For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Edgar Ascensão
Edgar Ascensão is a poster artist living in Portugal. While in school, Edgar studied Graphic Design as well as Multimedia Arts & Audiovisual.
He now spends half of his professional life working at a national TV channel as a camera news reporter. The other half is dedicated to creating movie posters!
Regarding his art style, he started with minimal concepts and layouts. Over the years, it has developed to more oneiric illustrations, poetic representations of the film narrative.
He likes to think that his work can offer a fresh take, a conceptual interpretation, if you will, of a film’s meaning.
He has collaborated with Hero Complex Gallery, Gallery 1988 and Printed in Blood.
JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
EDGAR: As a kid I was very introverted. I didn’t have any friends living close to me, so I spent a lot of time at home reading comics, watching movies on VHS recorder or drawing imaginary cities in my room. I rewatched some of the movies so many times that I memorized the dialogues and ended up designing my own videotape covers.
Growing up, another hobby was oil painting. I loved the surrealist themes of artists like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte and I also wanted to convey my own crazy ideas into the white canvas.
As I grew some more, circa 2009 I found myself marveling at this trend I discovered on the internet: The alternative movie posters. With concepts and ideas so brilliant that it made me think that I too should make posters like those.
Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
Salvador Dalí was always one of those who fascinated me and I tended to imitate his style in my paintings. In comics, Moebius made me dream. My childhood dream was to create comics and his art seemed so easy, so simple but at the same time so unattainable.
He was on the same level as Hergé and his Tintin, who I envied, always with that clean but rigorous trait.
Closer to the movies, it was The Art of Ralph McQuarrie and I idolized those iconic posters from the seventies and eighties that nowadays everyone knows the artists by name, but I didn’t know who Struzan, Alvin or Peak were at the time…
Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram
It amazes me every week to see the bursts of creativity of Polish artist Karol Rogóż. I identify a lot with his posters and I end up feeling a healthy twinge of envy, which only makes me want to make even more posters!
Among the hot shot artists, I love to see the work of Laurent Durieux, Doaly, Kilian Eng, Nico Delort, Tomer Hanuka..
What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I will continue to make alternative movie posters without pressure and with my own free will and pleasure.
On the other hand, I would love to get some licensed IP work for galleries (hello Bottleneck!) and I would also like to create more official work for feature or short films, and thus forever leaving my “footprint” in the world of cinema.
Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
Anyone who knows me knows that I have an unconditional love for Die Hard, I even have a “shrine” for my memorabilia at home. But I also lose my mind with Indiana Jones, Robocop, T2, Groundhog Day…
I like hard sci-fi (Contact, Interstellar, Annihilation), and mindfucks (Lost Highway, Memento, The Fountain).
As for TV series, I remember that I was religiously following Quantum Leap, 24, Lost or Fringe on a weekly basis. Today I can rewatch any Seinfeld episode anytime without blinking.
More recently I enjoyed watching Dark, The Afterparty or Inside Job. Others that I look forward to seeing them return are One Punch Man and Black Mirror.
Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Edgar as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / PosterSpy / Red Bubble / Gallery 1988 / Store
Beethoven
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Dances With Wolves
The Fabelmans
Get Out
Godzilla
Halloween
Joker
The Martain
The Neverending Story
The Northman
Pleasantville
Saw
Scream 2
Star Wars
Starship Troopers
Stranger Things
Top Gun
Train To Busan
Unbreakable
Waterworld