Red Light Properties by Dan Goldman
Like it does for most art forms, the internet offers a lot of opportunities to change the way we think of comics and graphic novels. Creators without the backing of major publishers are able to push their creations directly to the web at a fraction of the cost associated with print versions.
A new web comic from Dan Goldman called Red Light Properties offers a twist on the genre. Navigation is always a bit of a challenge for online comics–the flow of reading a panel-driven narrative can be a bit tricky digitally. But Goldman’s method–to reveal one panel at a time–gives a new feel to the process. He’s a trained filmmaker, so it’s natural that his comic should achieve a filmic feel. Here you take in the action frame-by-frame, and there’s no opportunity for your eyes to wander and spoil the action later down the page.
The full comic–which melds Ghost Busters with the mortgage meltdown and gives it all a sort of Leisure Suit Larry veneer–is available serially each Tuesday on Tor’s website. To get a better look at the process behind the product, check out this really nice Babelgum video.
From Womb to Tomb
Update: Please plan to catch Federico Solmi this week at VOLTA NY, the cutting-edge satellite art fair, featuring only 92 artists by invitation, which is being held in tandem during the Armory Show, at 7 West 34th Street, 11th floor. www.voltashow.com
Without further ado, we welcome our newest Your It List columnist, Theodore Bouloukos.
As an actor whose performance origins reside in video art, I’m often at pains to define this genre for even the most reasonably sophisticated friends. Video art, as a medium distinct from, say, early artistic cinematic experiments in 35-mm film (such as Buñuel’s 16-minute silent surrealist short, Un Chien Andalou), is thought to owe its latter-day roots to Fluxus artist Nam June Paik and the portable video-audio experimental pieces that he created on his Sony Portapak in the mid 1960s. Contemporaneously, Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, employing both film and video, manipulated both medium and content in their work to either imitate and extricate the conventions of its motion picture and television brethren; in so doing, their collaborations have long influenced the visual vocabulary of what we see in a gallery and what we see on TV. The introduction of digital video in the 1990s enabled many artists to expand their artistic practices, engulfing such previously discrete media as design, sculpture, installation and electronic arts. In so doing, video art itself became more variegated, amplifying its boundaries while rigorously challenging the viewer’s expectations of video as an enterprise of either narrative or entertainment. The preponderant use of home video these days for the sake of the Internet alone has only added to this heterogeneity of hybrid practice, wherein everyone can be the director and the distributor of his own movie.
If the fluid relationship between art and cinema (viz. Cocteau) sees its tradition extended in Matthew Barney’s five feature-film Cremaster series (in which the interstitial plot lines serve as metaphors for the descension of the suspensory muscle of the testis); or in The Rape of the Sabine Women, Eve Sussman’s gorgeous epic, in which the myth of Romulus’s founding of Rome, depicted famously in in Jacques-Louis David’s 1799 painting, is re-envisioned as a 1960s allegorical musical with a cast of hundreds, shot on location in Berlin and on the isle of Hydra, Greece, then so, too, might animation, itself the womb of the video game, find companionable conflation in the work of Federico Solmi (1973), whose second solo exhibition at LMAK projects, entitled “From Uterus to Grave with no Happy Ending,” can be seen at the gallery through February 14. In it, he has combined traditional, hand-drawn animation with digital models, utilizing computer gaming engines to create a real-time 3D framework, thanks to his long-time collaborator, 3D artist Russell Lowe, a New Zealander who is also a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, in Australia.
If the title of his show is provocative, so too has Solmi gained currency as something of an enfant terrible; although not in the masturbatory way of, say, Sebastian Horsley, the British dandy-memoirist-artist of self-crucifixion fame, denied entry to the States for previous controlled-substance violations a couple of years ago, forfeiting his only New York book-signing appearance in the bargain. No, no, for Signor Solmi, the offense was creatively crucifying–depending on one’s stridency of commitment to religious dogma–and more in the vein of a good old-fashioned duel with the Roman Catholic Church. Solmi’s an Italian, after all, and his native land is one in which it’s A-okay to elect a porn star to Parliament just as long as you don’t fuck with the Pope. Brought to trial for “obscenity, blasphemy and offense to religion,” after his work, The Evil Empire (2007)–seen at his first solo show at LMAK Projects in 2008, coincidental with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to New York–appeared at the Arte Fiera Bologna art fair a year later. While Solmi was being absolved of the “religious offense” charge, the work in question was sold for $7,000 at the fair, but remained in custody. Since that time, these censorship charges have all been dismissed, and Solmi, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient for Video Art, has moved to New York; and he has since been invited to exhibit his work at the upcoming Santa Fe Biennale in New Mexico. Through his media of video, drawings, mechanical sculptures and paintings, Solmi has infused the imagery he plucks from pop culture with art-historical references to realize his irreverently rambunctious manifestations as depictions of gorgeous phantasm. His is a place where extravagance and irony are the collaborative devices in showing us why moral decay might be our only legacy.
