The smell of buttery popcorn flooded Keller Gallery on Tuesday, March 25, from 5-7 p.m., as film lovers strutted down the red carpet to see Taylor Asbury’s oil paintings inspired by their favorite scenes as part of Point Loma Nazarene University’s senior art exhibitions.
The fourth-year art major created 15 paintings, two wood panels and three videos exploring the connections between childhood, storytelling in film and the impact of pop culture on society today. Some of the movies of motivation include “Pulp Fiction,” “Notting Hill” and “Batman.”
“The pieces are guided by the themes of classic western films, Hollywood and comics – each of which are defined by the title: “Yeehaw, Bling & Wham Zam Crash!” Asbury wrote in her artist statement.
Asbury created three silent films for “Yeehaw, Bling and Wham Zam Crash!,” which are all available on YouTube.
To get reference photos for her portraits, Asbury set up photoshoots mimicking a movie set – costumes, props, furniture and lighting turned the photography room into a dim pool hall, a crowded office space or a Western saloon.
From there, she utilized her friends as models. Asbury said her friend group bonded over classic films and that everyone had fun becoming the characters they enjoyed.
“That part of the photoshoot is part of the art itself,” Asbury said. “That experience of stepping into childhood – something funny that you’re not going to do in your everyday life.”
In one photoshoot and filmmaking session based on a 1950s “Batman and Robin” TV show, Asbury and her friends shared one entertaining memory in an Orange County park.
For the Wham Zam Crash! silent film, Asbury wanted to recreate the classic, vintage comic book fight scenes, with these onomatopoeias flashing across the screen with each punch. She needed footage of Batman and Robin delivering cartoonish blows to one another and decided to film it outdoors to capture the authenticity of the original comic.
“People were watching grown men fighting in costumes in a park,” Asbury said.
A photoshoot in the park followed the filming; Asbury needed to recreate a famous shot of the hero and his sidekick riding in the Batmobile down a long road. However, a problem arose when the artist didn’t have a spare Batmobile lying around.
“I got the costumes, but not the Batmobile and a sidecar,” Asbury said. “So I talked to my child development teacher, Susan Rogers, and she was able to find tricycles on campus from the Early Childhood Learning Center, and those were the Batmobile for the day.”
Once again, park visitors were graced with the glorious sight of her roommate’s boyfriend and his cousin – this time riding down the path in tiny tricycles and full costume.
“Sometimes if someone was supposed to be there for a photoshoot and couldn’t make it, then someone would grab their brother or their friend, and I think it’s been really fun – the different people that I’ve gotten to work with in the process that I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the circumstances and their willingness to be silly,” Asbury said.
Supporting her daughter at the gallery, Judy Asbury said her daughter showed promise as early as 6 years old, and she was happy to see how far she’s come in art. She said how Asbury struggled to pin down the theme and tackle the challenge of painting large-scale. Yet, she saw that her daughter worked through the struggles to create something amazing.
“This is so right up her alley,” Judy Asbury said. “We’re blown away, but we’re not surprised. I never doubt her anymore.”
Another challenge was capturing the non-visual elements of film, such as sound, Taylor Asbury said. She could only paint one frame of a scene when there was more context provided in the film format. She had to get creative to portray what the characters were seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or thinking outside of the snapshot.
The artist used color palettes, light, expressions and poses to achieve the multisensory experience of film.
She relied on reds and blues in the Wham Zam Crash! pieces as references to the bright, bold colors associated with moments of action in comics. In the Bling category, reflections off of sparkly clothing and characters’ eyes were used to attract the audience’s attention to certain elements of the piece and tell the story. Lastly, the composition of the models played a large role in revealing the character’s inner thoughts and feelings, especially for the Yeehaw works.
“Facial expressions, poses and where they’re looking makes you imagine what’s beyond the spot that they’re in,” Taylor Asbury said.
Friends of the artist described visiting the gallery as heartwarming and exciting, as they recognized their friends in the oil paintings, wearing Luchador masks and long black capes.
One childhood friend of Taylor Asbury’s, Ashlyn Martin, a fourth-year advertising major at San Diego State University, was the subject of one of the Bling artworks.
“It was really cool to see myself as a painting,” Martin said. “I can recognize everyone.”
Martin met Taylor Asbury in kindergarten, and they bonded over an early love for art.
“It’s been awesome to see how Taylor has grown, as a person and also in her art skills,” Martin said. “We’ve come so far from being in elementary school doing YouTube drawing tutorials to walking into the show and seeing all of these incredible paintings that are just as big as I am.”
