Transcending Taoism | Defining the artistic style & background details in The Transcendental Call Girl Centre
- Jessica Elizabeth
- Feb 18
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 26
Jessica Elizabeth 17/02/2025
To curate the style of this film, I wanted it to have a surreal, technicolour feeling - to elevate the dystopian world. Using the idea of a call girl, I was drawn towards 1950s pinup artwork, and films of that time as inspiration. The director, Tom Wright, wanted a 'contemporary, but no distinct time period' feeling to the piece, therefore a blending of era's and inspirations felt natural for this setting.
For Mark & Denise's home in The Transcendental Call Girl Centre I wanted to create the idea that it was solely Denise's. To do so, I used a blend of Taoist artwork with the film's pink colour palette to create a Taoist technicolour blend.
The Pink Palette
From the first time I read the script, I envisioned pink & red for TTCGC's colour scheme. The director and I had some thoughts on whether this was just for the call girl, but we ultimately decided for it being a short film... everything should be pink ! I wanted this to therefore evoke a warm playfulness for this absurdism comedy, heightening the surreal world it lived in with a bold, surreal colour palette.
Rothko & 1950s Abstract Artwork
Mark Rothko has always been a favourite of mine. His use of vibrant, bold colours in a dreamlike, surrealist fashion is exactly the atmosphere I wanted to curate for TTCGC.
Interestingly, Rothko's work was influenced by surrealism, and the psychoanalytical works of Freud and Jung. Nietzsche was a great influence on him, so I guess Mark managed to have an influence on the decor in a small sort of way.
In a practical sense, it was relatively quick to recreate the impression of a Rothko painting for TTCGC. I used the films bright colour palette, with particular attention paid to the red & pink hues of it, to create my new artwork.
Essence of Taoism
Daoism/ Taosim (different spellings of the same word, of which I will use interchangeably) is a philosophy that celebrates nature, fluidity, and introspection. Taoist artwork therefore feature serene landscapes, flowing water, and timeless mountains. I further incorporated Buddist imagery within this world, as there are many similar practices within both. This added to the sense of Eastern/ Western philosophical conflicts that centre the film, Denise thereby represents all of Eastern philosophy and vice versa for Mark.
Using Daoist artwork as inspiration, I created a number of paintings at a relatively quick pace before shooting ! Similar to the Rothko inspired works, I utilised the vibrant colour palette of TTCGC for these paintings. I also found that using a palette knife created a certain sense of flow to the artwork, whilst allowing me to work quickly for a short deadline.
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