Camille Rose Garcia’s stunning
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Word on the street is that there’s a new Alice in Wonderland movie on the horizon. We’re excited for that, but we’re even more excited for this incredible new book: Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, illustrated by the wonderful Camille Rose Garcia. In her visual interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s unabridged masterpiece, Garcia brings this classic tale to life with the unique style for which she is famous.
Watch Camille explain her creative process:
Browse inside the book:
Then buy your very own copy.
Music always inspires me while I work, for this project I wanted the art to reference psychedelic colors, and also have a bit of darkness. While reading the story again, I realized it is a pretty dark story, everyone is mean to Alice, she gets drugged by a crazy caterpillar, and the queen threatens her with a beheading! So my musical selections are a nice mix of psychedelic, punk rock, and dark, brooding music. And a couple of folk songs thrown in since my studio is in the middle of the woods!
Camille Rose Garcia shares the music that inspired the book:
Click here for some downloadable wallpapers. Curiouser and curiouser…
Thursday Night with friends
Last night we celebrated the publication of the new edition of THE FAITH OF GRAFFITI with legendary photo journalist Jon Naar, the consummate gentleman. Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Arena played the gracious host, and the room was packed with Jon’s fans, New York graffiti lovers, and most importantly, a large contingent of old school graffiti writers. Wicked Gary, Snake 1, Butler and many of their 1970s tagging crew were on hand to reminisce about the heyday of New York graffiti that Jon’s photos captured.
After Jon’s impressive slide show, moderator Chris Pape–the graffiti writer known as Freedom–led the assembled graffiti writers in a spirited discussion of their experiences. It was clear that old turf battles remain–Brooklyn, Bronx, Harlem and Manhattan were all represented–but in the end, the writers seemed to enjoy a chance to revisit the old days. It was especially fun to see the writers scrambling to tag their friends’ copies of FAITH, almost like high school kids on yearbook day.
Thanks to Susan König at Powerhouse for the photos.
Thanks to Bear Flag for the wine!
He-Man Goes Arty
I’m a child of the 80s, so I may seem a little biased in saying that the best cartoons EVER came out of that decade. (seriously, Pokemon? PokeFAIL.) There are too many kick ass toons from that era to name here, but one that is obviously at the very top of the pile is He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. LOVED it. I was so in to that show my parents even took me to see the Masters of the Universe Power Tour and I remember every minute of it.
Anyway, I’m glad to see I am not the only person with such fond recollections of the show. Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in Los Angeles, CA currently has an entire exhibit titled “Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of hte Universe” in which 100 artists reinterprete the cartoon megapower. Luckily, the gallery has put everything up on their blog, which you can check out here.
A few of my favorites below, but if you are in the LA area, definitely check this out and get me a t-shirt!
Poor Michael Furey… He said he did not want to live.
Today we are taking a page out of the playbook of the second best blog on these here internets, FiftyTwoStories.com, and talking about … a short story. But not just any short story. Possibly the greatest short fiction ever written (apologies to “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”).
Why you ask? Because today is January 6th. In addition to being the day Nancy Kerrigan went and got herself clubbed, Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta and Joan of Arc being born in Domrémy, January 6th is known through all of Ireland as Little Christmas or The Feast of the Epiphany. It was this night, in 1904, that the Morkan sisters threw their annual holiday party where
Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet.
And so begins James Joyce’s “The Dead.”
Here is a story that captures the holiday season as none other can. A packed house on a cold, snowy night. Music and singing and dancing and food. A middle-aged man breaking the promise to his mother of not getting drunk again. A dozen or so young women fearful of spinsterhood approaching. Dinner conversations of music and travel, religion and an increasing lack of it, politics and the decreasing amount of rights and freedoms, traditions and the younger generation’s lack of interest in them. And more politics. And more religion.
But above all else, there is the ghost of the past. The remembrance of a life cut short. The ultimate act of love.
Poor Michael Furey… He said he did not want to live.
And the realization – the epiphany – that the great life you are living should have belonged to someone else.
Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree. Other forms were near. His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling.
Read “The Dead” or visit it and celebrate January 6th.
