What do you think?
Rate this book
Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters from Ghana
CONTRIBUTIONS BY Clive Barker
LeVar Burton
Deirdre Evans-Pritchard
Walter Hill
Angelica Huston
John Milius
Roy Sieber
Paul Hayes Tucker
Gus Van Sant
John Yau
LeVar Burton
Deirdre Evans-Pritchard
Walter Hill
Angelica Huston
John Milius
Roy Sieber
Paul Hayes Tucker
Gus Van Sant
John Yau
- GenresArtNonfiction
Paperback
First published October 31, 2000
92 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 23, 2014
Biggest news of the day: Extreme Canvas II just came out. As Richard Scarry would say it's the "best book ever" on Ghanian hand painted movie posters!
June 17, 2023
The posters are dope, but the essays range from pretty good to Jesus Christ, Get Over Yourself.
"Actually, these African artists are a like like Gauguin in ways you might not expect." Probably true because I don't think I could point out a Gaugin painting(?) from a lineup.
I think the essays often tried to do the "considering low culture from a high culture perspective" thing, and that is usually kind of boring.
PS, I'm not saying that African culture is low culture, but I AM saying that crappy Hollywood action movies are. Deal with it.
It's definitely fun and interesting to see the interpretations of these movies put to canvas, especially with so many movie posters being so goddamn boring. These posters from Ghana tend to be more interpretive than literal, and I'm all for it.
Which is hilarious because we live in a country where some dope sues a movie studio because the trailer had actors that were cut from the movie? And some even dopier dope was like, "I'm a judge, this seems reasonable. $5 million dollars in punishment for someone who rented a $3.99 movie on streaming and didn't see an actor they thought would be in the movie feels like a good, round number."
It's like these people have never seen an 80's film made by Roger Corman where a big star walks through for 10 minutes at the beginning and has a death scene at the end. Or: like they've never seen a movie that was on TNT.
Or, like, every movie trailer promises that a movie will be good, and they are not all good. So how does that work? If the movie is just kind of a piece of shit, wouldn't it be false advertising if the trailer was like, "Not a total piece of shit?"
"Actually, these African artists are a like like Gauguin in ways you might not expect." Probably true because I don't think I could point out a Gaugin painting(?) from a lineup.
I think the essays often tried to do the "considering low culture from a high culture perspective" thing, and that is usually kind of boring.
PS, I'm not saying that African culture is low culture, but I AM saying that crappy Hollywood action movies are. Deal with it.
It's definitely fun and interesting to see the interpretations of these movies put to canvas, especially with so many movie posters being so goddamn boring. These posters from Ghana tend to be more interpretive than literal, and I'm all for it.
Which is hilarious because we live in a country where some dope sues a movie studio because the trailer had actors that were cut from the movie? And some even dopier dope was like, "I'm a judge, this seems reasonable. $5 million dollars in punishment for someone who rented a $3.99 movie on streaming and didn't see an actor they thought would be in the movie feels like a good, round number."
It's like these people have never seen an 80's film made by Roger Corman where a big star walks through for 10 minutes at the beginning and has a death scene at the end. Or: like they've never seen a movie that was on TNT.
Or, like, every movie trailer promises that a movie will be good, and they are not all good. So how does that work? If the movie is just kind of a piece of shit, wouldn't it be false advertising if the trailer was like, "Not a total piece of shit?"
April 15, 2009
Actually, the written portion of this book isn't all that. Basically some essays or anecdotes from some famous and not-so famous folks talking about these works of art. BUT, the real kick in the nuts that this book delivers is the artwork.
It features hundreds (feels like, don't hold me to that) of paintings done by self-taught artists in Ghana to promote movies that were shown in makeshift cinemas in the towns around the country. The images are UNBELIEVABLE. Horror movies are even more grotesque than ever, comedies are more grotesque than ever, and action films are just as grotesque as ever.
These dudes - and all the artists are dudes - blow just about every aspect of the human or demon or animal body out of proportion with dizzying and stomach-churning results. Some use characters from other movies to make the poster for another movie. Nudity is not a problem. Decapitation doesn't slow them for an instance. And the posters keep flying at you page after page after page.
Seriously, these posters - painted mostly on the backs of canvas grain or corn sacks that were stitched together - are incredible. Drop by some time and check it out.
It features hundreds (feels like, don't hold me to that) of paintings done by self-taught artists in Ghana to promote movies that were shown in makeshift cinemas in the towns around the country. The images are UNBELIEVABLE. Horror movies are even more grotesque than ever, comedies are more grotesque than ever, and action films are just as grotesque as ever.
These dudes - and all the artists are dudes - blow just about every aspect of the human or demon or animal body out of proportion with dizzying and stomach-churning results. Some use characters from other movies to make the poster for another movie. Nudity is not a problem. Decapitation doesn't slow them for an instance. And the posters keep flying at you page after page after page.
Seriously, these posters - painted mostly on the backs of canvas grain or corn sacks that were stitched together - are incredible. Drop by some time and check it out.
November 21, 2008
A very cool look into the world of hand painted 80's movie posters from Ghana. VCR's and American movies invaded at the same time. the VCR made it easy for the first time for people in small villages to see these massive American movies otherwise not seen. (IE Rambo, T2, Raider of the Lost Arc) Men would travel the county side with a TV and a VCR, going from village to village showing these movies. All they needed was power and a little promotion before they got to town.
That's where these posters came in. Since they weren't getting onesheet posters from the studios, they had artists paint a poster for them. These posters were sometimes a strange replica of the original poster, and sometimes it was whatever they felt made a better story for their audience.
It's an amazing study in the force of American Culture on others, and also in a sad way the price they pay.
That's where these posters came in. Since they weren't getting onesheet posters from the studios, they had artists paint a poster for them. These posters were sometimes a strange replica of the original poster, and sometimes it was whatever they felt made a better story for their audience.
It's an amazing study in the force of American Culture on others, and also in a sad way the price they pay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews