Animation, Art, and Other Shiny Things
Beyond the Mind’s Eye is the 1992 follow up to The Mind’s Eye and, true to Moore’s Law, the animation has improved in step with the increase in computing power. The music is done by Jan Hammer (yes, he did miami vice too, but don’t hold it against him) and tracks better than parts of the first series.
So, let’s start at the beginning with Virtual Reality…
Incredible 3D computer animation.
ROSA is an epic sci-fi short film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where all natural life has disappeared. From the destruction awakes Rosa, a cyborg deployed from the Kernel project, mankind’s last attempt to restore the earth’s ecosystem. Rosa will soon learn that she is not the only entity that has awakened and must fight for her survival.
Evelyn Evelyn: A Terrible Tale in Two Tomes
This is that post I mentioned in the Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn post, and Cynthia von Buhler is the artist that sent me down this rabbit hole.
Ms von Buhler not only drew the cover art for the Evelyn Evelyn album, but joined Mr Webley and Ms Palmer in creating a companion book to the disc that further details the lives of Eva and Lyn Neville:
Enthusiasts of genuine tragedy and celebrity intrigue, gird your mental loins for an authentic tale of unbelievable hardship and epic catastrophe! This wholly true and accurate account details the extraordinary lives of Evelyn and Evelyn, a darling but unfortunate pair of conjoined twins who brave extreme circumstances of calamity and adversity
…and while poking about on the intertubes to learn more about the Evelyn Evelyn album I went through a side door somewhere and ended up at one of those pages that is art. (and i don’t assign that lightly. at least i hope not… the word really deserves a completely different font as well, but you have to work with what you have)
It is digital magic when an artist’s work and the internets come together to make more than the sum of each (remember retropolis?) and But Who Will Bell The Cats is a terrific example. Another of Ms von Buhler’s sites, The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside, is also a work of art.
The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside
Ms von Buhler has illustrated several children’s books, but The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside and But Who Will Bell the Cats? are the only two with their own websites. (though you can get a look inside any of the books in the library) BWWBTC is her latest and looks to be the first Ms von Buhler has also written.
Cynthia von Buhler is an internationally exhibiting visual artist, illustrator, children’s book author, and performer living in New York City. Von Buhler uses traditional as well as unconventional media: painting, sculpture, performance, video projection, installation, living fauna, collage, photography, human detritus, and electronic audio. By innovatively combining these media, often enhanced with text and electronics, von Buhler’s canvasses frequently become elaborate kinetic installations. In March 2006, Art & Antiques named von Buhler “one of the top contemporary surrealists”, however she has also been linked to the Fluxus movement.
The sculptures she creates for these two books are rich and warm and invite you to poke around looking for the little details and surprises. (the reason the books are so popular with kids, no doubt. the library got a dozen copies or so of both books a few weeks ago. got several of evelyn evelyn too, for that matter. but i digress…)
The same attention is given to her websites as well and is what puts them on my ‘best of’ list. Ms von Buhler’s primary site is at cynthiavonbuhler.com and her blog, or rather, one of her blogs is at cynthiavonbuhler.blogspot.com. Both are incredibly packed pieces of imaginary real estate and, much like her books, are great places to poke around in – you’ll never know what you’ll see next or where you’ll end up. Just trying to find the way back to something often has me finding something new. They are also fairly well linked together, so you can pretty much start on any one of Ms von Buhler’s sites and find yourself on her bio page as easily as on the ‘Find the Mouse‘ card trick page. I heartily endorse the ‘click everything’ method of site exploration.
The fifth installment from The Mind’s Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey
This is an unusual short animation; visually striking, it draws you in with its detail and then pulls you along as it reveals a complex story.
An image that tells an entire story, THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MISTER HOLLOW centers on a single photograph that dates back to the early 1930s. As the camera begins to investigate the particulars of the photo, however, it reveals a tapestry of secrets hidden in the details, and a tale of murder, kidnapping and sacrifice captured in a haunting moment.
via Rue Morgue
Basic astromechanics and what to do when the moon breaks down.
Multi award-winning short animated film. An unconventional tale of the sun, moon and two characters who inhabit a world that relies on day and night perhaps more than it would seem.
Patton Comes to Marwencol
Marwencol is a small town in Belgium during World War 2. It is completely populated by women – the men having been slaughtered by Nazi soldiers. As the story begins they save a downed American pilot, Captain Hogie who, after he recovers opens a bar that becomes famous for it’s staged “catfights”.
The alter ego of Mark Hogancamp, Captain Hogie is the anchoring character in an ongoing drama that helps Hogancamp rehabilitate himself from a vicious attack that left him brain damaged. Marwencol itself is literally ‘a little town’ at 1/6th scale and is populated by Barbies and other Barbie-sized dolls.
Mark populates the town he dubs “Marwencol” with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town’s many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. (via)
Deja Thoris, The Belgian Witch of Marwencol. (if the name rings a bell, it's the same name as Edgar Rice Burrough's Princess of Mars)
Events in Marwencol are more than simply parallel allegory or a retreat into fantasy, although they have resonance in both, they give Hogancamp a way to re-discover himself. The attack left big gaps in his memory and abilities; he had to re-learn the basics, to walk, talk, and eat. His coordination and simple ability to think coherently were severely impaired. He has almost no memory of his former marriage, raging alcoholism, Naval service, or stints in jail. He’d forgotten his fondness for women’s shoes and clothing.
Hogancamp’s portraits, if they had been of actual human events, would depict those small unscripted moments of life, not the heroic acts and poses, but what goes on in between. All of it steeped in the fear and sometime brutality of a World War Two-like alternate universe and captured with the eye of a photographer from Life magazine. His sense of position, of body language, is remarkable, and that is what gives Hogancamp’s creations enough heft to easily allow the viewer to replace the peach colored plastic with flesh.
