Mike Mills' films and design work have dominated the visual landscape of the past two decades, through record covers and music videos for bands like Air, Blonde Redhead and Sonic Youth, movies such as The Architecture of Reassurance (2000) and Paperboys (2001) and his first feature-length film, Thumbsucker (2004), starring Keanu Reeves and Tilda Swinton. 2011 sees the release of Mills' new feature film, Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. McGregor plays a character who, as Mills describes, “shares some things with me: we both do graphic design, we both often figure out what we're thinking by drawing, we both have dogs and we both did record covers for a very real band named The Sads. This book contains all the drawings which I (Mike) drew, and that Oliver (played by Ewan) works with in the film. Oliver has the unfortunate idea of creating an illustrated 'History of Sadness' as a record cover for the The Sads, including such episodes as: Neanderthal man realizes he's outclassed by homo sapiens man, the pilgrims, industrialization, birth of the novel, pets in general and many more.” This volume also features a new series of drawings: an illustrated History of Love which includes such chapters as: the first butt to attract, great lovers in film, flappers, free love's not so easy, internal vs external problems and many more.
Featured image, from the History of Love series, is reproduced from Mike Mills: Drawings from the Film Beginners. (A second caption reads: "His only solace: The occasional moments where he has either forgotten his desire or can live in the dream that it will be fulfilled in the future.")
"We exist in a time where technological change is taking place so profoundly that as human beings reared on the 20th Century paradigm there is little way we could possibly keep up. Think for a second about the effect this must have on our emotions. Though Beginners weaves a simple narrative about a man and his relationship to his father, his girlfriend, his dog and his work, there is a bigger story at play. Some people draw well, some people play music well, some people make films well, but how many of us actually feel well? I'm speaking of 'well' in the sense of being able to feel with talent…to be good at feeling. To act and live within the full expression of the word and to accept all the responsibility that it entails. Perhaps, even if we have to approach this journey as beginners, this is a proposition worth considering."
Mike Mills will sign copies of his new book, Drawings from the Film Beginners, Wednesday, May 25 at Opening Ceremony, New York. Following is Mills' introduction to the book, and a selection of drawings.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I wrote and directed a film called Beginners, and in that film there is a character named Oliver Fields who is portrayed by the actor Ewan McGregor. This fictional character and I have some things in common: We both draw and do graphic design, we both have dogs, both of our fathers came out of the closet very late in life, and we both did record covers for a very real band called “The Sads”. How these similarities came about, and what they mean, I’m still trying to figure out - but once the idea of fictionalizing my own real work popped into my head, it seemed so wrong and curious I couldn’t say no. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.5 x 9.5 in. / 128 pgs / illustrated throughout. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9788862081795 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 5/31/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Mike Mills' films and design work have dominated the visual landscape of the past two decades, through record covers and music videos for bands like Air, Blonde Redhead and Sonic Youth, movies such as The Architecture of Reassurance (2000) and Paperboys (2001) and his first feature-length film, Thumbsucker (2004), starring Keanu Reeves and Tilda Swinton. 2011 sees the release of Mills' new feature film, Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. McGregor plays a character who, as Mills describes, “shares some things with me: we both do graphic design, we both often figure out what we're thinking by drawing, we both have dogs and we both did record covers for a very real band named The Sads. This book contains all the drawings which I (Mike) drew, and that Oliver (played by Ewan) works with in the film. Oliver has the unfortunate idea of creating an illustrated 'History of Sadness' as a record cover for the The Sads, including such episodes as: Neanderthal man realizes he's outclassed by homo sapiens man, the pilgrims, industrialization, birth of the novel, pets in general and many more.” This volume also features a new series of drawings: an illustrated History of Love which includes such chapters as: the first butt to attract, great lovers in film, flappers, free love's not so easy, internal vs external problems and many more.
