It comes as little surprise that some of the best loved and oft re-visited works of literature are solidly based in the realms of fantasy. From A Midsummer’s Night Dream to Lord of the Rings there is something hugely appealing about taking our imaginations into the lands of vibrant, idyllic, fantasias.

In this genre there is perhaps no creation as well known or as frequently re-interpreted as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1898 edition)

First published in 1865, Carroll’s endlessly surprising and inventive mix of surreal landscapes, nonsense wordplay, and extremely bizarre characters are a constant source of inspiration to those with healthy imaginations, artistic leanings, and, of course, children of all ages. Current interest in Carroll’s towering works of fantasy is particularly high due to the buzz surrounding director Tim Burton’s lavish, soon to be released film Alice In Wonderland.

Opening this past Saturday was the new group art show Curiouser and Curiouser: An Exhibit Inspired by “Alice In Wonderland” at Gallery Nucleus. Featuring a diverse range of work by some of the most recognized names in the contemporary art scene including Amy Sol, Kukula, and Naoto Hattori, Curiouser will be running now through March 29th. The show also features exclusive, never-before-seen concept art from the upcoming Burton Alice In Wonderland film.

Depending on one’s point of view, Alice In Wonderland can be seen as bright and whimsical or dark and a bit unsettling. Both sides of the coin seem to represented equally at the Nucleus show. The juxtaposition between the fanciful and the downright freaky made for an endlessly surprising collection of work.

Here’s two very different takes on the hookah-smoking caterpillar Alice encounters shortly after falling down the rabbit hole. In Kei Acedera’s piece, the caterpillar is portrayed as a charming curmudgeon looking inquisitively down upon an impossibly adorable Alice.

Advice From Caterpillar (detail) by Kei Acedera

In contrast, the caterpillar in Bobby Chiu’s piece is a smoke-snorting beast who is rendered in such a realistic and unsettling fashion that it seems like we can almost reach out and touch its gelatinous, rubbery skin.

Smoke by Bobby Chiu

Here Jeremy Enecio, who contributed one of the very best pieces to the recent Nucleus Zombies in Love show, gives his awesome interpretation of Alice and the Caterpillar.

A Wretched Height To Be by Jeremy Enecio

With all the hookah smoking and mushroom eating in the original story, it would be remiss not to mention that part of the continuing appeal of the hallucinatory Wonderland is due to its perceived references to illicit drugs. I like Sean Chao’s take on this in his piece that, at first, looks like a rustic sculpture of the white rabbit, but shows itself to be much more when you take a closer look…

The Munching Caterpillar by Sean Chao

Inside is an elaborate diorama of the Caterpillar forsaking his trademark hookah to share a fatty with Alice! (Perhaps he was tired of always having to clean the resin out of his pipe.)

The Munching Caterpillar (detail) by Sean Chao

The key conceptual artist on the classic 1951 Disney animated adaptation of Alice was the brilliant Mary Blair, whose work is a supreme example of the mid-century modern style of animation. Several works at the show displayed the clear influence of Blair and her style and were invariably some of the most fun (and cutest) pieces on display.

Alice in the Rain by Lorelay Bove

Alice and the Queen of Hearts by Lorelay Bove

The Charming Smile by Alberto Cerriteno

Eat Me! by Alina Chau

The Mad Hatter by Stephen Silver

On the subject of The Mad Hatter, there were several of them present at the show, along with a gaggle of other bizarre Wonderland characters. Some really great costuming by all involved.

Here Alice herself decides to get with the times and hang with a group of Gothic Lolita's.

Gallery Nucleus owner Ben Zhu looks appropriately nutty in his Mad Hatter garb.

Alice kindly offers up a mushroom. But what is that in her other hand...?

Oh..My...God... It's a cute little bunny rabbit!!!

And that bunny was not alone at the show.