They are the Magi
Here’s a little dose of holiday spirit for you, from Joel Priddy’s illustrated version of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi.
Fifty-Two Stories has the full short story.
See more of Joel’s amazing Magi work:
Joel Priddy’s official site
Digital Fold-Ins
One of the highlights of my weekend at King Con Brooklyn was meeting legendary comics artist Al Jaffee. I’m a second generation Mad Magazine fan, having grown up reading both the issues contemporary to my childhood, as well as stacks of hundreds of my dad’s back issues from the 60s and 70s. So meeting the man responsible for those incredible back page fold-ins was a treat. Jaffee was the consummate gentleman–still vibrant and engaged at the age of 88–talking enthusiastically about the dozens of illustrations he’s working on for his upcoming illustrated biography.
After I mentioned my star-struck encounter, a colleague pointed me to a fantastic New York Times interactive archive of some of Jaffee’s
Photo by Oiseau
greatest hits, which reminded me of those childhood hours spent trying to guess what would appear after the fold-in. It’s almost as fun to predict what each fold-in will become when you’re using a mouse and monitor rather than the original paper version, and there’s the added bonus of getting a quick refresher in world history through Jaffee’s incisive and often thought-provoking comic commentary. Some of my favorites are the October 1972 version featuring hot-tubbing politicos that end up in a toilet (where their bullshit is better-suited), a sobering commentary on the deadly alternatives for unemployed young men in July 1968, and a psychedelic butterfly that morphs into an image of disco-age Elvis from September 1978, commenting on our tendency to exploit celebrities even after they’re dead. I’m sure you’ll find some favorites of your own in the addictive slide-show.
An artist with real touch.
I’m not really a car guy. I’ve lived in public transportation-friendly cities for my entire adult life, and my open road exploits are limited to Ford Taurus vacation rentals. You don’t have to be a AAA member, though, to appreciate Audi’s new marketing stunt. You see, Audi is releasing what they think will be a game changing new model in 2010. Apparently the S60 is so cool, they didn’t want to just post photos of the new model and leave it at that. Instead, they engineered a “blind preview,” utilizing the unique talents of artist Esref Armagan. They invited the blind Turkish painter to caress the car from head to toe, then create his version of the S60. (Real live photographs are now available.)
You may be thinking, ‘Maybe this dude’s only been blind for like two years or something. I mean, Beethoven went deaf and he still composed symphonies, right?” Well, you’re being a cynical punk, because Armagan’s been blind since birth. Plus, before he proved them wrong, scientists thought it would be impossible for a congenitally blind person to create 3-dimensional art. This is impressive stuff. Watch the video–I think you’ll agree.
Visit Esref Armagan’s website
More about the Volvo S60
A Book Club for Picture People
On the heels of King Con Brooklyn comes the inaugural ComicArts Book Club meeting at Bergen Street Comics. YourItList loves graphic novels, book clubs and Scott McCloud, so we naturally love this.
The Faith of Graffiti
The Legendary Book is Back in Print: 12/22/09
It may seem surprising now, but there was a time when graffiti wasn’t the venerated subject of gallery shows and graduate school dissertations. In 1974, it was a fact of life for the urban commuter, and a quick way to land yourself in lockup for the writer. As Norman Mailer wrote in THE FAITH OF GRAFFITI:
There was a panic in the act, a species of writing with an eye over one’s shoulder for the 
oncoming of the authority. The Transit Authority cops would beat you if they caught you, or drag you to court, or both, and the judge donning robes of Solomon would condemn the early prisoners with the command to clean the cars and subway stations of the name.
The Name is what early graffiti was about. There was no Banksy, with his critically praised, tongue-in-cheek urinating bobby and “balloon boy” prognostications. These were kids–generally marginalized and without a voice–who were taking it upon themselves to express their ego with a can of spray paint. When Mailer pressed an early writer, Cay 161, for the essence of graffiti, he replied:
The name is the faith of graffiti.
Hence an iconic book, featuring Jon Naar’s legendary photos of New York’s most prolific graffiti artists–their work, their neighborhoods, the writers themselves–had a name. It became a classic, then fell out of print. Now it’s back, with dozens of additional photos, and this time it’s born into a world that sees graffiti much differently. The subway cars have been scrubbed clean, like most of New York, thanks to Mr. Giuliani and his urban soldiers’ efforts. But after 35 years, this early graffiti has gained a nostalgia patina, showing up in museum shows, on billboards, and on street gear like these incredible t-shirts from the Stüssy x Jon Naar collection (thanks to our friends at Stüssy for the fantastic video above as well).
