Maurice Vellekoop

Last updated
Maurice Vellekoop
Born1964 (1964) (age 60)
Toronto
Education Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto
Known forGraphic artist, illustrator

Maurice Vellekoop (born 1964) is a Canadian artist, cartoonist, and illustrator. He is most known for his queer cartoons which often feature naked men. He has drawn pin-ups as well as multi-character comics. Vellekoop is also a fashion designer with his drawings and designs appearing in popular magazines across the United States.

Contents

Vellekoop was born and raised in Canada where he eventually graduated from art school and became a renowned artist. His work has been featured on the global stage and is also interdisciplinary as he has written books, worked on films, and also published in major publications.

Early life

Maurice Vellekoop was born in 1964 and was raised on the outskirts of Toronto. He was raised in the Christian Reformed Church, a Calvinist sect, which was not accepting of homosexuality. [1] He participated in weekly church services, catechism classes, went to Christian schools, and was a member of the Calvinist Cadet Corps. [2]

In his kindergarten report card, he was described as a "self-confident child in school" and "is spending more time with other children in such activities as the "house" and the sand box." [3] Vellekoop was cognizant of his uniqueness from an early age when he desired dolls and began to draw intricate images of princesses. [4]

He had four older siblings, all of which were artists. His parents were Dutch immigrants. [2] His father was known for his love of opera and his mother ran a hair salon out of the family house's basement. Ingrid, Vellekoop's sister, encouraged him to attend the Ontario College of Art and Design which he did from 1982 to 1986. [5]

Professional life

After graduating from art school, Vellekoop began his career as a freelance artist being featured in several shows early on in his career. In 1986, several of his comics were published via REACTOR Art and Design in Toronto. [6] He joined the REACTOR studio near the beginning of his career. He wrote a few zines entitled "Fear Comics" and "Guilt Comics." [7] His work was even featured internationally in the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice, Italy. By 1994, Vellekoop was working for popular American magazines like Vogue who sent him as a reporter to cover the "autumn couture collection" in Paris which he published as a comic. He also completed work for art exhibitions in the Netherlands. [8]

Vellekoop illustrated for the book Sex Tips for a Dominatrix, written by Patricia Payne. [7] In his work in the fashion industry, he is known for using "felt pens and watercolours." Vellekoop saw himself as a "mild satirist" in general and utilized fashion as well as sex in satirical work. [9]

Vellekoop's work was featured in several shows in the United Kingdom including at Twenty Twenty Two in Manchester and Space Station Sixty Five in London. He wrote his own coming of age story, I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together , which shares more about his early years specifically his religious upbringing and growing up in the North American suburbs. [2]

His work also appeared in the Jeffrey Schwarz' documentary film Boulevard! A Hollywood Story . [10] The film tells the story of Gloria Swanson and her work to make Sunset Boulevard a musical where she ends up in a love triangle with two gay songwriters: Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley. [11]

His work has appeared in publications such as Drawn & Quarterly , Time , GQ , Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, Madamoiselle, Cosmetics, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Fashion, Mother Jones, Glamour, and Wallpaper , as well as in the books ABC Book: A Homoerotic Primer, Sex Tips from a Dominatrix, Pinups, Mensroom Reader and Vellevision. [12] [9] [1]

He has also done work for multiple corporations including Swissair, Abercrombie & Fitch, Air Canada, Smart Car, LVMH, and Bush Irish Whiskey. [9] [1]

Artistry in comics

In Vellekoop'sPin-Ups, Vellekoop is influenced by a number of queer artists including George Quaintance, Harry Bush, and Tom of Finland. His artistic style reflects the masculine and BDSM styles of these artists. Vellekoop is also influenced by popular culture including "Leonardo da Vinci's famous Human Figure in a Circle Illustrating Proportions," and "Disney's Jungle Book." [12] In terms of comics, Vellekoop's main inspiration is Alison Bechdal and has also been greatly influenced by queer writers, like Oscar Wilde. [2]

In Borrelli's Stylishly Drawn: Contemporary Fashion Illustration, Vellekoop is categorized as a diverse artist "borrowing elements of caricature and cartooning to do so, often with much humor and wit." Vellekoop's fashion drawings utilizes themes of sexuality as well as different ethnicities and gender identities. [9]

