbelfry

Dave Pryor @davepryor72

Gary Pullin @ghoulishgary

L.Jason Queen @ljasonqueen

Aldo Requena @aldorequenavalgorth

Joey Rex @iamjoeyrex

Rodolfo Reyes @rodolforever

Aleksey Rico @alekseyrico

Julien Rico jr @julienricojr

Dylan Riley @dylandraw

Matt Riste @mattristeillustration

Rafal Rola @rolsrafal

Stephanie Rosales @rosalesart1 (Twitter)

Stephen Sampson @thedarkinker

Scott Saslow @scottsaslow

Valerie Savarie @valeriesavarie

SCAR Studios @antoinette.rydyr (Facebook)

James Schneider @boardinker

Markee Shadows @markeeshadows

Jerry Shirts @artisticaerosol

Liza Shumskaya @kino_maniac

Bill Sienkiewicz @therealthatpolishguy

Randy Siplon @randysiplon

John Sloboda @sloboart

Brian Soriano @wrathcomics

Rob Stanley @robstanleyart

Guy Stauber @guystauber

Eileen Steinbach @sg_posters

Blake Stevenson @jetpacksandrollerskates

R.H. Stewart @rhsillustratorgmailcom

Justin Stewart @justin3000stewart

Matthew Stewart @stewartillustrations

Glen Stone @glenstoneillustration

Adam Stothard @ad_illustrator

Laura Streit @laurastreit_art

Mark Stroud @markblackblue (Twitter)

Andrew Swainson @andrew_swainson

Nick Taylor @nickillustratesthings

Theoretical Part @theoreticalpart

Steve Thomas @stevethomasart

Kevin Tiernan @jurassickevin

Felix Tindall @f_tindall

Angel Trancon @angeltranconstudio

Wayne Tully @waynetully

Cody Vrosh @codyvrosh

Jonny Wellman @jonnys_pixels

Bryan West @bryanwestart

Trent Westbrook @2023comics

Chris Willdig @rebelart1984

Matthew Woods @hallowwoods

Scott Woolston @scottwool

Clinton Yeager @screamingclint

#strangerthings #netflix #stranger #things #delreybooks #printedinblood #artbook

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queermediastudies · 7 years ago

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(In)Visibility and Visual Representation: Bisexual Identity in Lost Girl and Moonlight

Aimee Andrews & Ellie Borgione

The lack of visibility for bisexual characters in film and television, and the representational tropes that code these identities, continues to be problematic in queer and mainstream visual culture. This is partly due to the inherent power of these mediums to reproduce and reinforce oppressive cultural norms and stereotypes, but also because visual identification with popular culture functions for bisexual and other queer people as “...a way to validate our lived experiences and see our own interactions with oppression reflected back at us” (Leiva, 2017). This discussion critically engages with a series of media examples from one film and one television show, to explore the ways in which bisexuality is visually represented and marginalized by both hetero- and homosexual communities and audiences through the problematic use of these visual character tropes. This project presents visual examples from the film Moonlight, and the Canadian cable television show Lost Girl. This project considers the underlying complexity this lack of bisexual visibility and representation presents, and an examination of bisexual tropes reveal homo- heteronormative cultural biases.

LOVE TRIANGLE

The protagonist, Bo, is an openly bisexual woman. This supernatural drama follows the crime fighting succubus through her journey of self-discovery, including her characters sexuality development. While her bisexuality is blatantly shown (both ambiguously and explicitly), her indecisiveness between a male character (Dyson) and a female character (Lauren) and her sexual promiscuity are clear tropes throughout the entire series.

The omission and/or the invisibility of bisexual characters and experiences within visual culture, including the lack of bisexual representation within the narratives of popular film and television is problematic. Because these media reproduce and reinforce cultural constructs, and also function as sites of identity making, the invisibility of bisexual identity is dangerous, as it functions to marginalize and dismiss this group that exists outside of the hetero/homo binary. Additionally, the lack of bisexual representation in film and television, and the common visual tropes or archetypes represented when bisexual identities are present, reveal a heteronormative and homonormative bias and lack of consideration, that functions to both exclude bisexuality (and its visual representation) from both groups and communities. When bisexual identities are represented in popular film and television, they require representational assimilation, and exist primarily through hetero- and homonormative character tropes that are often stereotypical archetypes: villainization, criminalization, ambiguity, promiscuity, hyper-sexualization, and indecisive/flip-flopping.