Graffiti: Art? Crime? Both? There’s still no definitive answer, and you’ll have to read Mailer’s insightful essay to get his particular take on it. Regardless, it’s come a long way from the streets and subway stations of the Bronx, and THE FAITH OF GRAFFITI is an illuminating and beautiful look at graffiti’s humble origins.
Stay tuned for more FAITH OF GRAFFITI news in the coming weeks.
Shake it like a…oh never mind.
My new obsession? The iPhone app: ShakeItPhoto. Gone are the days when you could purchase a gen-u-wine Polaroid camera and film, but have no fear, ShakeItPhoto offers a digital dose of instant-film nostalgia.
It’s easy enough: you just snap a photo with your phone (or choose one from your exisiting photo library), shake up your phone like a suburban kid who’s out of Adderall, and you instantly have a digital approximation of the real thing. The flared, hot-spot lighting is the same; the flat, seedy quality is there; and of course there’s the white border. So this should give you your fix until Polaroid re-launches in 2010. Bonus irony-points for celebrating the iconic brand via one of the digital devices that helped kill it in the first place!
Bears laid bare
Whether it’s morbid curiosity or a propensity for legitimate scientific inquisitiveness, I’ve always had a thing for taxidermy-filled museums. If nothing else, the enormous stuffed elephants, giraffes and whales offer a chance to experience their grandeur up close without the guilt-inducing trip to the zoo (or wiping out my bank account to fund a real safari or Alaskan cruise).
As a mere civilian, I’ve only had access to the fully-realized displays that are open for public viewing: penguins walking on glass “ice” with bait fish in suspended animation below; buffalo roaming a 1000 square foot prairie in the foreground of a cowboys and Indians mural. That’s why Richard Barnes’ photos (via Flavorwire) are so appealing. They reveal the mechanations behind a well-constructed display, and they appeal to my inner 5 year-old (pre- Night at the Museum craze), who would have loved to see what goes on behind the scenes after the crowds go home. Visit Barnes’ website for more photos from his Animal Logic series.
Don’t Fence Me In: “The 75 Books Every Man Should Read”
This year marks Esquire’s 75th anniversary. To celebrate, the magazine has rolled out its list of “The 75 Books Every Man Should Real.” What do these books reveal about the hearts of men? Well, we’re violent and boozy . . . and we’re not built for the suburbs. By my count, more than 50% of the books features war or acts of murder/violence. Add in the American West, sports, bourbon, and women and you’re closing in on a full taxonomy of the American male, or at least Esquire’s vision of us. Want to argue the point?
Making Esquire’s list are six titles from the Harper family: The Known World, by Edward P. Jones; Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry; Affliction, by Russell Banks; Women, by Charles Bukowski; and Native Son, by Richard Wright. (Also, though it is now in the public domain, the classic of all American classics, Melville’s Moby Dick, was first published by Harper & Brothers in 1851.)
Too much testosterone? Well, what are the essential books women should read?
The full list after the jump:
Just three frames
I love the idea behind the site Three Frames. It’s essentially exactly what it sounds like…three frames from a movie or TV show, in order and shown in rapid succession on a loop. The results are hilarious, amazing and sometimes scary (in my humble opinion). After I came across the site I found myself getting sucked in and going through the entire archive. It reminds me of those cameras that have four exposures, so the final photo has just a hint of motion in it.
Also, if you have any idea what movie these stills are from, post it in the comments section because topless machine guns = movies I must see.
The Digital Pekar
Harvey Pekar is that rare comics writer who even non-comic geeks know, thanks to the excellent biopic American Splendor (co-starring our main man Judah Friedlander as Toby “Genuine Nerd ” Radloff). The curmudgeonly Clevelander has been writing wry, autobiographical underground comics for over 30 years, accompanied by the iconic scribblings of Robert Crumb, Alison Bechdel and others . Now Smith Mag is bringing Pekar to a whole new web audience with their all-original, all-free Pekar Project. The first installment–a trademark recreation of a quasi-philosophical phone conversation regarding the decline of high art–is online now, with more to follow every two weeks. The proudly-reticent Pekar delving into web comics feels a bit like Dylan going electric: shocking but surprisingly successful. I’m definitely excited to see how far they take this thing.
