Analog-Inclined Graphic Artist Anthony Jimenez AKA Eibon Celaeno Crafts Killer Collage Work with Cuts from Our Favorite Video Covers! Click This Link for Ultimate Video Cassette Cover Art Celebration and Re-Animation with VHS MUTATIONS!
With punk rock roots of scotch tape driven cut-and-paste collage, analog loving artist Anthony Jimenez AKA Eibon Celaeno has since endeavored to delve into the digital design realm to manipulate and manufacture a line of visual homage in salute to the vibrant video covers he eyeballed long ago at his local video store. These most excellent mash-ups of exemplary analog era cover art have indeed sent a wave of awe throughout the VHS collector community, encapsulating the arresting and eye-popping essence of the original artwork while being reworked into Jimenez’s own retina-blasting renditions. Anthony is out re-animate the appreciation for the avalanche of eye-tingling artwork that graced the covers of our favorite slabs of magnetic magic, and spread that inimitable rush of aesthetic appreciation and anti-digital delight that those of us who remember the rental store daze hold so dear. Read on, my fellow Tapeheads, and experience some of your favorite video covers artistically re-animated for another generation of appreciation…
depicts all of the social and political injustices of American history and how they try to whitewash them with consumerism. Another artist that inspired me was a modern collage artist by the name of Albane Simon; she creates beautiful surrealistic landscapes that look like visions from a different dimension; she has very vividly brilliant work, as well.
, because to me what could make the movie so incredible is the poster and box art itself… and by putting together this work , I want to focus on what made these movies so great. Nowadays, the way some modern horror movies are sold is really on how it’s advertised and some tend to look like fashion magazine ads focusing on the main actor or actress instead of the actual movie itself. Even DVD covers for modern horror films tend to look very plain and doesn’t leave too much to the imagination, but there are some really good independent horror films that try to recapture that 80’s video nasty look by filming it and creating poster artwork that gives it that type of good ol’ video store feeling. So that’s definitely what I try to do with the VHS Mutations work: I want to revive all those forgotten pieces of video artwork in order to get more people fascinated and intrigued by them again just as I was when I first set eyes on them long ago.
La Congrega di Haddam (VHS mutations XIII)
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your artistic background? When did you get started, and what projects have you been involved in? Well the name is Anthony Jimenez a.k.a Eibon Celaeno. I'm a graphic designer, collage artist, and a collector of films, soundtracks, and art that has anything to do with the horror/giallo/slasher/grindhouse genre. I first started to design collage work in my early high school days working with cutouts and scotch tape; I used to work very primitively, using more of a D.I.Y. punk aesthetic approach to my artwork. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I started to work with digital imagery. I basically taught myself how to use digital imaging software on some endless, sleepless nights manipulating images making surrealistic backgrounds for my own amusement. This was way before I discovered Photoshop and I haven't even used that program until I went to study graphic design in college. After I finished school, I started to create album covers for some local independent musicians and basically tried to find my way to work within the film industry either in film distribution or production.