Lost Girl, 2010-2016

The female protagonist Bo in the sci-fi fantasy television show Lost Girl is a bisexual succubus. At the beginning of the series Bo spends most of her time as a badass detective while on the hunt for her true “Fae” identity through her unknown family history. Being a succubus, Bo must feed off people’s sexual Chi (sexual energy) to survive and can kill them if she doesn’t control herself. This creates a paradoxical image of her being a “good guy” and the “dreaded predatory queer” simultaneously (Lady Geek Girl, 2015). While she is the hero of the show, she is hyper-sexualized and portrayed as indecisive/flip-flopping between a male (Dyson) and female (Lauren) love interest. Also, many of her sexual encounters are shown through the male gaze. Besides Bo, the show incorporates three other bisexual characters (Vex, Tamsin, and Mark) which is remarkable for mainstream media. Overall, Lost Girl is a “breakout text” for bisexuality and queerness with more accurate portrayals of sexual fluidity than most television shows involving queer characters (Cavalcante, 2017).

Bo is feeding on Dyson’s chi. While he is voluntarily giving her his chi in this scene, there are many times she takes it using her powers of control and manipulation. This can be seen as a villainizing attribute and it creates an idea of deception and manipulation of queer sex.

Throughout the season Bo struggles with monogamy, something she desperately wants but is told is impossible. Because of her succubus identity, she must feed on more than one person’s chi to sustain herself. All her attempts at monogamy fail, which plays into the polyamorous and promiscuous stereotypes bisexuals often experience. The love triangle issue between Bo, Dyson, and Lauren further illustrates issues with bisexual’s representation being focused around indecisiveness and issues with monogamy. The lack of discussion over her bisexual/fluid identity and her character’s built-in oversexualized nature have a paradoxical effect. On one hand, this mystical fae world seems to be a queer utopia that doesn’t involve homophobia/biphobia, is all accepting, and her sexuality was portrayed as the norm (Riese, 2013). On the other hand, this can cause issues with erasing identities and ignoring real problems queer people face with naming/identifying.

Bo attempts a monogamous relationship with Lauren multiple times. Every experience she has with Lauren involves a level of deception, drama, and manipulation. This represents the stereotypes of same sex relationships between females as “tedious, passionless and high on emotional processing” (Reise, 2013). The multiple failures between the two of them also reinforce these stereotypes, while also emphasizing the belief that all bisexuals are polyamorous, indecisive, and sex crazed.

Heteronormativity and the male gaze do affect the show regardless of the female creator, M. A. Lovretta. One of the first explicit lesbian sex scenes between Bo and Lauren involves lies and deception. Lauren’s “owner”/boss forces her to have sex with Bo to create a distraction. The second time they have sex, Bo discovers that Lauren has a girlfriend. This is problematic regardless of their mutual attraction and feelings for each other, because most of their intimate moments involve some level of deceit. On the contrary, most of her sexual experiences with men involve mutual respect, honesty, and (with Dyson) love. She has a threesome with a married fae couple, but only to make her male love interest Dyson jealous and get back at him for not committing to her. Later, she dates a man named Ryan who makes a mistake and gives her a woman as an apology gift. She begins to kiss the woman while Ryan excitedly watches then invites him to join them. Both examples downgrade sexual experiences between two women as something that is done for a man or for a man’s pleasure (Sparky, 2012).

Bo and her “gift” from Ryan. Here she is calling him over to join them in a threesome after she had been kissing this woman for his entertainment, promoting the male gaze in this scene. There was very little introduction or conversation before the sexual activity began, further reinforcing the hyper-sexualization and promiscuity stereotypes of bisexuals.

While there are some issues with stereotypes, the male gaze, and oversexualization, Lost Girl is one of the few television shows with multiple bisexual/queer characters that are either the “good guys” or villains turned good. (Spoiler alert) In the last season Mark and Vex end up together, proving that bisexuals can have a monogamous relationship without “choosing a side” (heterosexuality/homosexuality). Bo discovers that she is “chosen one” with the power to either end or save the world, which is a major step in the right direction for the queer community. Her nonchalance toward her sexuality can be seen as empowering and a good way to normalize queerness in television. Lastly, her refusal to choose between the light and dark parallels the pressures bisexuals face with choosing between heterosexuality and homosexuality (Riese, 2013).

