The High Fidelity Art Of Jim Flora by Irwin Chusid, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

Since the 2004 publication of The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, theonce-forgotten illustrator has gained recognition as one of the foremostpioneers of a raucous, cartoonish style of commercial art that defines theMid-Century aesthetic. Two follow-up volumes, The Curiously Sinister Art (2007)and The Sweetly Diabolic Art(2009), captured Flora's largely unseen fine artworks, spotlighting a variety of themes such as architecture, cats and dogs, science, cars, trainsand the occasional swerve toward gratuitous violence. Butone of Flora's sustaining loves was music. His 1940s Columbia and 1950s RCAVictor record covers, in which legendary musicians were routinely afflicted withmutant skin tints and bonus limbs, are considered classics of outlandishpost-Cubist caricature. During this period Flora also produced an enormousamount of promotional ephemera, including new release monthlies, trade booklets, ads, and point-of-sale novelties. The now out-of-print Mischievous Art featuredFlora's known album covers. (No complete discography existed.) Since that book'spublication, more covers have been found, as well as rough drafts and unuseddesigns. So Flora co-archivists/authors Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon havecompiled a complete collection of Flora covers (including recent discoveries)and unpublished sketches in one volume, augmented by music images not includedin previous volumes. The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora is the definitiveanthology of the maestro's visual compositions, reflecting jazz, classical, andLatin music. Regarding his jam-packed canvases Flora once said he couldn't standa static space. There's nothing static about the images in The High FidelityArt: they wail, dance, bounce, and swing from the chandeliers. Flora had a knackfor grooving with a paintbrush, making art to which you can tap your toes andsnap your fingers. | The High Fidelity Art Of Jim Flora by Irwin Chusid, Paperback | Indigo Chapters