SP talked to @henrytcrane, painter and cartoonist, and creator of the @phillybookstoremap! Over the course of a year, HC painted an image of each of Philladelphia’s 46 independent book sellers for inclusion in a promotional map; see details at phillybookstoremap.com.
🗣️How does it feel to be at the end of this project?
🏗️Every artist has their own method of perseverance to bring a project to completion; during the creation of this map I found marathon running worked best for me. It felt like the perfect mental and physical training for a project as extensive as this one. Like facing the miles of a marathon, the number of paintings to complete felt somewhat insurmountable at the beginning of the project. Because I knew nothing was truly promised for me once the map was completed, fantasizing about the finish line did not excite me much. Focusing on the personal joy I find through painting was much more motivating than the uncertain promise of public approval.
Finishing the map and the marathon felt quite similar, at the end of both trials I cherished the lessons I learned along the way much more than holding the physical map in my hands or receiving the medal. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy completing those goals, but rather, the real victory for me was the realizations I made about myself while actively painting and running.
🗣️Were there any locations that were particularly challenging to depict, or fun, or surprising, or that otherwise stick in your memory?
🏗️Yes, there are many.
It took me about 10 paintings to really nail down the style, size, and amount of work that felt necessary to properly render each store. The early paintings are very memorable because of how much trial and error went into them. I knew I had the skills to accomplish this project at the start, but those first 10 took a lot of effort!
More specifically, Uncle Bobbie’s and Hilltop Books taught me a great deal about the creative boundaries that needed to exist for my paintings to appropriately display each store accurately, while still expressing the character and personality of the business.
Uncle Bobbie’s window reflections challenged me to paint a building’s interior using only shapeless light. Stores with large windows always require lots of reference photos to uncover what’s behind the reflections. With this painting I instead embraced the blurs of light and color, this decision led to an abstract yet life-like result. Learning to paint a building as it truly looks, rather than how I wished it would look, shaved off a lot of unneeded time and frustration on later bookstore paintings.
The painting of Hilltop Books was one of the first I felt comfortably creative while making. Up until that store, I felt uncertain about how literal each painting needed to be and how much room there was for playfulness and creativity. Since each storefront painting is like an advertisement, my fear was that if I was too freeform and artistic I would start misrepresenting the way bookstore owners curate their image. The Hilltop painting perfectly satisfied the literal and commercial demands of the project while still having personality and creative surprises such as the waving hand in the upper window, the pipe draining, or the large colorful plant by the door.
Check out Henry’s art and comics.
See Henry Crane discuss the project at the launch event held at the Free Library.