Moonlight, 2016

The character of Kevin (seen top left, and below right) is an important character to the narrative of Moonlight, despite the ambiguous representation of his bisexuality. Ironically, he is cast as both the villain and the protagonist’s love interest. Ambiguity and villainization are common tropes used to represent bisexual identities in film and TV. Here we see the teenage characters in the film’s only sexual scene (above), and their embrace symbolically mirrored in the finale scene, wherein the adult men find each other again.

The character of Kevin in the film Moonlight illustrates the character tropes of villainization and ambiguity in bisexual representation. While Kevin is featured prominently throughout the three-part biographical narrative as both the love interest and villain, and even though he initiates the only sexual act and scene in the film, his sexual identity as a supporting character is often ambiguous. In the last act of Moonlight, the adult Kevin talks about his background, and reveals he is a father. While Kevin is never explicitly labeled as bisexual, this identity is implied through his relationships with men and women, but ultimately Kevin’s sexuality is ambiguous in representation.

As a teenager in private moments, such as the scene on the beach, Kevin is far more comfortable in his own skin than Chiron, and appears to embody his sexuality with ease. Yet in public, Kevin is represented as able to immediately assimilate into a heteronormative (closeted) identity, and this representation is homophobic and violent. After the sexual intimacy they share the night at the beach, in the school-yard scene, Kevin is specifically chosen and peer-pressured by a homophobic class bully to punch Chiron. This scene is painful to watch, as it is clear that Kevin is being bullied into bullying Chiron; there is a flicker of hesitation in Kevin’s eyes, but without skipping a beat he complies, and as Chiron falls to the ground, the camera turns to focus on Kevin’s troubled expression instead. As Chiron quickly gets up, Kevin is ordered to hit him again, and he does, this time almost annoyed, he starts begging Chiron to “stay down!” Chiron gets up and steadily walks toward Kevin, his face bloodied, while Kevin pushes him back forcefully and looks around confused. Kevin is then shoved out of the way himself by the group of bullies, so that they may finish beating up Chiron properly. The sound fades out to music, then silence, the students run away, a teacher helps pick Chiron up from his fetal position on the ground.

Here in the film, the ambiguous ways in which Kevin is represented, leaves the audience to question and interpret whether Kevin is a victim or villain of homophobic culture. That is, is Kevin’s character meant to be representative of an intersectional and/or bisexual identity (we have not focused on constructs of race, class, and gender in this discussion, but they are certainly significant factors), or is he simply an experimental chameleon passing between social adolescent groups? In the last act, we hear how Kevin’s life has progressed, what he has overcome, and how he has changed, and while this provides a rich character back story, the film is still relying on representational tropes of ambiguity and villainization for the character and narrative to function.

This ambiguity and invisibility is problematic, because it makes bisexual identification, and what Cavalcante calls “queer identity work” in audience reception theory, less accessible. Cavalcante positions queer “breakout texts” such as Moonlight, as facilitators or sites of queer identity work, and describes this as a “collective labor of crafting, articulating, and performing LGBT identities,’” that produces a “self-clarifying,” experience through audience identification. While Moonlight functions as a site of this queer identity work in many other ways successfully, the bisexual ambiguity in the representation of Kevin’s character is problematically less so. Herukhuti from the Center for Culture Sexuality and Spirituality has also noted that there is justification for embracing Kevin as bisexual, and argues that “Kevin’s evolution as a character is in a powerful way more apparent than that of Little/Chiron/Black....Kevin’s sexual fluidity not only contributes to his ability to evolve but also his capacity to act as the healing waters that wash over Little/Chiron/Black.” Furthermore, Herukhuti argues that while this reading of bisexual representation in Moonlight “may challenge the satisfaction” of what he identifies as the “gaywashing” of Kevin’s character, a form of homonormativity, it contributes to a larger discourse of understanding sexual diversity. Indeed, it is interesting to consider the ways in which the very invisibility of and fluidity of Kevin’s identity provides the agency for evolution and growth.

Kevin in the second (top) and third act (below) of Moonlight.

