Old style super 8 music video by Cherry Kino. Cherry Kino says, “All hand-processed. As well as regular footage I shot in Finland and the UK, the footage also includes flowers stuck directly to the film strip, and handmade rayograms.”
Archive by Author
“Heaven and Earth Magic” Harry Smith 1962- with music by Deerhoof
7 FebHarry Smith was a pioneering experimental animator, music anthropologist and all around kooky artistic genius.
“Heaven and Earth Magic” was created to be played on multiple projectors with live music, or DJs accompanying the film. The late William Moritz wrote a wonderful article on Harry’s unique persona and artistic pursuits which is archived on the Center for Visual Music website:
Len Lye “Tusalava” 1929
31 JanOne of my very favorite animations, Tusalava, was created by New Zealand artist and animation pioneer Len Lye. Originally silent, this version has been re-scored by Allessandro di Paola. Works well silent or with music, but stay with it. The ten minute slow-moving meditation on abstract almost cellular forms is quite moving.
“Unfolding in extreme slow motion, Tusalava depicts the emergence of two opposing figures from a striated matrix of dot-like configurations, most likely inspired by Australian Aboriginal art. Later in life, Lye described one of the figures, which is vaguely humanoid, as a “totem of individuality” and the other, which is wormlike, as a “witchetty grub,” an important Aboriginal food source he had never seen but was the subject of a dance he admired featuring sinuous writhing movements akin to those he made use of in his film. Throughout Tusalava’s ten- minute duration, the witchetty grub invades its totemic counterpart with a pair of tentacular protrusions, struggling to absorb it in its entirety before being thrust aside by the totem’s last-gasp explosive death throes.” Luke Smythe, Len Lye: the Vital Body of Cinema,OCTOBER 144, Spring 2013, pp. 73–91. © 2013 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. retrieved from http://www.mitpressjournals.org, January 26th, 2015
“Strawberry Short-Cut” by Tom Rubnitz
24 JanFollowing up last week’s Rubnitz gem, “Pickle Surprise”, we have his 1991 tasty beauty “Strawberry Short-Cut”.
Here’s an interesting article listing who’s who in Tom Rubnitz’s videos:
“Pickle Surprise” by Tom Rubnitz
17 JanOh my, it’s Pickle Surprise! Tom Rubnitz, director of the 1987 cult documentary “Wigstock: the Movie”, takes us on a groovy psychedelic journey in this 1989 gem. Can you find everybody’s favorite drag star Ru Paul?
The Video Data Bank website has a higher quality short clip and offers a DVD of Rubnitz’s work for purchase.
“Mosaic Dance” Jake Zhang
10 JanJake Zhang’s fun a funky imagery is reminiscent of George Dunning’s animated Beatles film ” Yellow Submarine”.
Jake is currently working on his MFA in animation at the University of Southern California. You can see more of his fabulous work here:
Single Wing Turquoise Bird : Excerpt Two from Invisible Writing
4 JanSWTB have performed live psychedelic visuals since the mid 1960s. After performing with bands including Cream, The Velvet Underground, Sly and the Family Stone, Pink Floyd, The Who, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and The Grateful Dead, the collective disbanded in 1975. Lucky for us, they re-formed in 2009 and have been performing with musician Miroslav Tadic.
For more information and to check out groovy gallery images visit the SWTB website:
Single Wing Turquoise Bird Says:
“This clip is a brief excerpt from “Invisible Writing”, a recording commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver as part of the traveling exhibition “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America”. The original 47-minute piece is a high definition record of live performance in which the eight artists of Single Wing Turquoise Bird project improvised dynamic compositions upon a single screen. Miroslav Tadic’s musical score forms a responsive weave of sound and image.
“Invisible Writing” is available from http://nightfirefilms.org
“Eager” Allison Schulnik
27 Dec
This animation by artist Allison Schulnik transports viewers to an open and magical space. The ethereal slow movements of the clay characters are lovely and haunting.
Eager Copyright Allison Schulnik 2014 (8:30min)
Traditional clay-mation and stop-motion animated film.
Xuxa
20 DecXUXA
Oh Xuxa. Brazilian kids TV show Xuxa was a staple of Spanish language television in the late eighties and early nineties. Every week, she would wow her audience with bright, fun and groovy sets, including a hot pink lip adorned space ship. Her shows took place in front of a live audience of happily smiling children with Xuxa clad in her signature outfit of hot pants, thigh high boots and shoulder-padded jacket dancing, singing and spreading the word of love and acceptance. There was always a game portion with Chicos vs Las Chicas competing by doing activities like straddling a big greased cylinder and pushing themselves along racing to the finish line. I never saw a show where Xuxa wasn’t moved to tears at some point by a heartwarming story. Oh, and the paquitas-her cheerleader dance team who made their own claim to fame. Unfortunately, the early 90’s american version lost a lot of the wow factor. It’s difficult to find clips of the Brazilian one, but here a few goodies.
Xuxa World Cup Special 1990- Xuxa once dated Braziian soccer star Pele; this clip has the cool spaceship at the beginning
Xuxa sings her hit song “llarie”- bad video copy, but the energy is palpable
Las Paquitas de XUXA- ahhh…the Paquitas!
“4 Givings” Colin Barton
13 DecLos Angeles Filmmaker and very groovy friend Colin Barton takes us on a highly textured psychedelic journey using cameraless direct on film animation techniques.
Colin says:
Based on multiples of fours, ‘4 Givings’ moves through the cycle of the day with the central theme of forgiveness, release, renewal, and acceptance. Following an alchemical motif, earth, wind, fire, and water recur and are represented by archetypes and abstractions.
Animated on fours, this all 35mm direct on film animation was composited in After Effects.
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