Vlad Quigley: Gothic Baroque Art Nouveau Pop Art

Baroque to the Bone

An interview with celebrated London gothic artist Vlad Quigley discussing the bawdy 17th Century "Varney the Vampyre: Restoration Punk" graphic novel, which will be serialised online monthly starting 1 December 2005 and stars stunning Hollywood adult actress Jessica Jaymes.

Questions are by award-winning Queen of the Gothic Models, RedVamp.

RedVamp: Please begin by introducing yourself, Vlad. Give us a brief summary of who you are.

Vlad Quigley: My work ranges from literature-based comics & illustrations ...to international Pop Art exhibitions. I'm listed in Who's Who in Art and the Royal Edition of the Cambridge Biographical Dictionary. My art has been described as upmarket highbrow sleaze for a female erotica audience! haha I started the gothic modelling genre many, many years ago with Europe's most photographed model Vida Garman and have worked with the cream of world modelling... including yourself, RedVamp! I now work with lovely Hollywood sex symbol Jessica Jaymes who is my contract muse & co-owner of the "Varney the Vampyre: Restoration Punk" online comic.

RedVamp: What are your plans for the Varney comic and Restoration Punk? Where and when do you expect the comic to be available to the public?

Vlad Quigley: "Varney the Vampyre: Restoration Punk" will be serialised monthly on my website http://www.vladquigley.com (adults only) for free & in colour beginning 1 December 2005 and promises climax after climax of terror & desire! (Please be aware that "Varney the Vampyre: Restoration Punk" is adult artistic erotica so it is not work friendly nor suitable for the young.) When the serialisation is completed it will be collected into a graphic novel edition. Future plans for Restoration Punk are outrageous adaptations of 17th Century erotic literature (with my muse Jessica Jaymes), plus there is some very cool merchandising that Jessica & I are doing: http://www.cafeshops.com/vladquigley Please check it out as it's great for vampiric Christmas ideas!

RedVamp: Why did you choose the Varney the Vampire story and how did the idea for it come about?

Vlad Quigley: I first read Varney the Vampyre as a teenager and fell in love with the beautiful tenderness of it! It is so much more of an interesting tale than the ones that came later like Dracula. Varney is the debauched comedy James Bond of vampires, full of devilish charm, constantly getting into outrageous scrapes... particularly if there's a beautiful woman involved! Truly a labour of love, I've spent the last 20 years working on different scripts to realise a stylish heart stopper that has more sex appeal per puncture than Dracula!

RedVamp: Please tell us a bit about the "Varney the Vampire: Restoration Punk" storyline and the characters that you created for it. How does your Varney storyline differ from others in the past?

Vlad Quigley: Varney the Vampyre began life as a 230 chapter "Penny Dreadful', a serialised Victorian forerunner of pulp fiction and comic books... and is itself based on the ancient English folkstory "The Vampire of Croglin Grange", it's been at least 300 years in the making! One of the problems if you read the original tale is the publisher changed writers so there are enormous contradictions (there's at least four totally different explanations of how Varney became a vampire - including that he wasn't a vampire at all but believed he was haha!). It is such a fun read - by far it's the most entertaining & most uplifting vampire novel ever written! A new high in naked shrieking terror, I've streamlined Varney the Vampyre into 13 (self-contained, consistent) blood-drenched chapters, rearranging events, adding new ones based on historic events and paraphrasing the beautiful turns of phrase from hundreds of 17th Century writers ...from Ben Jonson to John Milton. My version of London's most diabolical lover begins with his return to England from the wars in Europe and he has fallen into a terminal melancholy. A doctor attempts to save his life but fails. Of course, as Varney is a vampire with all the emotions and longings of the dead, this is just the beginning of the tale and he is soon back to his fiendishly libertine ways, seducing the innocent Lady Flora Bannerworth (played by the amazing Jessica Jaymes) ....with tragic, sorrowful consequences as white hot desires unravel the centuries of passion pent up in his savage heart. Hopefully the story satisfies every lustful desire and will seriously turn on the audience from dusk till dawn... before melting their hearts. Other people he meets in the adventures include highwaymen, grave robbers (resurrection men), plague doctors, Queen Anne, Oliver Cromwell and more!

