Arcana:

Wolfe, Ernie III. With Contributions by Clive Barker, LeVar Burton, Deirdre Evans-Pritchard, Walter Hill, Anjelica Huston, John Milius, Roy Sieber, Paul Hayes Tucker, Gus Van Sant & John Yau. Los Angeles: Dilettante Press & Kesho Press, 2000. First Edition. 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Film Monograph. Fine.. 305pp, profusely illustrated in color. This is noted African Art scholar Ernie Wolfe's extraordinary compendium of vivid, vulgar and outrageous examples of indigenous Ghanaian vernacular movie advertisements. These hand-painted, one-of-a-kind canvases typically adorn local video stores. Resembling vintage American carnival sideshow banners, their lurid images may or may not have anything to do with the actual content of the film they are representing. These posters are both amusing, and poignant in their irony of promoting Hollywood's excesses in the dry, dusty West African villages in which they hang. The list of essayists is also remarkable, featuring Clive Barker, LeVar Burton, Deirdre Evans-Pritchard, Walter Hill, Anjelica Huston, John Milius, Roy Sieber, Paul Hayes Tucker, Gus Van Sant, and John Yau each writing on the film genre of their choice. A brand new, most handsome example of the 2000 paperbound first edition additionally BOLDLY SIGNED "Ernie Wolfe III" by the author in black marker on the verso of the front pastedown. 0-9664272-2-X Inventory Number: 027323