the vader project by oliver jeffers
OLIVER JEFFERS: I wanted to show the thought process of Darth Vader, and had originally intended to show a thought bubble of sorts full of crazy drawings and writings. This then, through making drawings, developed onto a version of a ceramic Phrenology head used in Psychology, but with Vader related thoughts instead of the regular mind mechanics.
I named it “Vaderology” with a subtitle “the Magnetic Resonance of Darth”,
which is a variation on the original title.
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TRE: how was the response to the Vader UK-show? to your custom? what did you think about the show?
OJ: I think the response was pretty good, I’m not sure. A few people told me it was their favourite one, which is always nice to hear.
I think the Vader Custom show was immense. I don’t know whether I was biased though because I’d spent so long and got so into doing mine. The rest of the show was Amazing, but after a while it started to get a bit repetitive, it was mostly just stalls selling the old toys, lots of people walking around in cool costumes, yes, but to be honest I thought there’d be a bit more weirdness.
TRE: weirdness is always fun! LOL are you a Star Wars-fan? are you a avid SW-collectors as well?
OJ: Of course I’m a Star Wars fan. I used to have all the toys and a massive case to keep them all in that was shaped like a darth vader helmet. I would hold it up to my head and run around pretending to be darth. I kinda became less fanatical about it after a while though, and would set the darth vader case at the end of the garden and use it for target practice. I’m not sure where all the figures went to, but I wish I’d kept them.
TRE: are you for the Rebellion? or is a proud citizen of the Empire?
OJ: In political disposition I’m definitely a rebellion, but the Empire had way cooler clothes.
TRE: if you were a Star Wars character, who would you (wanna) be?
OJ: Boba Fett. Without question!
TRE: If you were a Sith Lord, what would be your nick / Sith Lord-name? and why?
OJ: “Darth Garth”. My light sabre would be shaped like a guitar, and I’d go around singing country music all day.
TOYSREVIL: cheers for your time and trouble, Oliver! in closing, please share with us, WHO IS OLIVER JEFFERS?
Oliver Jeffers makes art.From figurative painting and installation to illustration and picture-book making, his work has been exhibited in New York, Dublin, London, Sydney, Washington DC, Belfast and elsewhere.
A co-founder of the art collective OAR, their exhibitions include 9 days in Belfast, book and the award winning BUILDING.
Illustration clients include Orange UK, Lavazza, Sony PSP, RCA Records, Starbucks, Candy, the Vacuum and Her Royal Majesty the Queen of England. HarperCollins UK and Penguin USA publish his picture books, including the award-winning Lost and Found and The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
There has always been a strong undercurrent of narrative behind Jeffers’s work, but his current interest in making art lies in the anomaly between logical and emotional thinking. While striving to find a harmonious balance between form and content, Jeffers is curious about the opposing means by which the world he lives in can be assessed. To explore this he has been drawing parallels between the arts and sciences, as in his recent solo show, Additional Information (exhibited December 2006, in Hill St Belfast), in which figurative oil paintings were over laid with mathematical equations.