Retina Inferis (VHS mutations II)
The newest collage work you’re doing is fantastic, man, specifically the VHS MUTATIONS line you’re currently rolling out. Can you tell us a bit more about that series, and what inspired you to do it? Well, the VHS Mutations concept came about when I was looking at and remembering all those VHS box covers that used to jump at you from the shelves at my local video store where I used to grow up. I was always fascinated by how amazing they looked; it seemed like the artwork alone could tell you the whole story about the movie without even watching it. As a frequent reader of Fangoria and watching a lot of cable in the 80’s (which was a great time for the horror classics) it just gave me more fuel to find all these movies and really just get lost in video stores searching for all these really cool movies and finding brilliant artwork that these videotapes had on them. I remember Wizard Video releases always had the best looking covers on them. The Demoniac and FEAR covers were my favorite. I would be so hypnotized by all the detail that went into creating that work. Another couple of covers I also loved was Video Dead and Evilspeak covers. The glowing highlights of the images made it seem like it was electric… as if it was coming to life. As I grew older I started to get into Italian horror; my favorite directors were all the greats: Fulci, Argento, and Bava. I also found out how really beautiful their movie posters were they always had these psychedelic Technicolor visuals on them that used to make my mind race. Artistically, I have always been inspired by animation and drawing so that was always first. I would pick scenes from my favorite horror flicks and draw them on paper. I drew scenes from The Evil Dead, Creepshow, and Dead Alive. I got inspired to make collages by looking at the work of Winston Smith; he made most of the album covers for The Dead Kennedys. Those were always fun to look at… the crazy, erratic scenes that would cover those albums were always brilliantly done. After him I started to look up more artists like that and I found the artist Josep Renau who was a Spanish illustrator and painter who made movie posters and collages, as well. He released a book entitled Fata Morgana USA which features his collage work
Infestazione Umana (VHS mutations XI)
Do you think VHS cover art it gets its due credit as an art form? Is this your way of celebrating it and continuing to share it out in a new way? What about the difference between video boxes of yore, and the modern art formula for packaging a film? It should absolutely
Chirurgia Rituale (VHS mutations X)
Do you still watch / collect VHS? What are your thoughts on the format, and the resurgence in analog celebration and appreciation? Yeah, I do have a growing collection of VHS tapes… a lot of them are the classics that I loved. I got Dead Alive, The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness Director’s Cut, Blood Feast, and Wizard of Gore. I also really think it’s cool people are releasing films on VHS, as well. There are also some record labels that I know of that release cassette tapes of their artists albums. I really do admire that, because I really don’t see it as a trendy or gimmicky type of thing; I find it much better to have a physical copy of a film or an album you like then just some random MP3 or video file that easily can be deleted. If it came down to it, I would much prefer watching a video tape and playing my records. It really is all about the hunt for the perfect VHS cassette and vinyl records for me, though, and I think many people feel the same way because what I learned is that this type of genre does bring people together and collecting videotapes and vinyl helps do that.
Casa su Una Luna Morta (VHS mutations VI)
Are your works available in print form? If not, are you planning on releases them in any sort of physical manner? Maybe an art show featuring all of the VHS Mutations? That would be rad. Well, my initial plan is to make prints and maybe create some shirts. The way I want to package the shirts will be in an actual VHS box with the same design and title of the artwork on it. It would come with stickers, trivia and screenshots of the movies, and other stuff. I also do have a plan to showcase the VHS Mutations work at a local art show this upcoming Halloween weekend, so I hope that goes well.
A look at some proofs of the potential prints forthcoming from Anthony and VHS Mutations. Stay tuned, Tapeheads. DANG, I NEED THESE.
Any other analog-inclined art projects going on right now for you? What’s next for you, man? I have recently made a couple of movie posters for the Hudson Movie Theatre in New York that holds conventions and screens Horror, Grindhouse, Exploitation films and another one for a short horror film entitled ADRIFT. There is a project I want to begin using my Eibon Celaeno alias; it would be based on H.P. Lovecraft’s work so I want to create a story, maybe a graphic novel around that with an anti-protagonist of the same name. I made a mixtape soundtrack and summary of the story on my SoundCloud. So maybe I will get to work on that soon.
A look at some of Anthony's non-VHS collage work. A poster for the upcoming film ADRIFT. Hell yes.
Anything else you wanna shout out to all the radical art lovin’ Videovores in Lunchmeat Land? Thanx for all the shout outs from people who are digging my work. It really is cool to connect with all the horror genre fans that know what’s up… And Just Stay Tuned For More VHS Madness I Got In The Works.
La Padrona di Djinn (VHS mutations XIV)
Yo, you KNOW we’re gonna stay tuned and totally glued to VHS-oriented vindication as bodacious as this, mang! And this is just a taste of the amazing analog art mash-ups in the VHS Mutation series. CLICK HERE and view even more mad awesome magnetic movie cover manipulations! It's plain to VHSee Anthony’s admiration for the radical rewind art of classic video covers runs deep, and his work undoubtedly displays an adept mix of analog era homage and kick-ass collage craft unlike any other. Anthony, we VHSalute you! Be sure to groove on over to Anthony’s AKA artist page Eibon Celano to keep updated on all of his video cover vindicating VHS Mutations along with all of his other radical graphic design and analog-influenced artistic creations. Your eyeballs will thank you, mang.
Groove and Groove and Appreciate Always.
Josh Schafer
Kitty Jimenez
My brother rocks