James Enos

Disney’s Tarzan / Disney’s Tarzan and Jane

James Enos

Disney’s Tarzan / Disney’s Tarzan and Jane

Date

2020

Edition Size

1

Media

Hand-painting, Marker pen

Binding

Taped accordion fold

Pages

35


View Collectors

University of Delaware Library

A re-imagining of the Tarzan story via James Enos’s appropriation of the abysmal, feature-length Disney animated film. From James unique perspective and practice the book offers a new twist on an admittedly very problematic part of racist American popular culture. The enigmatic treatment that James Enos gives the story further challenges that perhaps inescapable paradigm.
 
James Enos creates epic, monumental, one-of-a-kind art books that often take place in his self-constructed world he calls the “Kid Stuff Universe.” Each book features a linear story, complete with fold-out pages with hand-drawn illustrations that can extend to 12 feet. His books are mash-ups that form a body of artwork inspired by James’ life experiences and the pop culture of the late 80s and early 90s. Some favorites include the sitcom Full House, feature-length animation films from Bluth Studios and Disney, Nickelodeon animated television series, and picture books adapted from major motion pictures.
 
To craft his stories, James takes books and videos from his personal collection and reads and watches them over and over again to get a sense of their structure. While re-reading the source material, he begins changing the characters and plot until they become a completely new narrative. When he’s done writing the story and taping it into a book structure, he starts to make his unique fold-out illustrations. When asked about his books, James will tell you that they are all part of one giant story, which he has been parsed out across the “Kid Stuff Universe.”
 
James is completely self-taught and his unique and courageous book structures are completely his own designs. He currently creates his artwork at North Pole Studio in Portland, Oregon. Booklyn is proud to partner with North Pole Studio and the Enos family in supporting the artwork of neurodivergent and differently-abled artists like James Enos.
 
Collections:
1. Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, “Full House, The Movie, A Don Bluth, The Magic Cauldron”
2. University of California, Los Angeles, “Full House, Star Wars”
3. University of Central Florida, “Full House the Movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
4. Yale University, Haas Family Arts Library, “Nickeloden Hercules/Rugrats Rasputin”
5. University of Delaware, “Tarzan”
6. Amherst, College, KId Stuff MCA UNIVERSEL HOME STORY BOOK FULL HOUSE The Movie THE BLACK CAULDRON…”