One of Vellekoop's reoccurring characters is Gloria Badcock, a magazine editor who serves as a symbol of sexual liberation and freedom. [7] The character is pansexual but the character's story is representative of the relationship between many women and gay men, which Vellekoop believes is special and sacred. [1]

Vellekoop's style has been described as "undeniably celebratory queerness" as his work openly discusses homosexuality. [13]

Personal life

Vellekoop lives on Toronto Island. [5] He is openly gay [14] and is in a relationship with his partner, Gordon Bowness. [1]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom of Finland</span> Finnish artist (1920–1991)

Touko Valio Laaksonen, known by the pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade. Over the course of four decades, he produced some 3,500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits, wearing tight or partially removed clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduardo Risso</span> Argentine comics artist

Eduardo Risso is an Argentine comics artist. In the United States he is best known for his work with writer Brian Azzarello on the Vertigo title 100 Bullets, while in Argentina and Europe he is noted for his collaborations with Ricardo Barreiro and Carlos Trillo. He has received much acclaim for his work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth (cartoonist)</span> Cartoonist

Gregory Gallant, better known by his pen name Seth, is a Canadian cartoonist. He is best known for his series Palookaville and his mock-autobiographical graphic novel It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken (1996).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawn & Quarterly</span> Canadian publishing house

Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, as well as the quality of printing and design. The name of the company is a pun on "drawing", "quarterly", and the practice of hanging, drawing and quartering. Initially it specialized in underground and alternative comics, but has since expanded into classic reprints and translations of foreign works. Drawn & Quarterly was the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s.

The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homoeroticism</span> Sexual attraction between members of the same sex

Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, including both male–male and female–female attraction. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homosexuality" implies a more permanent state of identity or sexual orientation. It has been depicted or manifested throughout the history of the visual arts and literature and can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is "pertaining to or characterized by a tendency for erotic emotions to be centered on a person of the same sex; or pertaining to a homo-erotic person."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Doucet</span> Canadian comic artist and writer

Julie Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist and artist, best known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary. Her work is concerned with such topics as "sex, violence, menstruation and male/female issues."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Bell (cartoonist)</span> Canadian cartoonist and artist

Marc Bell is a Canadian cartoonist and artist. He was initially known for creating comic strips, but Bell has also created several exhibitions of his mixed media work and watercoloured drawings. Hot Potatoe [sic], a monograph of his work, was released in 2009. His comics have appeared in many Canadian weeklies, Vice, and LA Weekly. He has been published in numerous anthologies, such as Kramers Ergot and The Ganzfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoshihiro Tatsumi</span> Japanese manga artist

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was a Japanese manga artist whose work was first published in his teens, and continued through the rest of his life. He is widely credited with starting the gekiga style of alternative manga in Japan, having allegedly coined the term in 1957. His work frequently illustrated the darker elements of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Badger</span> American illustrator

Mark Billings Badger, known as Mark Badger, is an American illustrator who has worked as a penciler, inker, cover artist, painter, and occasional colorist in the American comic book industry. In addition to his career as a comic book artist, Badger is a political activist and organizer, often mixing the comic book medium with activism. As an early adapter of digital tools to create comic art, Badger has taken to create web-based comics for the purposes of education and activism. Under these auspices, he is in collaboration with the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice to establish an online platform to produce a series of web comix with other authors and artists to preserve the life and legacy of heretofore unrecognized queer civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin. Badger also teaches "Programming, comic books, and web development" at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University. Badger, a native of Cleveland, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age thirty. He lives in Oakland, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Patterson</span> American cartoonist

Russell Patterson was an American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson's art deco magazine illustrations helped develop and promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as the flapper.

<i>The Playboy</i> 1990 graphic novel by Chester Brown

The Playboy is a graphic novel by the Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, serialized in 1990 in Brown's comic book Yummy Fur and collected in different revised book editions in 1992 and 2013. It deals with Brown's guilt and anxiety over his obsessive masturbation to Playboy Playmate models.