Designer duds for your books
Remember those used paper grocery bag textbook covers your mom used to make? On my Sunday antique-browsing and food cart-dining visit to the Brooklyn Flea in DUMBO, I stumbled upon Book City Jackets, who are putting out some really interesting merchandise. By the end of the first week of school, my book covers were invariably covered in rudimentary doodles pertaining to the Milwaukee Brewers and my teacher’s physical abnormalities, but Book City’s are a bit more refined. They commissioned a range of artists like Brooklyn’s Morgan Blair and Eveline Tarunadjaja from Melbourne to create original illustrations. The covers come 3 to a set and fit most book trim sizes, but they’re so darn pretty you may want to frame them, rather than let them collect dust on your bookshelf.
Are those crayons sustainably produced?
The recipe for gaining hipster cred is pretty simple. Mix one part “activity an old person or kid would do” (i.e. knitting, kickball) with one part DIY (i.e. taxidermy, cross stitch), and finish with a pinch of good deed (i.e. CSAs). By that measure, the Yellow Bird Indie Rock Coloring Book will be the biggest thing in scenster-ville since deep v-neck t-shirts. The folks at I Heart Daily turned us on to this stocking-stuffer for the asymmetrically-coiffed loved one in your life. The book not only contains Pitchfork-approved canvases like Devendra Banhart’s gnarly beard and “give Rilo Kiley their latest hairstyle” smiley faces for you to Crayola-scribble on, but a portion of the profits will go to Yellow Bird Project’s selected charities like the Teenage Cancer Trust and Art for Change. With this impeccable list of bona fides, hipsters will be drawn to this coloring book like its a secret Dead Weather apartment show above a Bushwick vegan bodega on the anniversary of Elliott Smith’s death.
Shot through the heart and you’re to blame …
Shot Through the Heart
Thanks to Joseph for the lead, I’m now sporting this fetching necklace, courtesy of Fetty. Comes in a few different styles, all cleverly named (the aptly named Lizzie’s Love is a lovely necklace sporting a heart with an axe, you get the picture…) … I currently have a fascination with charm-necklaces, my current favorites hailing from Vivienne Westwood, so adding this Fetty to the mix was just, well, fetching.
I can’t celebrate this.
Celebration
Here it is. The cover for the new single by Madonna, Celebration, to be released August 3rd as part of her third greatest hits album. Yes, third. I actually really like the art for the single (I think it’s part Warhol, part Lichtenstein, part fierce as hell), but this greatest hits thing has got to stop. I love Madonna and everything, but can we just make a new rule here? As an artist you get two greatest hits albums…tops. And never should they be released less than ten years apart from each other. How many times can we be expected to buy the same music because she now has a new version of that one song I like remixed by some obscure French DJ? Reuters says:
While the tracklist for “Celebration” has yet to be announced, the Warner Bros. collection will include hits from the Madonna’s entire career.
On the Billboard Hot 100 chart, she has racked up a record 37 top 10 singles — more than any other act in the tally’s nearly 51-year history. Of those hits, 12 of them went all the way to No. 1.
Every one of Madonna’s 11 studio albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200.
In a press release, her label confirmed that “Celebration” will contain songs “remastered and selected by Madonna and her fans” including “Everybody”, “Express Yourself”, “Vogue” and “4 Minutes.”
The album will be available in both single-disc and double-disc configurations and a DVD of Madonna’s music videos will also be issued simultaneously. It was unclear at press time if the DVD would be offered as a stand-alone product or come bundled in a CD/DVD package.
Anyway, you know I love you Madge, and I know this is just because you’ve got to put out one more album with Warner before moving on to your mega contract with Live Nation, but this is just lazy and I am pretty much underwhelmed.
Just like looking in a mirror
“Vanity is my favorite sin” – Al Pacino.
Vanity is a far too underrated virtue. In moderation of course, it can make for many great things … my new stationery for instance. On a recent trip to my hometown of Richmond, Virginia I made an early morning stop by my favorite gallery and store Quirk Gallery. This is my favorite place on earth and not just because they feed into my vanity by hosting an annual event in my honor(?) but because it also happens to be a wonderful space for art with the most delicious gift selection. My event, Mimosas with Joseph, is held every December at Quirk; friends of Joseph are invited to attend, drink and shop. Nothing could be better.
On this trip to Quirk I found the perfect tool for those of us who might be the subject of a certain Carly Simon song. Silhouette stationery by Gibson Lane Studios. Heaven. I debated for about 10 seconds whether or not I really needed note cards with my face in silhouette … the answer of course, was yes. This is a product that is likely geared toward doting mothers of children named after their great-great grandfather’s horse, but I could not resist. I put my order in and am looking at proofs now. Though I struggled with the ridiculousness of this purchase for an adult; my vanity won the argument and I’m quite glad that it did.
Yes, I do think this song is about me.
Silhouette Proof
