Malaria from Edson Oda on Vimeo.
Brilliant video by Edson Oda and others. I've never seen illustrated storytelling done in this way, it's so innovative and I'm really looking forward to seeing more boundary-breaking graphic art in the future.
the blah-blahg of boston-based artist and illustrator cai vail
Showing posts with label watch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watch. Show all posts
Malaria
Brilliant video by Edson Oda and others. I've never seen illustrated storytelling done in this way, it's so innovative and I'm really looking forward to seeing more boundary-breaking graphic art in the future.
Ori Gerscht
I've walked three times now through the MFA's recent exhibition ("History Repeating") of Israeli photographer and video artist Ori Gersht. His work verges on melodrama, and can be conceptually literal (freezing and exploding a classical still life...a video piece of a slowly melting Roman coin entitled 'Liquid Assets'...), but the technical precision and beauty with which the productions are created deems those complaints totally irrelevant. His video pieces are completely entrancing and meditative. While much of his work alludes to the effects of the Holocaust on it's survivors and the world, I think his most moving pieces consider that abstractly or feature another subject. 'Dead Dog' is a lush, dark landscape set in Galicia, in Spain, where an oil spill destroyed so much natural life in 2002. 'Will You Dance With Me' (which I could not find in it's entirety online) is an hypnotic film following the subtle head and hand motions of a very elderly Israeli ballerina, her 'dance' and the unerring focus on her gorgeous face is so mesmerizing I'm not even sure if I sat through the film once or twelve times through. I used to snub a lot of video art, but Gersht has certainly proved me wrong with his masterpieces. Check out this haunting exhibition before it leaves the MFA Boston on January 6.
Kitsch
I am digging this animation so much. The lewd yet adorable imagery, the 1950's/60's illustration style - odd color choices, awkward geometry, expansive watercolor washes, doodly graphic elements. The animators are the Australian studio Rubber House, and it's worth taking a jump over to rubberhousestudio.com for a sampling of their other animation work, all equally adorable and cleanly produced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsZBX2RhDZE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I have a particular fondness for out-of-context songs (see above, the fantastic Vera Lynn doing 'We'll Meet again' and the unfortunately un-embed-able ending to the anime Metropolis, with Ray Charles' version of 'I Can't Stop Loving You'). There's something to that irony, of visual destruction with a background of sweetness, romantic sadness...and the flip side is just as exciting, when normally sweet, endearing songs are done in an unexpectedly vibrant, even angry way - This weekend, my wonderful group of western MA folks lost a great friend, the impassioned, whip-smart, loud-mouthed Jameson Lavo, who headed up a local band called Trials and Tribulations; they did a fevered cover of 'You Are My Sunshine' that knocked my socks off the first and every successive time I saw it. I used to sing the song, in it's more traditional form, to the twins I cared for every night. It's so inherently sad when you are attentive to the lyrics, and worked amazingly with Jameson's hardcore energy (the sweat was literally flying by the end of it, and he'd have collapsed on the floor in passionate anguish several times). Four weeks ago I got to dance with him to bad 80's music for the last time, and indulge in some OWS discussion one last time, and thats the way I'll remember him, like a scene of destruction set to gorgeous, swooping music, or as something gorgeous and pure, set to a fevered scream.
WATCH
Apart from being an unabashed fan of Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros, I thought this video paying tribute to some New York dance, cheer and jump rope programs was really cute. It brought me back to when I was part of teams like these, something I miss. And after a pretty awful week, having lost a friend to suicide and needing to find new employment, it's good to find uplifting moments where you can.
Paper
I'm completely okay with how many trees got cut down for the making of this. Also, nice use of Ernst Haeckel illustrations (watch Proteus: a Nineteenth Century Vision on Netflix for more on this amazing dude).
WATCH/LISTEN
DEAD MAN, Jim Jarmusch's 1995 meditation on how awesome Johnny Depp looks wearing fur and a top hat. Plus, the soundtrack is unbelievably mesmerizing. I somewhat recall a road trip where my ex and I drove through the Blue Ridge Mtns listening to Neil Young's trippy ambient guitar from this film. You really have to be in a specific mood for it, but worth. it.
LOOK/WATCH
Ghostshrimp is a collective and one of my favorite things ever. The amount of envy I have for these cats could fill a broken-down Honda. They do things like "drawateria" (above two images) which are one-note, hilarious and bizarre daily doodles. They also do amazing illustration (just above) that is deceptively graphic with a woodsy feel and surprisingly grotesque and fun subject matter. And they are part of the design team for one of the coolest things on tv right now, a kids show on Cartoon Network called Adventure Time. Oh, and they have some kind of utopian secret society shit going on in Vermont, apparently. It's really not fair. But I suppose it sets the bar somewhere for the rest of us grungy artfags. ghostshrimp.net
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