I love Wes Andresen’s movies and in particular, the quirky, star studded Royal Tenenbaums. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about. In the scene where Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson) is confronting Eli Cash (Owen Wilson) you can see Eli’s art hung on the walls of his meager aprartment. the Paintings are these completely random scenes of scary dudes on mini quads and dirt bikes wearing beast masks and attacking people. I don’t know why but every-time I see them, they make me laugh. I think what’s so funny about it, is that in the scene the paintings are prominently displayed and probably the most random and disturbing pics ever, yet they are hung as if they were portraits of sunflowers. Your mind is asking, what in the hell is going on with those paintings, yet in the movie they are paid absolutely no mind. The scene changes angles and your still saying, what the hell was that?? I don’t know it just makes me laugh.
After some research I found that they are indeed actual paintings by an artist named Miguel Calderon, and they were purchesed from a gallery by Wes Andersen. To be clear it should be noted that although Calderon is a painter, he did not paint these himself. What he did in fact was photograph the scenes then he contracted a painter whose style suited the result he was after. So perhaps its more accurate to call him the art director of these paintings. The collection (4 images total) are called “Aggressively Mediocre/Mentally Challenged/Fantasy Island (circle one)”. I know Buck is also a fan of these pics so I thought I’d post them up. Take a look. Caution, they are random and there’s some mild nudity in the last one so look at your own risk.
“Bad Route”, 1998
“Attack”, 1998
“Escape from Caca-ville”, 1998
“Take Us Away from Caca-ville”, 1998
I feel the exact same way you do about these portraits. Every time I see that scene it makes me laugh. They’re so random in the scene, but that’s why I like the movie- the randomness!! My question to you is, do you know if one could find posters of these portraits, preferrable inexpensive? I think those portraits would really add to my apartments decor:)
Thanks!!!!
Andrew I’ve researched it (though not thoroughly) on the web and I can’t seem to find them. I don’t think they exist. This post gets a lot of traffic so we’re obviously not the only ones that feel this way. If anyone reading this happens to know where you can get some prints or posters of these works, by all means please link that info here.
Hi Gents,
I enjoyed reading this, the pictures are strangely funny.
Did you ever manage to find where you can buy prints for these?
Thanks.
Still no word on where you can get prints of these pics. Given the pseudo cult following of both Wes Andersen movies as well as the paintings themselves you’d think there would be. But not that I have ever seen. Again if anyone does see it, post up a link.
Ha it’s so random that I can google search Royal Tenenbaums Paintings and find people who have the exact same sentiments as I do about these. I think they’re awesome and make me laugh every time that scene comes up.