RedVamp: You have taken measures so that Varney is an accurate depiction of 17th century life. What measures have you taken and why?

Vlad Quigley: I really had to work hard at researching authentic contemporary documents, it has taken many years to build up my 10,000 research images but it was definitely worth every minute of it. The bibliography for paraphrased 17th Century writers is enormous - I wish I'd kept notes of which lines came from where, maybe someone industrious will trace where every specific quote came from. I would live in the 17th Century if I could! I really love their "do it yourself" punk rock self-motivation, eccentricity, language and humour! The thing that really occurred to me was that the late Stuart period (up till 1714) was the beginning of our modern age and the scope for direct parallels to discuss modern issues are enormous - as we've learned little in 300 years & repeat the same old mistakes! Equally important is to never forget Levellers gave their lives for the values and principles we take for granted. We should remember what democratic rights we have were earned through the tragic blood sacrifice of horrific Civil Wars.

RedVamp: How do tarot cards play into the storyline? What is the significance of them?

Vlad Quigley: It was always a dream of mine to design my own tarot deck as the cards are another form of sequential storytelling and would have been an entertainment in Varney's time. I adapted Varney the Vampyre into a full card tarot deck with each individual card building the story event-by-event, using myriad forms of symbolism. I truly admire the questions Edwardian playwright J B Priestley asked about the abstractions of time... and how I can relate them to as sequential a medium as comic books. One of the more interesting conceptual statements on our rigid sequential notions of time would be shuffling the Varney the Vampyre tarot deck, which would fracture the chronological narrative! It seemed fitting to incorporate my Varney the Vampyre tarot deck into my graphic novel as the beauty of symbolism has been all but lost in Western art and it can only add complementary layers to the overall storytelling. Maybe after the story is complete the cards can be published as a tarot deck in their own right.

RedVamp: What exactly is Restoration Punk and how does this relate to Varney the Vampire? What influenced you to create it?

Vlad Quigley: Restoration Punk came directly from the Varney the Vampyre research and is a homage to the clothes and punk rock sexy attitude of the time! It's a very London thing; full of playful sarcasm, smut, rapid fire wit and knowing winks - and translates universally. Restoration Punks may look like elegant ladies but they are tough cookies who give as good as they get, are highly intelligent & they defiantly own their sexuality! My model for Varney the Vampyre, Hollywood actress Jessica Jaymes, really reminds of the ultimate 17th Century Restoration Punkette actress: Nell Gwyn! A good example of Restoration Punks are the masked ladies who got plastered and took a hackney coach round the serenity of 1694 Hyde Park. They behaved so outrageously all cabs were banned from Hyde Park until 1924... 230 years later!!! Whatever they did it must've been pretty bad! ...There were also the "lock, stock and two smoking flintlocks" highwaywomen "Moll Cutpurse" (Mary Frith) and the “Wicked Lady" (Lady Kathleen Ferrers)!

RedVamp: You choose to base many of your characters on real life models and actresses. Why?

Vlad Quigley: Talented models bring so much personality, charisma, vitality, panache & consistency to my art. Sometimes they have me in absolute hysterics & can be so funny - and sometimes, as with you RedVamp, I've known them extremely well over very many years & your beauty is incredible! My depictions of the female form are a celebration of strong women & since collaborating with models I wouldn't want any other way of working! It all began originally as a tongue-in-cheek Pop Art statement with celebrity models who were considered "low art" (& were in on the joke); which I guess has become even more ironic & hilarious with the outrageous growth of the celebrity cult. Everything Khrushchev & Warhol warned us came true! It seems every other programme on British tv these days has "celebrity" in the title ...& being famous without any talent or skill is what kids now aspire to!

