Artist Timothy Mendonça takes script pages and turns then into another type of art. Drawing inspiration from the world of horror, and as a big fan of Jordan Peele’s work in particular, Mendonça creates floating script sculptures, incorporating the script pages as a central part of the overall piece. Mendonça debuted the scriptART collection in November 2021 at an exhibition in New York City. Mendonça shared a bit about his inspiration, the origins of scriptART, and a breakdown of some of his favorite pieces in his own words below. Take a look!
I have to credit the horror genre for the conception of scriptART. Back in 2010 I was part of a small horror film starring Robert Englund called Inkubus. I would take home the “sides” or pages of the script from that day and start sketching and painting on them, turning whatever horror we created into an abstract art piece. It was so fascinating and therapeutic to me.
From that moment, this idea of changing the blueprint of a screenplay into another piece of art really stuck with me and started me on this journey of creating scriptART. scriptART advances artistic innovation to develop Fine Art and Visual Art Experiences that are inspired by screenplays.
My favorite pieces to date are the ones inspired by the works of Jordan Peele. He is a masterclass of horror. Peele is one of the most prolific and inspiring filmmakers around today. He and his team at Monkeypaw are breaking barriers by creating these extremely horrifying, beautiful, thought-provoking films. All of which deeply inspired me to want to transform his words into other works of art.
After deciding on a key moment or image from the film, it all starts with a sketch. I tend to do various sketches and then translate those into digital renderings.
GET OUT – “Sunken Place” – I wanted to create a piece that spoke to this iconic visual image – and yet that was just as vulnerable as Daniel Kaluuya’s character Chris was at that moment in the story. (3D printed resin, acrylic, ink, and hand painted)
US – “Tethered” – I immediately knew I wanted to create a piece based around Lupita Nyong’o’s character of Red, specifically her “Tethered” speech. I loved incorporating the visual moment of the scissors. For this piece, I wanted to combine the scissors with the two split ends of the script page, symbolizing the two different versions of ourselves. (Acrylic, 3D printed resin, ink, metal plated scissors)
NOPE – “Spectacle” – Much like the film, this piece was about creating a spectacle. I wanted to create a piece that captured moments of the cloud, horse, and flags that also captured the moment of our obsession and reflection on the spectacle. Therefore, I decided to use a reflective base so the spectator would see themselves entranced in the spectacle of the piece itself. This base also replicates both the VFX ball and the TMZ reporter’s helmet… (Acrylic, 3D printed resin, hand painted)
Creating art inspired by the horror genre continues to excite me because I love to see the juxtaposition of these heart-racing, suspenseful and sometimes terrifying scenes next to these beautiful contemporary art pieces. In the end, you have a sleek, beautiful art piece that a filmmaker would be proud to display and make a part of their art collection. My work is an exciting alternative to displaying a generic film poster. I’ve created pieces inspired by other horror films, including A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Mendonça’s art prints are currently also for sale at the Academy Museum and were most recently featured at CANNESERIES, featuring new sculptures and pages from Dead Ringers.
