ames (Jim) Flora is best-known for his wild jazz and classical album covers for Columbia Records (late 1940s) and RCA Victor (1950s). He authored and illustrated 17 popular children's books and flourished for decades as a magazine illustrator. Few realize, however, that Flora was also a prolific fine artist with a devilish sense of humor and a flair for juxtaposing playfulness, absurdity and violence.Cute — and deadly.
Flora's album covers pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Yet this childlike exuberance was subverted by a tinge of the diabolic. Flora wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring flying musicians, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives.
Taking liberties with human anatomy, he drew bonded bodies and misshapen heads, while inking ghoulish skin tints and grafting mutant appendages. He was not averse to pigmenting jazz legends Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa like bedspread patterns. On some Flora figures, three legs and five arms were standard equipment, with spare eyeballs optional. His rarely seen fine artworks reflect the same comic yet disturbing qualities. "He was a monster," said artist and Floraphile JD King. So were many of his creations.JimFlora.com exhibits samples of Flora's fine art, commercial assignments, sketches, prints, books, and memorabilia. Our goal is to bring Flora's work to renewed prominence. We have published two anthologies of Flora art, and several more are planned. Working with the Flora family we are producing and marketing prints (in several formats) of the artist's idiosyncratic images. Flora spread paint on paper. We're spreading Flora over the planet.
Jim Flora once said that all he wanted to do was "create a little piece of excitement." He overshot his goal with much of his work.
THE SWEETLY DIABOLICART OF JIM FLORA
Our third book will feature paintings, drawings, sketches, and commercial illustrations from the 1940s thru the '90s, many never before published or exhibited. Also rare (and bizarre) early children's book drafts. Fantagraphics Books, August 2009.
THE CURIOUSLY SINISTER ART OF JIM FLORABy Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon. Designed by Laura Lindgren. Published by Fantagraphics Books, February 2007.
THE MISCHIEVOUS ART OF JIM FLORABy Irwin Chusid. Image Restorations by Barbara Economon. Designed by Laura Lindgren. Published by Fantagraphics Books, October 2004; second edition (revised) February 2007.
The Big Bank Robberyposted: June 23, 2009
Jim Flora Art has released a limited-edition fine art print of a colorful 1960s Flora painting entitled The Big Bank Robbery. This three-tiered tableau depicts characteristic Flora mayhem: inscrutable monsters with misshapen features, Lego architecture, buildings with eyes, alternating color fills, and—yes—a bank robbery. Only 30 prints were produced for this edition.
LOUIS ARMSTRONGFINE ART PRINT
posted: May 14, 2009
Now available: a limited edition fine art print of Flora's 1947 Columbia album cover for Louis Armstrong's Hot 5. Commissioned by Hypergallery, a UK dealer specializing in classic album cover art, the print is available exclusively through their website. The edition of 25 was produced by Flora archivist Barbara Economon from a vintage printer's proof sheet in the family's collection.
PRIMER FOR PROPHETS SCREEN PRINTS
FLORA ALPHABET SERIES CONTINUES
NOW AVAILABLE: the next four prints in the Primer for Prophets silk-screen series. Cool Flora illustrations of the American nuclear family (and their weird pets) during the 1950s, when donuts and cake were considered essential nutrients, little girls could multi-task with brushes, and dogs craved beer!
The images derive from a 1954 trade-only alphabet booklet that Flora illustrated for CBS-TV. The second set of prints features KISSED, COOKED, GROOMED, and QUAFFED. Edition of 100 (each image), hand-numbered and authenticated. Also available as a FULL SET.
The first four prints ("ATE," "DROVE," "JIVED," and "SMOKED") are still available as single prints or as a SET.
LIMITED EDITION 2007 RELIEF PRINTS
OF 1951 FLORA WOODCUT AVAILABLE
Jim Flora Art LLC offers limited edition relief prints struck from an intricate and well-preserved original Flora woodcut depicting a sinister and manic panorama.
