The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A coded and epigrammatic melodrama inspired by his own tortured homosexuality. ...more info on wikipedia

About the artist: Jens Dawnfrom Belgium

Jens Dawn is a graphic design bureau in Antwerp, Belgium. For already 4 years (the founder) Jens Dawn offers a personal vision about graphic design which results in new young graphic design. The work of Jens Dawn consist of subtracting objects to it’s primary form, without deleting the poetry of the image. His world is filled with squares, triangles, circles and insects.

Why this work

“I chose the The picture of Dorian Gray for 3 reasons:
- The picture is an element taken out of a fairy tale, it almost reminds me of “the looking-glass”.
- The book reminds me of a vintage horror. This book should be placed next to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide”, “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”.
- The theme “staying young forever” is a theme that lives today more than ever. Probably Oscar Wilde was a time traveller and enjoyed a wild party in 2012 and saw “Romeo and Juliet” in 3D.”
“Concerning the poster itself, I don’t like to explain a lot about the image, because people should find out the meaning about the imagery themselves. The colours are a combination of colours used in old Victorian posters and the bright magenta popular in daily graphic design. It’s my way of saying that even though the story of the book is rather old, the theme is timeless.”