Warrior Taking a Break
Remember now, this isn’t art by some bohemian in a loft (no, there’s nothing wrong with being a bohemian in a loft, it’s just an example…) but began as a way for Mark to deal with the world around himself after his state-sponsored physical and occupational therapy ran out.
I came across Mr Hogancamp and his art via a documentary called, appropriately enough, “Marwencol“. It is a fascinating look at the man and his unusual art.
For a further look at his photographs there is a good sized gallery at his website at Marwencol.com and check out his video archive at Vimeo.
Born into a world of numbers, an oppressed zero discovers that through determination, courage, and love, nothing can be truly something. A stop motion animation written and directed by Christopher Kezelos.
As a teen back in the 70’s I spent a good amount of time prowling the twisted little by-ways of the Pike Place Market. The tourists generally stuck to the open and obvious areas of the Under-Market and if they did wander down the small meandering hall branches beneath the fish market and farmer’s stalls most often they were lost.
And all the better, in my opinion. Back there was no place for tourists. Back there were the tiny artisan shops where niches were filled and cultures were served. Controversial rubbed elbows with the obscure and the unusual. Back there wasn’t so much a different Market, but the essence of Pike Place sensibilities in it’s purest form: local globalism with a craftsman’s eye.
One of my regular stops was a little head shop tucked well away from oft-traveled paths. There, besides the regular plethora of glass and soapstone, were brilliant tied-dyed clothes, psychedelic posters, funky boxes, dragons and faeries sitting on or clutching crystals, and of course, magazines.
And there, courtesy of Fat Freddie’s Cat, I was introduced to underground comix. These weren’t your everyday Superman issue – they were outrageously illustrated and full of sex and drugs (and rock-n-roll too), They not only showed you stuff your parents didn’t want you to see, but poked fun at things your parents took seriously. These didn’t just tip sacred cows – this spun them around a few times, gave em ten bucks in singles, and set ’em up in stage-side seating. Here was a way for cartoonists from the underground newspapers to expand their stories and stretch their art as well.
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Zap, Fritz the Cat, Mickey Rat, and eventually Heavy Metal. (i’m not sure HM actually fits in as an “underground comix”, but at that time, since it had sex and drugs and was definitely NOT for kids it was relegated to those racks)
And in all those pages I came across the art of Robert Crumb. Certainly the illustration is top-drawer, and I love the way he draws his women, but what reeled me in was the angst. Self doubts, internal turmoils, and everyday demons infuse his work, all cranked up to eleven – I could understand that and still do – I related.
Over the years R Crumb got out of the underground comix biz and he began to pursue more mainstream applications of his considerable talent including album covers and illustrating some of the American Splendor issues. One of his most recent endeavors was the illustration of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
He married Aline Kominsky in 1978 and they’ve collaborated on several projects over the years, she being a cartoonist in her own right. Apparently, friends of Mr Crumb had noticed a resemblance, in both name and curvature, between Ms Kominsky and a drawing Crumb had done for Snatch Comics #1 depicting “Jail Bait of the Month, Honey Bunch Kaminski” around 1968 (you’re gonna have to google that one yourself) and thought to introduce them. One of their most notable collusive efforts has been a series of domestic tales, called Dirty Laundry, where they each draw themselves. (later along their daughter Sophie joined in) I’ve seen (and may even have — somewhere) several of those comics and it’s striking to see the obvious differences in drawing style within the same panel.
Fantagraphics here in Seattle has published a series of his comics and sketches under the title The Complete Crumb (of course it’s not ‘complete’, but at 17 volumes it’s intensely comprehensive) and Taschen published a limited edition (1000 copies, signed and numbered) Robert Crumb’s Sex Obsessions in 2007. They’re still available and run about $700. Fortunately, for the rest of us they’ll be releasing an unlimited run at the end of next year; December 12th, to be precise. (so depending on which math you use in your end-of-the-world calculations you’ll get it on The Rapture, or a bare week or so prior. In either case, the mere possession of it will insure you won’t be going anywhere. but i digress…)
Speaking of which,
Robert and Aline have finished their latest twelve-page strip, so this and all of their collaborations will be compiled into one book called Drawn Together. That will be released this fall in France and by Norton in the U.S. at the beginning of next year. This summer, Robert is organizing and compiling his sketchbook pages to be published in an upcoming release by Taschen. It will be in ten volumes, containing the works of his sketchbooks done between 1964 until the present.
That’s via the Official R Crumb Website. There’s alotta stuff available for the Crumb connoisseur to purchase (i think there is a brother-in-law involved here somewhere, so that probably explains that) but with my measly wallet contents I stick to the About pages. And there is a spot well worth an extended perusal.
R Crumb and The Cheap Suit Serenaders played 1920's tunes in the way of the day. This CD was given away with The R Crumb Handbook
What I think many folks may not know about Mr Crumb is his long time love of 1920’s and 30’s blues and jazz. To this end he’s not only produced trading card sets of “The Heroes of the Blues“, “Early Jazz Greats“, and “Pioneers of Country Music” but also included a CD of many of these musicians’ work in a book that collected the 3 sets into a single volume called R Crumb’s Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country.
Besides drawing album covers for many-a old-timey music release, in the 1970’s he formed R Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders and regularly joins Eden and John’s East River String Band on Mandolin. You can catch more of their tunes on YouTube. (its really quite good, imho)
And finally, for a good view on Mr Crumb’s life and work, check out the 1994 documentary Crumb. A good glimpse into the world of a gifted artist.
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The Ruffled Crow 