Author
combines art with mystery
By Christine G. Adamo
On-line Forty-Niner
If
Jonathan Santlofer’s first novel, “The Death
Artist,” were anything but a murder mystery,
I would describe him as the Woody Allen
of the literary world.
 The
artist-turned-novelist greeted two dozen
fans in the front gallery of Cal State Long
Beach’s University Art Museum Tuesday night.
Santlofer entered the museum’s front gallery
without fanfare or a publicist. He immediately
set to loading slides of his artwork into
a projector at the back of the room.
After a brief introduction, the artist/author
presented a dozen slides which gave the
audience a rare glimpse of paintings he
began working on in the mid-1980s. The paintings
were destroyed five years later in a Chicago
gallery fire. He also showed some of his
recent work.
Paintings embellished with literary excerpts,
three-dimensional pieces with the work of
Mark Twain mounted to it and paintings in
the shape of open-faced books flashed overhead.
“There are clues in my visual art about
writing,” Santlofer said.
The first-time novelist said his desire
to write was ever-present but the Chicago
fire was the catalyst that brought his art
and words together.
“I think it was always intuitive,” he said,
“then one day, it felt real.”
As Santlofer breathed life into “The Death
Artist” with his reading, his written work
could be connected to the artwork— painstakingly
precise pencil sketches that unify elements
of the past in what he calls “factoid” fashion.
Santlofer’s factoids recreate events as
the artist would like to see them, tongue-in-cheek
and contrary to reality. In that way, they
substantiate widely-held claims that writing
“The Death Artist” was an act of therapy
for him.
“Fiction seemed appropriate,” the author
said. “A place to lose myself.”
Appropriate indeed. The 352-page chiller
has received a thrilling reception from
critics at publications as diverse as Publishers
Weekly and People magazine.
Armed with a personality that extends beyond
the boundaries of his compact build, stylish
but practical spectacles sitting squarely
on his face and a confident grin, Santlofer
wears success well.
|
