So where did it originate from?
« The Boy In The Crescent Moon » (« Le petit garçon sur la lune ») restera à jamais l’emblème du ranch de Neverland de Michael Jackson. Imaginé par Michael lui-même et créé par Robert Florczak, artiste américain aux multiples facettes, ce logo qui ne devait être au départ destiné qu’à...
onmjfootsteps.com
Translated with Google(!):
Robert Florczak
In 1988, Michael Jackson bought his Neverland ranch and asked you to paint “The Neverland Valley”. Can you explain to us how this project came about? Why did Michael choose you?
I received a call from an art director asking me to paint a little boy in pajamas sitting on a crescent moon, looking out towards an idyllic landscape. I was given a copy of the illustration that was on the cover of a 1909 issue of Ladies Home Journal and told that “the customer” wanted the little boy to look like the one on the newspaper.
I was told that the paint would be used for the customer's personal papers. I painted a landscape, which was approved, then hired a young model who posed to represent the little boy (despite rumors started by the Jackson family, the boy I painted is not Michael as a child). During my contacts with the artistic director, the few details I was able to obtain about this anonymous client pointed me towards Michael Jackson. During a conversation, I finally asked him if the client had a pet chimpanzee. He laughed and admitted that I had solved the mystery. He explained to me that he was Michael's personal art director and that Michael was a fan of mine and had wanted me to be the artist who created the painting. However, he preferred to remain anonymous.
I finished the work and it was given to him. I later learned that he was so delighted with the result that he decided to use the little boy on the moon as the logo for Neverland. The image was then found everywhere, from the ground, near his station, to trash cans, including balloons, pencils and even soap. I only discovered a few years later that this “little blue boy on the moon” had become famous, with the internet and when people started contacting me showing me photos of Neverland with reproductions of my painting all over the ranch.
What does the landscape represent? Did you make sketches that you proposed to Michael or were you free in your work?
If the logo is Michael's concept, I created the landscape myself. It represents Michael's wish for an ideal place. I showed all my working sketches to the artistic director who himself sent them to Michael for his approval. I found out my client was Michael Jackson when I was almost finished with the painting.
The original work, an oil painting, measures approximately 40 x 30 centimeters. It took me almost three weeks to make it. I never found out what Michael did with the original, which he bought for me. I guess it hung somewhere in his Neverland home.
The portrait painted in 1984, an oil on masonite panel, measured 76 x 61 centimeters. It took me a month to do it. Both paintings must still be in the possession of the Jackson family. I've never seen them at auctions.
In both works for Michael Jackson as well as others that you have done, blue is an important color. For what ?
Michael was a big fan of Maxfield Parrish and, having been personally introduced to Parrish's technique, I was often drawn to produce works of this genre. And that was the style I was asked to use. The deep blue sky is one of the characteristics of Parrish's landscapes.
Did you have the opportunity to go to Neverland to see the logo and meet Michael Jackson?
No, I have never visited Neverland. I have to admit that it never interested me. And, at the risk of disappointing, I never met Michael.
The Dreamworks company logo also illustrates a boy fishing while sitting on a crescent moon. Some have suggested that he was influenced by the little boy you painted. What do you think?
Coincidentally, I was one of the artists commissioned to work on the Dreamworks logo in 1995. At the time, the company had us illustrate a man fishing on the moon. It was only later that he became the little boy we know. There have been several concepts featuring one character or another on the moon of I highly doubt that my painting for Jackson had any influence on the Dreamworks logo. It should also be remembered that this painting was then a private work, belonging to Michael, and I don't think anyone from Dreamworks was able to see it. In addition, the illustration of Ladies’ Home Journal may also have influenced the people at Dreamworks.
Was it different working for Michael Jackson compared to other people you've worked with?
My work for him wasn't that different from the other clients I've produced for. It was even a normal procedure. The fact that he is a big star has in no way influenced the way I work.
Some time after finishing the painting of Neverland, its art director contacted me again to tell me that Michael wanted to commission another painting from me. It should have been a very large oil painting and the plan was to feature several babies of all races, hanging from tree branches by their diapers. I made a sketch, which was approved, and I made some first sketches based on babies I had hired as models. But, at that time, many commissions were offered to me and I finally decided to abandon Michael's project for other work.
