Spinal Tap painting ID.

November 13, 2005 2:19 PM

Help me identify this painting.

It's from the cocktail party scene in Spinal Tap and comprises a diamond tesslalation of different shapes.

(x-posted from mecha)

posted by urbanwhaleshark to media & arts (12 comments total)

Are you certain that it's by someone we can identify and that it's not just a decorative print that the set dresser put in the scene?

My first two guesses would be Mondrian or Ellsworth Kelly, but there are features of the painting that totally disqualify both of those artists:
1) You won't find a (later) Mondrian that has diagonals lines.
2) A diamond painting my Kelly would be a solid shape, not segmented like that one. It also wouldn't be that perfect of a diamond.

It could be a Sol Lewitt that I've never seen before. It also might be an Escher. It could be an Edna Andrade, too.

Can you get a better picture of this piece?
posted by Jon-o at 3:24 PM on November 13, 2005

I think the cocktail party was filmed at The Doheny Mansion at Mount Saint Mary’s College where José Drudis-Biada is a generous contributor:

When a little boy, his father sent him to study with a local art teacher, Ruiz Picasso, the father of Pablo Picasso.

Could it be by him?
posted by ceri richard at 3:34 PM on November 13, 2005

Looks vaguely reminiscent of Victor Vasarely, or at a push Bridget Riley. Kenneth Noland and Yaacov Agam also have vaguely similar works and both used diamond compostions/canvasses. My guess is that it's not by a historically significant artist and is most likey some sort of mass produced print or artwork probably impossible to identify. Could be wrong though!
posted by fire&wings at 3:39 PM on November 13, 2005

Many thanks for your answers. It was a bit of see the picture, grab the camera and take a photo before it disappeared.

Jon-o, I think my hope was that someone had already, amazingly done the research and had the answer and was just waiting for this moment to reveal all.

All these suggestions are great tho.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:56 PM on November 13, 2005

Let me see if I can grab it from my DVD. Can I email it to you for posting?
posted by 6550 at 6:01 PM on November 13, 2005

There must be some kind of copy protection as I can print screen and paste the pic in Paint but the screen cap turns black when saving.
posted by 6550 at 6:19 PM on November 13, 2005

Here is the painting. I had to take a pic off my TV because I couldn't save the print screen from the computer. So it's not great but it's better than urbanwhaleshark's pic. Click on "all sizes" and then large.
posted by 6550 at 6:34 PM on November 13, 2005

Fantastic, 6550. Thanks. Ive gotten on to Mount Saint Mary’s College to see if they can assist in any way. It's a kickass painting.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:23 PM on November 13, 2005

In my pic Fran is answering the phone that Ian is talking on in urbanwhaleshark's pic.

To derail: is there a way to get a screen cap from a DVD playing on a computer (Win XP)? I had it playing, hit Print Screen. Then went to Paint and hit paste. The image showed up fine til I saved in Paint and then it turned black. I even tried to get clever. I hit paste in Paint, closed the DVD player, and then hit Print Screen again. Closed Paint w/out saving. Opened Paint again and hit Paste. So then I had a picture in Paint of a picture in Paint and thought I was set. Til I saved. Then I had a picture in Paint of a black screen in Paint.
posted by 6550 at 7:47 PM on November 13, 2005

6550: Use VLC to take a screnshot. It is a setting in the video tab.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
posted by meta87 at 10:00 PM on November 13, 2005

You should probably tag the photo with "identify".
posted by dhartung at 12:58 AM on November 14, 2005

Ha! My credit union used to have the exact same print hanging. Now they have a pastoral farm scene. If you stare at it, the negative and positive spaces wobble in and out.
My guess? Mass market print. Possibly of a name artist reproduced, but more likely from a graphic designer somewhere in the bowels of America.
posted by klangklangston at 9:21 AM on November 14, 2005