Since 1970, internationally active and respected visual artist,
Takeshi Yamada, has worked on many dozens of bigger than
life-size theatre backdrops, fine art mural paintings, and
sideshow banners for his clients internationally. As one of the
most active artists in New York City, Yamada has had over 400
art exhibitions including 42 solo art exhibitions
internationally (as of December 2007). Yamada currently lives in
the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York. All the photographs
featured here were taken by Takeshi Yamada. This manuscript was
produced by Dr. Eriko N. Bond, noted art critic and book author
in New York City, as told by Takeshi Yamada.
"SPIDER GIRL"
Sideshow Banners and Props Created by Takeshi Yamada
At the beginning of this year, 2008 in Florida, Takeshi Yamada
worked on over two dozen commissioned large sideshow banners,
signs, props, and gaffs for Four C Productions Inc. (Gaffs are
man-made mythic, cryptozoological and fantasy animals/artifacts.
They are also often rogue taxidermy.) The company (established
in 1972, CEO is Jack Constantine) is the largest and most active
sideshow company in the United States today. It produced 60 to
70 shows (up to 16 sideshows at five to six different fairs at
the same time) at fairs across the nation annually.
Constantine declares Takeshi Yamada's vividly colored and
dramatically rendered artistic sideshow banners “the best in the
business”. Ward Hall, the owner of the World of Wonders sideshow
(the last remaining nation-wide traveling live Ten-in-One
sideshow in America), also praised Yamada’s sideshow banners by
saying, “they are the most beautiful sideshow banners I ever
seen in my long career in this business! And I have been in this
business for a very long time!”
Yamada’s passionate involvement in visual anthropology and
cryptozoology also made his sideshow banners significantly
different from traditional ones. When creating “Snake Girl”
banners, Yamada rendered the Snake Girl as a deity just like the
snake king, who is second only to Buddha in India’s religious
belief. When creating giant snake banner, Yamada treated the
giant python as Yamata-no-orochi, mythological Japanese evil
8-headed snake which was killed by Prince depicted in Kojiki
(this ancient book for Japanese people is equivalent to the
Bible to the westerners). In Chinese zodiac, which has been
also used in Japan for many centuries, the snake is also one of
the twelve divine animals.
The “Spider Girl” or “Spidora” has been a staple attraction in
the culture and history of sideshow in America for centuries.
The following article is about the series of commissioned
artworks of “Spider Girl” attraction including a pair of 9x9
feet sideshow banners, 3-feet tarantula prop, and ticket box
created by Takeshi Yamada for Four C Productions in Florida in
this year 2008.
Shown above are examples of traditional Spidora (Spider Girl)
sideshow banners seen at midways. In these banners, a woman’s
head is simply attached to the anatomically incorrect body of a
giant spider. Nevertheless, its banner has changed little.
When creating the commissioned sideshow banner of Spider Girl
for Four C Productions this year (2008), Yamada treated her as
Arachne. According to the Greek mythology, Arachne was forced to
transform into an ugly human-size spider in Hell by the wrath of
God. Although the traditional spider woman banner features the
image of a giant spider with the head of a woman, Yamada changed
it dramatically in his artwork. Specifically, Yamada rendered
the torso of a wild, sexy and well-endowed woman with eight legs
(with no feet attached at the end). Instead of the traditional
delicate spider web, Yamada also painted spinning cotton
candy-like massive and spectacular webs as if it is a burning
flame in the back ground.
(left) Arachne in Hell, illustration by
Gustav Dore for Dante’s Divine Comedy (1863)
(right) Idea sketch #4 by Takeshi Yamada, 2008
Idea sketch #5 by Takeshi Yamada, 2008
It is this author’s belief that Yamada’s passion for visual
anthropology and cryptozoology and cross -cultural research to
fully comprehend the subject matter in multiple dimensions
before creating his artworks separates him and other sign
painters.
In the popular TV series “The Power of Myth”, Dr. Joseph
Campbell once stated that the job of an artist is mythologizing
the world in which he lives. Yamada sees mythologies as alive
and all around us even today. Yamada fuses mythology of the past
and the present, and Eastern and Western nations. Yamada
expresses it in his artworks in the most profound, powerful,
dramatic and sensational manners.
Takeshi Yamada at work on the Spider Girl picture banner, 9 x 9
feet, Florida, January 2008
To complement this
complex picture banner, Yamada also created a rather simpler and
easy-to-read 9x9 foot lettering banner to be displayed side by
side to the above picture banner.
Spider Girl lettering banner by Takeshi Yamada, enamel on
canvas, 9 x 9 feet, January 2008
The completed Spider
Girl props, including the completely new 3-foot-big
super-realistic giant tarantula gaff and two banners were
immediately used for the sideshow at the Florida State Fair in
Tampa, Florida (February 7 - 18, 2008). It was one of the six
sideshow attractions mounted by Four C Productions for this year
there. It became a big hit show at the fair.
Shown below is a
photograph of Yamada attending the “Spider Girl” show at the
midway of Florida State Fair in 2008. Yamada wore the official
“Mythic Creatures” t-shirt, representing a show held at the
American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York, which
featured a comprehensive documentary film of the creative life
of Yamada (the film was produced by AMNH). Constantine,
instructed Yamada not to wear his regular formal artist’s outfit
of tuxedo, black tie, and Mardi Gras beads due to the nature of
this specific show at the midway. (Yamada worked at the ticket
booth of the “Giant Snake” show for a few days there this year.
The show front of “Giant Snake” show, 15 x 15 feet, was painted
by Yamada in 2006.)
Note: Non-performers
of the venders at the Florida State Fair ground were also
required by the committee to wear the official red shirts and
caps. They were also required to wear photo ID on the site.
Takeshi Yamada and Patsy at work at the ticket counter of the
Spider Girl show.
Florida State Fair in Tampa, Florida. February 9, 2008
“Today, there are so
many “fake” sideshow banners to be found on internet auction
websites. The “fake ones” are “fake ones” despite their quality
- it is like comparing a wax figure to a real human. The “real”
sideshow banners are ones created for the sideshow businesses
and actually used at sideshows businesses; the “real” ones are
not created just for selling at auction websites”, Yamada says.
Takeshi Yamada is
the only remaining major artist with over three decades of
professional experience, who consistently creating both
high-quality large-scale hand-painted banners and curiosity
gaffs for operating sideshow companies, amusement parks and
museums in America.
For this Spider Girl
show, Yamada also created a super-realistic state of the art
giant tarantula prop (leg span of three feet) from scratch.
Yamada also designed and painted the deadly spider on the ticket
box (the orange, dark blue, and yellow colors were already
painted by Patsy, (one of the sideshow crew members) to be used
at midways.
Spider Girl Ticket Box, front panel, Takeshi Yamada,
March 2008
By sharing Yamada’s
creativity and genuine genius behind the stage in this article,
this author hopes to give readers a deeper appreciation and joy
of sideshow attractions at midways.
This author also
hopes more artists to be the part of this unique and distinctive
American pop art called sideshow, reflecting fundamental human
natures – the human curiosity for unknown and joy of being
entertained.
References:
Following websites also feature other banners and mural projects
of Takeshi Yamada.
http://sideshowworld.com/TSAmuse.html