<i>I Never Liked You</i> 1994 graphic novel by Chester Brown

I Never Liked You is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. The story first ran between 1991 and 1993 under the title Fuck, in issues #26–30 of Brown's comic book Yummy Fur; published in book form by Drawn & Quarterly in 1994. It deals with the teenage Brown's introversion and difficulty talking to others, especially members of the opposite sex—including his mother. The story has minimal dialogue and is sparsely narrated. The artwork is amongst the simplest in Brown's body of work—some pages consist only of a single small panel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Hughes</span> American comics artist and illustrator (born 1967)

Adam Hughes is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as Wonder Woman and Catwoman. He is known as one of comics' foremost cheesecake artists, and one of the best known and most distinctive comic book cover artists. Throughout his career Hughes has provided illustration work for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, Playboy magazine, Joss Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions, and Sideshow Collectibles. He is also a fixture at comics conventions where his commissioned sketches command long lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Lutes</span> American comics creator (born 1967)

Jason Lutes is an American comics creator. His work is mainly historical fiction, but he also works in traditional fiction. He is best-known for his Berlin series, which he wrote and drew over 22 years. He has also written a handful of other graphic novels, as well as many short pieces for anthologies and compilations. He now teaches comics at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geneviève Castrée</span> Canadian musician and cartoonist

Geneviève Elverum, also known as Geneviève Castrée, was a Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and musician from Quebec. An early admirer of comics, she began creating them at a young age. L'Oie de Cravan published her first book, Lait Frappé, in 2000. By 2004 she had released three more books—Die Fabrik, Roulatheque Roulatheque Nicolore and Pamplemoussi. The latter is considered her artistic breakthrough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Sturm</span> American cartoonist

James Sturm is an American cartoonist and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. Sturm is also the founder of the National Association of Comics Art Educators (NACAE), an organization committed to helping facilitate the teaching of comics in higher education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Woggon</span> American cartoonist

William Woggon was an American cartoonist who created the comic book Katy Keene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Collier (cartoonist)</span> Canadian alternative cartoonist

David Collier is a Canadian alternative cartoonist best known for his fact-based "comic strip essays."

<i>Gods Man</i> 1929 wordless novel by Lynd Ward

Gods' Man is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985) published in 1929. In 139 captionless woodblock prints, it tells the Faustian story of an artist who signs away his soul for a magic paintbrush. Gods' Man was the very first American wordless novel, and is considered a precursor of the graphic novel, whose development it influenced.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Maurice Vellekoop and the Return of Gloria Badcock". www.advocate.com. 2011-12-10. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Maurice Vellekoop | PAUL GRAVETT". paulgravett.com. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  3. ↑ Vellekoop, Maurice (1997). Maurice Vellekoop's ABC Book: A Homoerotic Primer. San Francisco, CA: Green Candy Press.
  4. ↑ Vellekoop, Maurice (1997). Vellevision: A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly. p. 85.
  5. 1 2 Vellekoop, Maurice (1997). "Vellevision:" A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly. p. 111.
  6. ↑ Vellekoop, Maurice (1997). Vellevision: A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly. p. 15.
  7. 1 2 3 "Maurice Vellekoop". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  8. ↑ Vellekoop, Maurice (1997). Vellevision: A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly. p. 73.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Borrelli, Laird (2000). Stylishly Drawn: Contemporary Fashion Illustration. New York City: Abrams.
  10. ↑ Carey, Matthew (August 19, 2021). "'Boulevard! A Hollywood Story': Doc Reveals Gloria Swanson's Star-Crossed Attempt To Make Her Own 'Sunset Boulevard' Musical". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  11. ↑ "BOULEVARD! A Hollywood Story". www.boulevardmovie.com. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  12. 1 2 Vellekoop, Maurice (2009). Maurice Vellekoop's Pinups. San Francisco, CA: Green Candy Press.
  13. ↑ Villarrubia, Jose (March 1998). "Vellevision: A Cocktail of Comics and Pictures". Lamda Book Report. 6 (8) – via Gale Academic
  14. ↑ "In Print: The arts of Maurice Vellekoop", Xtra! , April 13, 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.