Gentle Giant is a name well known amongst comic book fans for the amazingly sculpted and painted comic character statues they have long been producing for the collector’s market. When Burton’s Alice In Wonderland film was in early pre-production, the artists of Gentle Giant were brought in to design conceptual maquettes for the CG animators to base their work upon.

Conceptual Art Maquettes by Gentle Giant

Despite being a Disney film, Burton’s vision of Alice will no doubt include his trademark morbid touches in it as well. And as for morbid at the Nucleus show, it doesn’t get much more unsettling than this sculptural work by Marmite Sue.

Down the Rabbit Hole by Marmite Sue

This meticulously handcrafted, large doll surrounded by shards of a broken teacup and saucer suggests that Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole was far more traumatic then previously thought.

Down the Rabbit Hole (detail) by Marmite Sue

This piece by Allison Reimold depicts the White Rabbit as having a less than savory end at the hands of the Red Queen.

Off With Their Heads by Allison Reimold

And speaking of bad ends for the White Rabbit…

Alice, no!! This is what happens when Lewis Carroll meets J-Horror.

Fast-rising alternative art stars Amy Sol and Naoto Hattori each contributed an amazing piece for the show.

I Wander by Naoto Hattori

Alice, The Rabbit, and the Caterpillar by Amy Sol

Alice, The Rabbit, and the Caterpillar (detail) by Amy Sol

Much has been written about the supposed sexual subtext that bubbles just below the surface of Lewis Carroll’s story. This subject has long been fueled by the theory that Carroll was infatuated with pre-pubescent girls, the possibility of which has been strongly debated by various literary scholars.  Regardless of what the truth of the matter may be, the suggestion of sex into Alice’s story is found in several works at the show.

Alice and Bunnypillar by Kukula

Where It Hurts by David Ho

Le Champignon by Marguerite Sauvage

I’d like to end this journey into the surreal world of Wonderland with my favorite pieces from the show, starting with this beautiful piece by Sterling Hundley which re-imagines the Cheshire Cat as a huge predatory feline in a bright white forest punctuated by the bright red of cardinals nearby.

Chesire Woods by Sterling Hundley

The next two works portray the battle against the fearsome Jabberwocky, from the poem found in Carroll’s second (and final) Alice book Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.

Jabberwocky by Richard Kirk

Here Richard Kirk achieves an astonishing level of detail very rarely seen in inked work these days. When I saw this piece I immediately thought of illustration masters of the past like Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok whose art was regularly featured in the best pulp magazines of the 1930’s and 40’s like Weird Tales. It’s no wonder that Kirk’s created work for some of today’s top dark fantasy/horror authors like Clive Barker and Caitlan R. Keirnan.

Jabberwocky (detail) by Richard Kirk

Art legend William Stout also had an astounding take on the Jabberwocky, directly influenced from an illustration by John Tenniel who produced all of the drawings for Carroll’s original Alice books.

The Jabberwock by John Tenniel

Stout’s incredibly dynamic, heavily detailed, and beautifully water-colored piece brings a fluid quality to the scene largely absent from the original work.

The Jabberwock by William Stout

Finally we have the artist Mall who has exhibited several times at Nucleus and never fails to amaze me with her whimsical, eastern inspired, fantasy-drenched pieces. It was great to see her adapt her very singular style to Carroll’s world like in this astonishing graphite illustration of Alice amidst a swirling collage of Wonderland iconography.

The Hole in Alice's World by Mall

But as jaw-dropping as her black & white work is, it is topped by the use of vivid color in her acrylic paintings. The following piece featuring Alice and the Cheshire Cat was, as a piece of pure high-fantasy, virtually unmatched by anything else in a show that is already filled to capacity with sterling work. Pictures simply cannot do justice to the superb vibrancy of the colors in this painting.

I See You, Cheshire by Mall

I See You, Cheshire (detail) by Mall

If you are in the Los Angeles area I highly recommended you see this exhibition before it closes on March 29th. The images in this article are only a fraction of the fantastic work on display. You’d have to be mad as a hatter to miss it.

John Mueller

john@comicimpact.com