RedVamp: What models are you currently working with and who have your worked with in the past?

Vlad Quigley: I currently work with Jessica Jaymes; she's a stunningly beautiful, world famous actress and model. Jessica's such a pleasure to have around, very professional, so versatile, always keen to help and I consider her a great asset. Varney is definitely her kind of vampyre ....and she also truly embodies the punky rebellious attitude, wit and warmth of the 17th Century. My years of friendship with Jessica have always been such an honour & I love having her around! At first I worked with British Page 3 models - they're celebrity models who appear topless in the UK's best-selling newspaper - including Vida Garman, Debbie Cummins, Joanne Guest and Katie Price... as well as British television celebrities (such as Nikki Diamond from Gladiators) & I had a lot of helpful advice from London model managers Mike Diamond & Samantha Bond. ...And over the years my art has included American pin-up models and Hollywood actresses: Amanda Swisten, Linnea Quigley, Rebecca Pauline, Jodie Moore, Terri Summers, DeeAnn Donovan, Shari Eckert, Diana Kauffman, Debra Jo Fondren, Taylor Kennedy, Lana Kinnear, etc... as well as the very best in gothic models, especially you, RedVamp!

RedVamp: What are your influences as an artist? Are you influenced by other artists, writers, fashion, music, etc?

Vlad Quigley: I love listening to music whilst drawing, I have synesthesia so I drift away in a whirl of colours! Probably I listen the most to Madness, Supergrass, the Kinks, Ian Dury, the Small Faces - acts I can relate to - as well as fun old punk bands like the Adicts & the Sex Pistols, 60s soul and ska! I've come across some real gems among 17th Century literature... I lap up the refreshingly vital, in-your-face, punk rock bawdiness of John Wilmot (the Earl of Rochester) and Ned Ward! The 17th Century author who has had the most impact has been erotic playwright Aphra Behn. Scorchingly sexy at times, she lived an amazingly mysterious life, including spying abroad for the King of England! With comic artists, I love the art of Jack Kirby, Kevin O'Neill, Guido Crepax & Tim Bisley, as well as 1950s comic artists Johnny Craig, John Severin and Wally Wood.

RedVamp: What sets your art apart from that of other artists? How is it unique?

Vlad Quigley: I collaborate with nude models (who have male fanbases), however my extremely loyal fans are generally an intelligent, articulate, well-read female erotica audience who (ordinarily) wouldn't be seen dead looking at my models haha ...but they tell me they relate emotionally to the spiritual depth imbedded within my erotic art. And through my art they 'adopt' my models, taking them into their hearts & become extremely protective of them. As women, often the models themselves are genuinely fans. Jessica hung around for two years when I wasn't drawing her & never complained once; it's because she wants to be here not because of what she can get out of it. The same is true of you as well, RedVamp. There certainly are many male fans too who look for something deeper, challenging & more literature-based than typical shallow fare. Possibly that separates what I do from some other artists as my readership is truly unique - and I am extremely proud of them!

RedVamp: You've been working on Varney for quite some time and it's had it's share of ups and downs, what has kept you going with the project?

Vlad Quigley: Yeah, it's been twenty years & despite years bedridden with chronic illness. I've never considered what's kept me so enthusiastic for so long & why he's been such a major part of my life... other than that I've always loved Varney the Vampyre! What has helped enormously has been the incredible support, warmth & faith of my Goth and American Indian friends, and especially my model Jessica Jaymes.

RedVamp: Where can people see examples of your work and find more information on you and your current and upcoming projects?

Vlad Quigley: Please be aware these sites contain artistic depictions of an adult nature so they are not suitable for children or people likely to be offended: Vlad Quigley website: http://www.vladquigley.com Varney the Vampyre (& RedVamp) official merchandising: http://www.cafeshops.com/vladquigley

RedVamp: Is there anything else you would like to mention or anything that you would like to say in closing?

Vlad Quigley: Eat my vampyre!