Herukhuti identifies the sexual fluidity of the character, and notes: “few critics and general conversations engage Kevin as a Black bisexual male. This silenced discourse is troubling and a missed opportunity given the complexities of the character including his strategic negotiation of gender policing from childhood, difficulties in managing his friendship with Little/Chiron/Black, and ease with same-sex intimacy.”

Additionally, Kevin is arguably represented as a villain in the film (or one of them), a complicated identity as the character simultaneously functions as the protagonist’s (Chiron) life-long romantic interest. This villainization is visually represented in the school-yard scene where Kevin is himself peer-pressured/bullied into bullying Chiron. Kevin is represented as the aggressor and villain, and the violence of homophobia is complicated with internalization and masculinity, that intersects sexuality and race, evidenced as Hutchinson notes, in this school-yard bullying scene. Hutchinson argues that “Moonlight succeeds in foregrounding how black queer youth are often criminalized when they attempt to express themselves and/or defend against bullying and harassment,” and this argument applies to the ways in which both Kevin and Chiron are represented.

In private moments, Kevin’s character is represented as more experienced and comfortable in his body and sexuality than Chiron. This is illustrated by the beach scene shown above, that depicts a significant moment of physical and emotional intimacy. However, Kevin is representationally assimilated back into a heteronormative culture, in the school-yard scene that follows.

In conclusion, these media examples reveal both the hetero-normative and homo-normative constructs that govern bisexual representation in visual media. Susan Stryker defines homonormativity as a “back-formation from the ubiquitous heteronormative” (p.146-147). Homonormativity was a critique first articulated by the transgender community, of “homosexual community norms” that discriminated against and marginalized “other kinds of sex/gender/sexuality difference” (Stryker, p.146-147.) Stryker describes homonormativity as a way of naming the ways in which “homosexuality, as a sexual orientation category based on constructions of gender it shared with the dominant culture, sometimes had more in common with the straight world than it did with us” (p. 146-147). Homonormativity is dangerous because it “upholds, sustains, and seeks inclusion within” heterosexist “institutions and values” instead of challenging them, and as Stryker argues, limits the potentiality of resisting oppression, overall (p.145, p.147). Heteronormativity too is prevalent in most mainstream media television shows and films. The subtle nudges from the writers for characters to fall into “normal” heterosexual relationships can change the tone for queer viewers. Kevin having a child with a woman and Bo having issues only with her relationships with women that aren’t seen with men are both clear examples of this. Both Moonlight and Lost Girl conceptually draw attention to the queer umbrella and bisexuality naming identity. Omission of any naming or acknowledgement of identities creates issues with recognizing representation. Lost Girl and Moonlight do however, represent astonishing breakout texts for bisexual representation in ways mainstream audiences have not experienced before.

Bibliography

Cavalcante, A. (2017). Breaking Into Transgender Life: TransgenderAudiences’ Experiences With “First of ItsKind” Visibility in Popular Media. Communication, Culture & Critique ISSN 1753-9129

Herukhuti (2017). Believing Is Seeing: Moonlight, Asexuality, and Bisexuality. https://sacredsexualities.org/2017/03/01/believing-is-seeing-moonlight-asexuality-and-bisexuality/

Hutchinson, S. (2017). Moonlight, Black Boy and Teachable Moments. http://www.thefeministwire.com/2017/03/moonlight-black-boy-teachable-moments/

Lady Geek Girl (2015). Sexualized Saturdays: Bisexuality in Lost Girl. https://ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/sexualized-saturdays-bisexuality-in-lost-girl/

Leiva, L. (2017). TV Is Getting More Progressive, But It's Still Failing Queer People Of Color. https://www.bustle.com/p/tv-is-getting-more-progressive-but-its-still-failing-queer-people-of-color-64520

Riese (2013). I Just Now Saw: Lost Girl. https://www.autostraddle.com/i-just-now-saw-lost-girl-174429/

Sparky (2012). Lost Girl: not as Gay Friendly as it Seems. http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2012/02/lost-girl-not-as-gay-friendly-as-it.html

Stryker S. (2008). “Transgender History, Homonormativity, and Disciplinarity,” Radical History Review 100, p. 145-147.

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#queermediastudies lgbtq queer bisexuality biphobia invisiblebisexual bisexualerasure bicharacters hero villain dreadedpredatoryqueer moonlig

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